Monta - Real Ramen is good.

My iPhone no longer is importing to Picasa, so there are hordes of pics that are stranded, without a simple way of getting them on my blog.  This is the last of the pre-import problem pics, but it is a good one.

Ramen, we've all had it.  We've lived on it. Unfortunately we in the States all grew up eating Top Ramen, Smack Ramen or some other small squarish block of dried, fried noodles with a .1 ounce packet of flavoring.  It turns out, folks, we've been gypped, because real ramen noodles are much better.

Other than the dry, packaged variety, I had never had real Japanese ramen.  Not long ago, Yelp sent me an email with Japanese themed suggestions.  On the list, was a highly recommended noodle place called Monta.

Monta has a really small menu.  There are just a couple appetizers (gyoza and something else) and not a lot of entrees.  There are four broths, I think, and then some extras you can toss in the soup - pork, corn, eggs, etc.  I'm ok with that.  I've said before - I like a small menu of well executed items.  Monta has that.

First, I had a "Calpico."  It was a carbonated dairy beverage?  It looked like diluted milk, but tasted really kind of sweet with a touch of sour.  The kids thought it was good.  I like it fine (but not as much as Diet Coke).

We ordered most of the types of broth.  Three bowls total.  Mine was supposed to be the richest, made of pork bones, somehow.  I don't really understand how that works.  Nonetheless, it was great.  Like my pork cheek experience with yakitori, you can get some great meat flavor from things you don't think of as meaty.  Pork cheeks are one, bones are another.  The broth was deep and rich, even though it doesn't look much different from the store-bought Ramen we are accustomed to.

Sometime later, I went with Fancy and Jimbo, a couple of buddies, and sampled it's wares again.  We shared some Gyoza this time (which were delicious) and had more broth.  Again, it was great.  The pieces of pork don't look like they had any meat on them, but tasted rich and meaty.

Monta's ramen might be a lesson in mad-science cooking.  In Spain (I think), there is a celebrated restaurant "El Bulli", where they are known for Bill Nye (the science guy) type cooking.  Distilling pounds of asparagus into foams and other unusual forms.  It looks like a drug lab in there, or that when they are done a fully formed cybernetic super soldier should emerge and tear up the joint.  Instead, they are focusing on flavors and textures, regardless of its natural state.  Maybe soups made from boiled down bones and fatty meats are the beginning of this.  Maybe it is best described as "end justifies the means" cooking.  The goal is a flavor or texture, and it doesn't matter whether it seems "right" that the flavor come from bones, cheeks or any other item.   Just get to the right flavor and serve it.

I might be overcomplicating this, but it doesn't matter.  Monta, and real Japanese ramen, are delicious.  Engage in "ends justify the means" eating.  Don't worry about it's ingredients.  Go, and enjoy the flavor.