Pad Thai (Phat Thai)

This is the third of four dishes that I learned to make during my 4-hour cooking class at BaiPai Cooking School in Bangkok, Thailand. I also learned how to make this at my cooking class at Somphong Thai Cooking School. This is a mini-series that's part of a larger Thailand! travel series of my eats in Bangkok. Scroll to the bottom of the post to see other posts in this series.

It was one of the first things I asked during our cooking class in Bangkok.

"Do Thai people eat Pad Thai a lot?"

It's such a common dish here in the U.S. We see it in every Thai restaurant, from the cheap chains to the higher end ones. We even see it in Chinese restaurants sometimes. Do Thai people actually eat this dish? Or is it like the Thai version of "Chinese" crab rangoons, chop suey, and egg foo young?

Without hesitation, our instructor Nok replied, "Absolutely. I love this dish and eat it all the time. We bring it to potlucks, we eat it on the street, we make it at home. It is probably the dish we eat the most."

I learned how to make this dish twice while in Thailand. Both cooking classes offered it as one of the four courses. I also ate it numerous times while I was in Thailand.

I quickly learned that Pad Thai in Thailand is quite different from the Pad Thai in the US. I was surprised how similar the recipes from the two classes were (virtually identical), and how different (and so much better!) these were compared to the Pad Thai I'd eaten in America.
Pad Thai from Thip Samai, arguably one of the best Pad Thai places in Bangkok

There are several ingredients in authentic Bangkok street pad Thai that I don't typically see in my local US Thai restaurant: Chinese chives (or garlic chives), dried tofu (or bean curd), and salted turnips. Tamarind is also an essential ingredient that's used in the sauce base. Many recipes use lime juice or vinegar as a substitute, which really creates an all-together different tasting beast.

Pad Thai is one of those dishes where it's really important to make sure you have all your mis en place perfectly ready to go. There is a sizable amount of prep, but the actual cooking is fast, and if you're not ready with your ingredients, you could easily mess up the execution.

Here Koy from Somphong Cooking School demonstrates to a class of interested students just how quick the whole process is.

Once you've made sure to chop, dice, de-vein, and soak all necessary ingredients, make your sauce. It's pretty simple - just mix together chili powder, palm sugar, white sugar, fish sauce, tamarind juice (or tamarind paste + vinegar), and (optionally) oyster sauce. I say optionally because oyster sauce was present in one cooking school's recipe but not the other one.

Just a side note about tamarind. Tamarind is a pod-like fruit grown in tropical areas (see left photo below). It's got a very tart flavor and i9s often used in Thai recipes.

In Thailand, we bought fresh "wet" tamarind from the market (what she's holding in her left hand). Typically, you take this pulp, add it to hot water, and mash it up with your hands (see photo on right). After letting it steep for awhile, you can strain it and use the tamarind juice. I did a bit of searching, and it looks like you can purchase wet tamarind online if you can't find it in your market (though I'm pretty sure I've seen at least tamarind pods at Asian markets).

If you want to take a short cut, you can purchase tamarind paste in a jar. In this case, you can use the paste directly. In our recipe, we "diluted" the paste up with some added vinegar.

Once you're pretty certain you've got everything ready to go, it's time to get started!

(1) Add the aromatics (garlic, shallots) to your wok and heat until fragrant.

(2) Add the dried bean curd, salted radish, and shrimp and

(3) stir fry until the shrimp is cooked.

(4) Push the shrimp aside (or safer yet, remove the shrimp from the wok), and add the noodles and water (or stock). Stir fry until noodles are soft.

(5) Add the pad Thai sauce that you just made and stir well, allowing the noodles to absorb the liquid.

Now push everything aside to make room to fry the egg!

There are two options for what you can do with the egg. You can either break it up like the traditional way and mix it throughout. Or you can make it into a thin omelette with the pad Thai inside. Below I've shown both methods.

Traditional

Scramble the eggs inside the wok, breaking up the egg into small pieces. Add the Chinese chives and bean sprouts and stir everything together until cooked.

Transfer to a serving dish (yum!).

For decorative purposes, place the shrimp on top. Around the plate, add chopped cilantro, lime wedges, and a small spoonful each of sugar, chili powder, and peanuts. These three accompaniments allow diners to choose how sweet, spicy, or "peanuty" they want to make their Pad Thai.

Omelette

The omelette method takes the egg portion of the Pad Thai and wraps it around the Pad Thai noodles.  This technique takes more skill, since it requires you to make a super thin omelette on the wok and then successfully wrap it around the noodles without it breaking!

