The last several years have been amazing in the ramen scene in Bay Area. From Japanese imports to local chefs striving to continually evolve their ramen, the landscape is forever changed around this comfort food. How then can a pop-up serving their home-grown ramen for a $50-$52 course menu compete with several of these heavyweights? After trying Noodle in a Haystack’s 5 course yuzu shio ramen dinner, I would gladly go back regularly, if only they offered that more spots in their limited pop-up seating. It truly is one of the best ramen I had in the states.
Noodle in a Haystack is founded by Clint Tan and his wife, Yoko Fukuda. A local product of San Francisco, Clint mentioned in his website that he moved to Tokyo where he lived there for six years, but eventually came back. Disappointed with the Japanese food offerings, and in particular ramen, he was able to learn the basics of ramen making from reddit forums and he combined these techniques with own personal tasting experiences in Japan. He and his wife experimented with the ramen process for over a year, and his shio ramen in particular for two years, until he perfected the recipe to their liking.
My wife and I booked a reservation with Noodle and a Haystack through EatFeastly. After checking several times, we were fortunate that two seating of his popular shio ramen (Japan version ) opened up a week before the seating. The shio ramen in particular is one where he recently competed in the World Ramen Grand Prix in Japan. Shio ramen is also one of my favorite, and in my opinion one of the toughest to perfect. It is a clear and light broth that needs to be perfectly balanced to distinguish itself, otherwise it can be pretty one-dimensional. I really liked the simple golden shio broth while I has in Hakodate, but the shio ramen scene in Tokyo and Okinawa really elevated this broth with complexity and unique flavors that has made it my favorite. I was curious to see how Clint’s ramen would rank, and after eating there, it ranks up there, really up there.
We arrived at Clint and Yoko’s home based on the address provided by EatFeastly. Throughout dinner, both husband and wife were open, warm, and engaging, displaying a bay area sense of omotenashi. You have a clear view of their kitchen and as they are preparing their meal, you can see the focus and passion about their cooking.
The meal consisted of the following:
– Deviled Ramen Egg appetizer
– Seasonal Appetizer
– Tsukemono (pickles of the day)
– Yuzu Shio Ramen
– Strawberry Matcha Froyo Dessert
Our Deviled Ramen Egg was first up and it was a great starter. As Clint described the components and preparation, you can see his eyes light up as he talked about the cooking process. He did not hold anything back on the ingredients and preparation.
The deviled egg was expertly prepared and Clint shared it had kewpie, umami fish powder, daikon pickles, nori, house marinated salmon roe, and a shichimi chicken crackllin’. A very nice starter, it had a great subtle flavor, yet a much-needed texture provided by the daikon pickles and the chicken cracklin’, that helped to elevate the traditional devil egg.
The next dish was one where Clint mentioned he had in an izakaya inJapan and he reverse engineered it. This was his version of kakuni kaarge, a braised pork belly that was deep-fried to perfection. The dish showed the versatility of Clint and Yoko’s skills as batter was almost like a delicate Kyoto style tempura batter, it was so light and crispy. The pork belly was sous vide, so it was moist and tender and very tasty. It was paired with a green salad with a umami shoyu dressing that Clint mentioned they also reverse engineered from their favorite brand, Pietro, in Japan. The couple can open their own izakaya restaurant and I would also happily patron the place.
Next up were the two tsukemono dishes, or pickled courses. The first one is a quick flash pickled celery with a hint of szechuan pepper corns. It was a nice course progression to the course as the pickles cleanse the palate from the heavy kakuni and served as a refreshing intermission.
The next tsukemono course was an interesting twist on a temaki.
Squared nori pieces is paired with a slice of Kyoto takuan pickles and topped with more takuan and a mentaiko cream cheese. I like the savory mentaiko and it paired well with the pickles. A nice single bite before the main course.
We enthusiastically waited as Clint and Yoko prepared the bowls for our group of eleven.
What came out was picture perfect, an almost aesthetically pleasing bowl of ramen I ever seen in the states. It was topped with a Aji-tama, chicken ham, chashu, crispy shallots, thinly sliced green onions, sliced yuzu zests, shallots, and some pink peppercorn berries.
The broth was so clear and flavorful. It had a nice refreshing flavor that was elevated and balanced by the meyer lemon chicken oil and hints of yuzu. From what i read on the forums as Clint graciously shared his labor of love, he uses a double broth. One is a pain staking and labor intensive slow cook chicken stock cooked for over 6 hours and is paired with a dashi stock made separately with smoked fish, Hokkaido konbu, and shiitake. It has many layers to the flavor, yet has a clean and refreshing taste that is one of the best shio broth I have tasted in both the US and Japan.
The noodles are ones that Clint does not make himself, but during our dinner he had some batches left of the whole-wheat flecked thin noodles he had custom-made from his World Ramen Grand Prix competition. He is pairing this noodle with his ramen for a limited time until his stock runs out, after which he mentioned he will go back to using his custom provider.
His chicken ham was delicious. He cured it for a couple of days, and then he sous vide it for a couple of hours to perfection. It was moist and tender and very flavorful. Pairs beautifully with his broth.
The other meat included with the ramen was a sous vide pork shoulder that is sous vide for over 12 hours. It is then torched and marinated for several days. Expertly cooked and velvety soft, I also enjoyed the pork shoulder just as much as the chicken ham.
The marinated soft bowl egg (Aji-tama) was also cooked to perfection. It is marinated for several days and has a perfect custard-like yolk.
With broth this good, everyone at the table cleaned up their bowls. I was tempted to lick my bowl.
The meal wrapped up with a homemade yuzu-honey FroYo, topped with strawberry and a matcha crumble. I am not into desserts, but I really liked the fact that this one was not too sweet. Clint shared that his matcha granola crumble was store-bought in Japan and it is not something you can find in the states. If it was available, I would buy a carton of it.
Both my wife and I thoroughly enjoyed our meal. Every dish we had felt like it was perfected and well-balanced. This easily ranks as one of the best ramen dishes I had.
I cannot wait to go back to try some of his other ramen options that the couple offers including:
– Spicy Miso Paitan
– Ma-ze Tan Tan
– Shoyu
– Shio Paitan
– plus others he’s constantly developing
Currently, you can find Clint and Yoko’s ramen through there website. I plan to be a frequent customer of theirs and already have my next booking.