On Monday night, a friend and I decided to get some dinner.  We were feeling cheap, so the choices were between a $10 Costco pizza or this ramen place my brother is insane for.  We arrived at around 7 pm, and were pleased to see a crowded restaurant with a line of about 4 people, with rumblings of how much they’ve been craving this ramen.  It’s always a good sign if people have a crack-comparable craving for an eatery, unless said eatery actually serves crack.

A few parties started leaving, so we were hastily seated at the bar after a five minute wait.  The atmosphere was casual, while maintaining the ambience that this is a place that one should come to with friends.  The only strange thing was the Ultimate Japan show that kept airing a segment where they dismember a live softshell turtle.  Not the most appetizing entertainment.  From online reviews, and from the semi-stoned and hungry patrons outside, we already knew what we were going to order.

We started off with spicy memma

I’ve never had this before, but Mandy loves this stuff.  It was basically bamboo shoots (probably from a can) with spicy seasonings.  Canned or not, I loved it.  Mandy said that it’s usually not this spicy.

Next up was the gyoza

I love gyoza.  Actually, I’ll eat almost anything fried to a golden crisp.  This gyoza was pretty run of the mill, however I noticed a little more ginger than I’m used to, which was a good thing.

Mandy had the Assari Ramen

Good stuff.  The Assari Ramen had a chicken and shoyu broth, which worked, but it was the noodles that really stood out.

I had the super famous Kotteri Ramen

The Kotteri Ramen is what Tenkaippin is famous for, as it is a little unusual.  It’s almost more gravy than broth, made from the boiling down of chicken bones and feet.  The chicken flavor from this collagen-laced concoction is intense!  You can really taste the chicken, and not in the way you kind taste chicken from a ramen packet.  This tastes like actual chicken.

Both of our dishes were accented with green onions and a slice of char siu, but the main event in both ramens were the noodles.  I always feel that the essence of good food comes down to the basics.  The best pizza is defined by the dough, the best sandwiches by the bread, and the best ramen by the noodles. The noodles from Tenkaippin are all made locally from a secret recipe, and I can see why.  They are tender, without being too soft, while maintaing a flavor on their own.

As intense as the chicken flavoring was in the gravy, it still felt a little mellow for my American-tinged palate, so we decided to add the raw garlic and chili flavoring that is provided at the counter.

This stuff was like a ramen power up.  It basically turns up your ramen to 11, maintaining the flavor of the broth, while adding a new dimension in flavor.

I’d recommend any of the dishes we sampled, but you probably can’t go wrong with anything that uses their noodles.  My reccomendation is to try the broths on their own, and then adding a little of the chili garlic flavoring to the dish for a little zing.

Tenkaippin Ramen
617 Kapahulu Ave. (at Mooheau Street) / 732-1211

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