First, you will need to add the Chinese chives and bean sprouts to the noodle mixture and stir fry until cooked. Once the noodles are done, push the cooked noodles to the side of the wok and add one egg (already beaten). Spread it out on the wok as thinly as possible by picking up the wok and turning it, using gravity to spread the egg.

Once the egg is cooked, wrap it around the Pad Thai like a burrito. This is most easily done by rolling the noodle pile (which you have tried to mold into the shape of your final product) back over the egg sheet, and then wrapping the edges around. This obviously takes some skill. If it's your first time making pad Thai, I might recommend trying the normal version first!

Serve with the same accompaniments (peanuts, chili, sugar, limes), but on the side.

Yum!


A few notes
I learned how to make this dish twice from two different cooking schools. Although most aspects of the recipes were very, very similar, there were a few difference that highlight parts of the recipe that are probably flexible.

1. Aromatics: one recipe used just shallots while another one used garlic and shallots. My guess is that either works, and you may even be able to substitute onions or even scallions if you in a bind.

2. Pad Thai Sauce: one recipe included oyster sauce while another did not. Traditionally, tamarind is used to contribute tartness to the recipe. This can come in different forms, such as tamarind juice or tamarind paste. At the first school, tamarind juice was used. At thesecond cooking school, tamarind paste was used, but then vinegar was also added, perhaps to give it some liquid and tartness?

3. Technique: As I mentioned before, this dish moves quickly. Our teacher at Somphong was skilled, and therefore was able to make everything in one pot by just quickly pushing stuff to the edge of the wok. At BaiPai, they recommended removing the shrimp at the beginning of the cooking process and then adding it back in later. For us less experienced cooks, I think that's a good idea because overcooked shrimp does not taste good at all.

4. The Wok: Though both classes used a simple wok to make this dish, some had said that a flat bottom pan is easier because it allows you to push parts of the dish aside without having them fall back into the pan. In Thailand, it seems like the most famous street vendors use a traditional wok, and they always just make the dishes to order. This is not a great dish to make in bulk.

I was thrilled to discover how accessible this dish was. I think the hardest part is obtaining all the authentic ingredients. In Thailand, we were able to get fresh tamarind and fresh rice noodles, which are harder to access in a normal supermarket here in the US.

I think most of these ingredients are available in Asian supermarkets, so I'm really excited to try making this soon at home in the US. I'll let you know how it goes!


Pad Thai
serves 1

Ingredients
1 T cooking oil
1/2 T minced garlic
1/2 T minced shallots
4-6 shrimp, shelled and deveined
1 T salted Chinese radish, chopped
1 T dried shrimp
1 T dried bean curd, cut into cubes

1 cup rice noodles (if using dried, soak in hot water first until soft)
1 T water
Pad Thai Sauce (see below)
1 egg

1/2 cup Chinese chives (cut into 2 cm strips)
1/2 cup bean sprouts

Accompaniments
2 T roasted peanuts, crushed
1 bunch of cilantro, chopped
1 lime, cut into wedges
1 tsp chili powder
1tsp sugar

Pad Thai Sauce
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 T white sugar
1/2 T palm sugar
1 T fish sauce
1 T tamarind juice or [4 tsp tamarind paste + 1 tsp vinegar]
1 T oyster sauce (optional)

If the rice noodles are dry, soak them in hot water for about 20 minutes until soft. Meanwhile, prepare the Pad Thai sauce by mixing together all of the ingredients in a small cup. Set aside.

In a wok over medium heat, cook garlic and shallots until fragrant, about 2-3 minutes. Add the shrimp, salted Chinese radish, dried shrimp and dried bean curd. Stir fry until prawns are cooked.

Add the noodles and the water and cook until the noodles are soft.

Ad the Pad Thai sauce and mix well. Cook until the sauce is no longer liquidy.

Push the noodles to one side and add an egg.

Traditional Method: if you want to mix the egg up, scramble the egg and cook it. Once it's done, add the bean sprouts and Chinese chives. Stir everything together until cooked.

Transfer to a serving dish, and garnish with accompaniments such as cut lime wedges, sugar, chili powder, crushed peanuts, and cilantro.

Serve!

