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The NYC ramen crawl

Twelve bowls, four boroughs' worth of Tokyo.

New York's ramen boom started in the East Village in 2008 and never stopped. Tonkotsu from Hakata, tsukemen from Tokyo, a chicken paitan in Midtown and a solo booth in Bushwick. One bowl a day is the pace; two is a crawl.

Start this list · 12 placesFinish all 12 for the Ramen crawl badge.
  1. 1

    Japanese · New York · ★ 4.4 (5,514)

    The Hakata shop whose 2008 East Village opening started the ramen queue as a New York fixture.

    Order: Akamaru Modern, extra egg; the pork buns

  2. 2

    Noodles · New York · ★ 4.8 (149)

    Chicken instead of pork, blowtorched pork belly, a basement counter on 52nd Street. The line is real.

    Order: Chicken paitan, spicy, with the char siu torched at the counter

  3. 3

    Japanese · New York · ★ 4.7 (10,032)

    A New Yorker who opened a ramen shop in Tokyo and then came home to Clinton Street. Rye noodles, and it works.

    Order: The Tokyo shio with rye noodles

  4. 4

    Noodles · New York · ★ 4.5 (5,377)

    Where a lot of Americans ate their first serious bowl. The pork bun on the side is mandatory.

    Order: Momofuku ramen, poached egg on top

  5. 5

    Japanese · New York · ★ 4.4 (914)

    Shigetoshi Nakamura, the chef who ran Tokyo's Nakamuraya, with a clear chicken broth on Delancey.

    Order: Torigara shoyu — the chicken shoyu

  6. 6

    Japanese · New York · ★ 4.6 (970)

    A twelve-seat counter on Ludlow Street from a chef trained in Tokyo. Clean broths, the noodles cut thin.

    Order: The shio, and the wagyu tsukemen if it's on

  7. 7

    Japanese · New York · ★ 4.4 (3,432)

    The Fukuoka chain's first American shop, in Bushwick. You eat alone, on purpose, facing a curtain.

    Order: Tonkotsu in the solo booth, order sheet filled in

  8. 8M

    Noodles · New York

    The East Village's small, old-school shop from before ramen was a scene.

    Order: Minca sio, with the thick noodles

  9. 9

    Asian · New York · ★ 4.5 (1,221)

    Alphabet City's tsukemen specialist, the Tokyo shop Tomotsugu Kubo brought to Avenue A. The dipping broth is the point.

    Order: Tsukemen with the extra-thick noodles

  10. 10

    Pan asian · New York

    The Midtown counter that does Hakata properly, including the noodle refill.

    Order: Hakata tonkotsu, kaedama when you run out of noodles

  11. 11

    Japanese · New York · ★ 4.6 (4,048)

    The Ikebukuro shop's Midtown branch, noodles made in-house in the window.

    Order: The classic Tokyo tonkotsu

  12. 12

    Japanese · New York · ★ 4.5 (862)

    The Lower East Side shop devoted to tsukemen, cold thick noodles into a hot concentrated broth.

    Order: Tsukemen — the dipping ramen

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