Ramen in Your Price Range and Japanese Ambience at Sapporo East

Japanese has to be one of my favorite cuisines. I like it all, form the sushi to the soups and the fried noodles. I was already a fan, but my love for Japanese food was cemented when I spent a month there during high school. Unfortunately, Japanese is often one of the most expensive cuisines to enjoy in the United States. That's what makes Sapporo East on 1st Avenue at10th Street such a great find. We initially went in for the very reasonable prices, but I am so thrilled to have found this little gem right in my neighborhood.

Let me begin with the fact that this restaurant actually reminds me of a place I ate at in Japan. There's a definite Japanese ambience, despite it not looking like the typical Japanese restaurant. It has the vibe of a ramen house during the lunch rush: busy, crowded, and filled with delicious smells. This ambience was offset by gangster rap in the background, which should have bothered me, but somehow I was in the mood for that kind of quirky tonight.

The menu includes many different varieties of Japanese food. There is a full sushi menu, and the prices seemed relatively reasonable. I didn't try the sushi, however, and know nothing about how they source their fish, so I won't recommend one way or the other. There is also yakisoba, various types of curry, and an assortment of rice dishes, but my dining partners and I all opted for soup.

My friend Dekel went with the tempura udon. If you're not familiar with Japanese food, tempura is a way of frying meats and vegetables, and udon is a type of thick, white noodle often used in soups. I thought his broth was sweet and nice, but nothing particularly exceptional. It was a good, standard tempura udon, however for only $11 it was huge and included three large pieces shrimp tempura.

My roommate Pierre and I both opted for Ramen. Yes, the ramen you buy for 2 cents and some pocket lint at the Food Lion is a (completely unacceptable and relatively insulting) imitation of this dish. Real Ramen, however, is delicious noodles in rich broth with all kinds of toppings. The only resemblance to the grocery store version is the shape of the noodles and the name. We got different kinds, and they were both great, but very different. Pierre ordered the Rokuban Ramen, which had a soy broth with ground beef, tofu and bean sprouts. It was incredibly flavorful, but definitely beefy! While I personally found the flavor a little too heavy for my tastes, if you enjoy beef and are looking for a hearty soup, I would recommend it.

I ordered the Sapporo Special Ramen, and let me say, sorry boys, but I win this one. My ramen was killer. The broth was intensely flavorful with a miso base, and if I had just been given a bowl of broth, I think I would have been satisfied. The Sapporo Special, however, comes with pork, fish cakes and vegetables. I have no idea what they did to that pork, but it tasted like it was made for royalty. It was tender with a slightly sweet flavor, and complemented the broth perfectly. The fish cakes were also tasty, but I prefer mine slightly thicker cut than at Sapporo East. This isn't really a complaint though, because it's just personal preference. My noodles were also perfectly cooked. I could have eaten that soup until I died of over consumption. Seriously. This place is on my way to and from school, and I'm not sure how I will walk by it every day without stopping in for a bowl of ramen.

The best part of all is that all of this was in approximately the $10 range. Both bowls of ramen were $9, and the tempura udon was $11. I've checked out ramen menu's in the neighborhood, and this place is an absolute steal.

So, to recap: nice, quirky atmosphere, great food, affordable prices. What more could you possibly want? If you're in New York, go get yourself some ramen!