This is the fiftheenth post in the Thailand! travel series of my eats in Bangkok. Other posts include:

Eats!
Thip Samai, Best Pad Thai in Bangkok?
Raan Jay Fai, Best Drunken Noodle in Bangkok
Street Foods of Bangkok, Part I
Street Foods of Bangkok, Part II
Fun Fruits in Thailand 

Cool Experiences
Maeklong Railway Market
Floating Markets (Damnoen Saduak)

Cooking Classes + Recipes
Somphong Thai Cooking School 
Som Tam (Papaya Salad)
Thai Panaeng Curry Chicken
Bananas In Golden Syrup
BaiPai Thai Cooking School
Golden Bags
Larb Gail (Laap Gai)

Raan Jay Fai (Best Drunken Noodles in Bangkok?)

Pad Khee Mao from Raan Jay Fai

This is the second post in the Thailand! travel series of my eats in Bangkok. Other posts include Thip Samai, Best Pad Thai in Bangkok?

Have you ever tasted perfection?

My simple noodle plate at this simple roadside restaurant was one of my favorite bites during my entire trip in Bangkok.

This little, humble roadside open-air restaurant in the old part of Bangkok looks like it hasn't changed in over fifty years. The owner, Jay Fai, is a petite, energetic woman who has been cooking since she was eight years old in her family's street stall. Now approaching seventy, she still personally cooks virtually every single dish that comes out of the kitchen.

The open-air kitchen is simple - just a few really, really hot charcoal broilers which spit out ultra hot flames.

The flames are perfect for creating the ultimate "wok hei", that magical, caramelized, smoky flavor that results from cooking in a wok at high temperatures.

Jay Fai works quickly, skillfully maneuvering two different woks full of different ingredients at different stages. She is known as the "Mozart of the Wok" and her food, especially her Pad Khee Mao (drunken noodle) is legendary throughout Bangkok.

Her dishes costs about four to five times that of those sold around her (about 330 Baht or $11 USD for a plate of noodles), and yet her place is always packed. Lines can get long, so it's best to come during off hours, like at 4PM (opening time), which is when we arrived.

See! Empty restaurant at 4PM!

Raan Jay Fai's dishes stand out for a couple reasons. First of all, the quality of her seafood is unparalleled. The larger-than-average shrimp are juicy, succulent, and extremely flavorful. The fresh noodles have a wonderful chewy yet soft bite to them, and all the vegetables are extremely fresh.

Second, she just executes everything really, really well. This woman is famously known for her wok skills, and I believe the fame is warranted. We both loved the Pad Khee Mao, definitely something you just must try. The flavors and textures of the dish were outstanding, perfectly balanced in so many ways. Plus you just can't quite recreate that delicious wok hey at home, unless if you try cooking right over your charcoal grill.

The dishes were spicy, yet the heat was manageable (surprisingly!) and actually balanced the other flavors in the dish really well.

In fact, Bryan, who used to tell everyone he didn't like Thai food, changed his mind when he tasted these noodles. Instead of being overly sweet, he found the flavors to be perfectly balanced - spicy, salty, and just a touch of sweetness, with fragrant overtones of Thai basil, chili peppers, and that smoky wok hey.

Soooo good.

This place is hard to find if you're trying to use Google Maps. I think the addresses don't line up quite right, so we overshot the first time and had to backtrack. Eventually, we stopped using our phones and instead just looked at the address numbers until we got to the place.

I'm not sure if it helps, but I did take a screen capture of our exact location (on Google Maps) once we were sitting in the restaurant.

If you're only in Thailand for a few days, I would highly recommend making this one of your priorities! It's so worth it!
  

Thip Samai (Best Pad Thai in Bangkok?)

This is the first post in the Thailand! travel series of my eats in Bangkok. 

Even people who hardly know a thing about Thai cuisine know the national dish Pad Thai.

I know because I was one of those people. My family never ate Thai food while I was growing up, most likely because we had very little access to it in the middle of Ohio. Even after I moved to Boston, my brief exposure to Thai food usually consisted of sweet, toned down, less-spicy versions of the real thing. If you asked me to name Thai dishes, the best I could squeeze out would be the commonly known "Pad Thai,", "Drunken Noodle,", and maybe "Pad See Ew."

I was really curious whether pad Thai was actually a really a common dish in Thailand, or it was something that was ubiquitous in America, but didn't really exist in Thailand.

As it turns out, pad Thai is all over Thailand now, though it wasn't always that way.

Pad Thai derives its roots from Vietnam, created when one stir fries Vietnamese "Pho" noodles together with Chinese ingredients such as preserved radishes, Chinese chives, dried bean curd, and shrimp. The humble noodle dish became a national dish in Thailand in the 1930's and 1940's under Prime Minister Luang Phibunsongkhram, who put on a massive campaign for the dish in an effort to promote patriotism, support local rice farmers, and unify the nation.

