OVERVIEW
Ajisen Ramen (味千ラーメン) restaurant is one of the international chain restaurants, that specialized Japanese ramens (and other popular dishes). Their particular style of ramen is the Southern Japan style, utilizing the extra rich white Tonkotsu (pork bone broth). This Kumamoto City's style ramen broth here is also called "The King Of White Broth". Outside of Japan, Ajisen Ramen has outlets in Australia, Cambodia, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Marianas, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, the United States, and Vietnam. There are over 700 Ajisen Ramen restaurants.
The company's logo, featuring artwork of a little girl in Chinese apparence named Chii-chan is based on the daughter of the founder Takaharu Shigemitsu (immigrant from Taiwan.original name Liu Tan Hsi). This business is based on such a profound love for the family, and it does taste so.
My WONDERFUL DINING EXPERIENCE:
On September 23, 2017, after enjoying the Feast of San Gennaro in Little Italy in Manhattan, New York, I walked around the Chinatown for something to munch. By accident, I found this restaurant, Ajisen Ramen on the Mott Street. When I saw the very Japanese style food models in the glass display case outside of this chain ramen restaurants, I immediately decided to try its ramen. It was almost 10Pm, so I saw only a several people there in the very spacious inside. I was very impressed by the beautiful ramen bowls proudly displayed in the glass display case on the wall like a historical museum. (On the other hand, I was very upset by the another wall with a series of very poorly and cheaply painted pictures of the Japanese sumo wrestlers at their ring.) I was afraid that this may be just one of those low quality fake Japanese restaurants with show off interior.
FOOD: AJISEN DELUXE TONKOTSU RAMEN: SOLID 5 STARS
That was my first at this restaurant, so, I ordered the ramen with its restaurant's name attached. I ordered the Ajisen Deluxe Ramen (Tonkotsu Ramen with extra pork garnishes.) The service was very fast, and it was ready on my dining table when I came back from washing my hands in the bathroom in the basement. The portion was very generous dinner size. The chashu (the 3 pieces of sliced flavor-rich pork) was excellent, and the BBQ short pork rib was so tender, juicy, and rich in flavor. The rich white pork broth was truly divine! The balance of these main pork garnishes (pork chashu and BBQ pork), thick white pork broth, fine ramen noodles, and other ingredients (half of the perfectly boiled egg, nori, bean sprouts, finely shredded cabbage, garlic sauce, etc.) were just so heavenly wonderful. It was truly a work of art. It was one of the best ramens I had in America. This glorious dish with the triple pork punches made my evening truly memorable. These world class ramens are also very affordable price and large portion, even compare to other ramen restaurants in Manhattan. (See my attached many photographs.)
AMBIANCE: 4 STARS
All is excellent EXCEPT the series of truly idiotically junk pictures of the Japanese Sumo wrestlers. These bad pictures must be replaced at once, in my humble opinion.
SERVICE: 3.5 STARS:
Fast, clean and nice. The service was not quite attentive like the 5 star Japanese restaurants.
WARNING: The Ajisen ramen is a specialized Japanese style ramen restaurant. I highly recommend you stick to ramen dishes, and NOT order other dishes here. Here is the reason why. According to the photographs posted here in yelp, the eel rolled sushi here looks junk. The Unadon (Grilled Eel Bowl) is very inconsistent and sloppy bad quality. The tempura shrimp is completely junk and NO similarity to the authentic Japanese tempura shrimps at all, sadly.
I highly recommend Ajisen Ramen restaurant for my ramen lovers.
Dr. Takeshi Yamada and Seara (Coney Island sea rabbit)
My first visit to Ajisen Ramen: September 23, 2017.
So far, 24 photos were posted as of October 9, 2018. read more