He disseminated the recipe for pad Thai around the country, encouraging people to sell this new national dish (renamed Pad Thai), on street carts all around the city. He encouraged Western cultures,  such as the use of forks and spoons for eating and Western clothing.

The dish became a national sensation, and people began associating the dish with Thailand itself.

To this day, pad Thai is a dish that is mostly enjoyed in casual street stalls. Many will argue that proper, formal restaurants just don't serve good enough pad Thai. It's a dish that's meant to be enjoyed on the street.

So Bryan and I made the journey to seek out the most famous pad Thai in Bangkok.

A healthy walk from Democracy Monument, this roadside unassuming restaurant called Thip Samai employs over a dozen people. It's fascinating to walk by and see all of them furiously churning out pad Thai.

The restaurant opens at 5:00 PM, so don't expect to come for lunch. You will be sorely disappointed if you try (as many tourists have).
There are seemingly workers making pad Thai everywhere, even this guy cooking pad Thai out on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant!

We sat inside, though you can see that the front of the restaurant is just open to the street. Because we came pretty early (close to 5:00 PM), we were able to easily grab a seat.

Every plate of pad Thai is served with a side of fresh bean sprouts, lime wedges, and other greens I couldn't identify.

We ordered the Original Pad Thai, which was tasty and a bargain for the quality. The above dish costs 50 baht, or about $1.67 USD and was filled with all sorts of delicious ingredients, such as dried tofu, cilantro, Chinese chives, and eggs.

Thip Samai uses Chanthaburi Noodles, rice noodles that are dried out in the sun (instead of with machines). These noodles were a bit thinner than what I see in the States, and had a nice, chewy texture. The red color comes partly from the use of shrimp oil, which is made by cooking either dried shrimp or shrimp heads in hot oil.

Pad Thai is cooked to order in steel woks on traditional charcoal stoves.

Bryan, who doesn't love sweet dishes, still found the pad Thai to be a bit sweet for his tastes, and told me he preferred other dishes in Thailand to this one. However, a few sprinkles of the chili pepper flakes made things much better for him.
We also tried the "Superb Pad Thai" (70 Baht, or $2.30 USD), a twist on the original dish because the pad Thai noodles are wrapped in an egg omelet.

Everything was quite tasty, served fast, and cost next to nothing. I thought that the pad Thai reached a nice balance between salty (from the fish sauce), sweet (from the palm sugar), and sour (from the tamarind). I liked how the noodles were nice and chewy, and overall, the dish was very good.
I'm not sure if it's the best pad Thai I had in Thailand. I took a few cooking classes while I was in Bangkok, and I would argue that some of those home cooked versions rivaled this one.

However, I do want to mention that I had just eaten at another street side restaurant prior to this, so the fact that I was already a little full may have also influenced my overall enjoyment of the meal. I bet if I were famished before coming here, I would be raving a lot more about this meal.

I still think it's totally worth coming to visit. It's a Bangkok institution, and it's fascinating just to see all these people making their crazy volumes of pad Thai the old, traditional way. Plus, the dish is really good, and it won't hurt your wallet the least bit.

Come early, to beat the lines. We came right at 5PM and had no trouble finding a seat.
Thip Samai
313 Maha Chai Road
Samran Rat, Phra Nakhon
Bangkok 10200
Thailand

Hours: 5:00 PM - 3:00 AM daily

sources: the morning news msihua

Yume Wo Katare

Call me a chicken or call me lame.

Or maybe I'm just not a quite as devoted a ramen fan.

Sure, I'd been curious about Yume Wo Katare even before it opened. Who wouldn't be intrigued by the promise of authentic ramen from Japan, complete with thick, handmade noodles and a rich, flavorful broth?

But then there were the lines. The infamous lines that stretched down the block, especially on weekends. It wan't unusual to wait 2 hours for a bowl of noodles. Of course, from what I heard, the brave souls who waited in these long lines were rewarded with a phenomenal bowl of noodles. Those that were lucky bragged about "only" waiting 20-30 minutes. Those in the know advised going right at 5:00 pm (about an hour before they open).

"Usually they'll open the doors around 5:30 and start letting people in. This way, you only wait 30 minutes."

I live less than a 15 minute walk away from this place, yet I couldn't bring myself to go try it. The uncertainty of potentially having to wait in line for up to two hours most definitely deterred me, big time.


A few nights ago, Bryan informed me that he was going to be late coming back from work. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to try to catch this elusive place at a time when possibly, just possibly the line might be shorter.

We decided to take the chance. It was a reasonably "warm" night out (hey, if it's above freezing here in Boston, we think it's warm), and we were OK going to another backup place in Porter Square if necessary.

Surprisingly, at around 8:30PM, there was no line out the door. Instead, we walked inside, paid for our noodles at the counter, and stood along the wall of the restaurant . . . . waiting. Waiting and watching sixteen other hungry people slurp down their noodles.

Shockingly, within 5 minutes, 4 people finished their noodles and got up to leave.

We couldn't believe it.

We were finally in.

Yume Wo Katare opened in Porter Square (Cambridge) in October of 2012. Chef-owner Tsuyoshi Nishioka has five other ramen restaurants in Japan and decided he wanted to open one up in the US.

It took him awhile to find the perfect location. He tried out a bunch of places, including Hawaii and New York, before settling on Boston. He was searching for a place where there were lots of students - people who didn't have that much money but had huge dreams.

Tell me your Dreams. "Yume" means dreams in Japanese, and "Katare" is tell. 

The tiny restaurant is covered with colorful framed signs describing different people's dreams. You can pay $10 to display your dream for a month; $30 for 3 months; all the way up to $10,000 for 10 years (would that guarantee that he would stay open in that location for 10 years? - perhaps "until 2030" like the sign promises?).

Chef Nishioka is passionate about his ramen. He wakes up early each morning and spends two hours making the noodles by hand.

I asked, "muzukashii desu ka?" (isn't that difficult?)

He smiled and replied (in Japanese), "I have been doing this for ten years. I made ramen for ten years in Japan, so now it is not so difficult."

The pork bone "tonkotsu" broth (not to be confused with the breaded pork cutlet called "tonkatsu") is simmered gently for over 24 hours, never allowed to actually boil. What results is this thick, rich broth full of collagen, pork fat, and tons of flavor. Some liken it to a light gravy almost.

The restaurant specializes in one dish and one dish only: Jiro-style pork ramen. This style of ramen typically comes with thicker noodles (made from higher gluten bread flour), chashu pork and belly, and a thick, fatty pork bone broth. A pile of lightly blanched cabbage and fresh bean sprouts feebly attempts to balance out all that porky richness.

This unusual style of ramen (which some ramen purists refuse to acknowledge as ramen) started in Mita near Keio University at a place called Ramen Jiro. The gargantuan portions of noodles and pork became a hit with students who were looking for delicious, hearty food at a good value.

Especially popular with young college males, it soon became a lauded feat if one could polish off the entire bowl of noodles in its entirety - every single thick slice of fatty pork, the huge pile of dense noodles, the gobs of fresh garlic, and that ultra rich broth. It became a bragging right in and of itself.

Since then it has gained a cult following in Japan, spawning off over 30 other branches across Tokyo alone.
Bryan's bowl with extra vegetables and 5 slices of pork

At Yume Wo Katare, the choices are simple:

First, do you want 2 slices of pork ($12) or 5 slices of pork ($15)?

Second, right before serving you the noodles, the chef will ask you:

Ninniku iremasuka? (do you want garlic?)

I would highly recommend it, as the pungent, raw garlic really helps cut the rich fattiness of the pork belly and the broth. Some would even argue that it's not true Jiro style ramen without the garlic. It definitely offers the needed balance. Of course, be prepared to smell like garlic the rest of the night, because you get a lot!

Don't worry if you can't remember all this. There is a HUGE sign that explains exactly what the chef will ask you. At the end of the day, you just have to decide whether you want garlic or not.

Jen's bowl with 2 slices of pork

If you want to be authentic, you reply with "hai!" (pronounced "hi"). Of course, he understands a tiny bit of English. Bryan was so taken aback by the rapid Japanese that came out of Chef Nishioka's mouth that he just sort of looked confused and said, "I'm sorry, I don't speak . . ."

Chef Nishioka kindly repeated in English, "garlic. do you want garlic?"

You can also ask for extra vegetables, which Bryan did. It means you get a much bigger pile of the blanched cabbage and bean sprouts. Extra pork fat is the last option, but neither of us asked for it, since we already thought the soup had plenty of fat.

How does it taste?
It's is definitely different from any other ramen you can get in Boston.

The broth is deep, rich, intensely flavorful, and also quite fatty. It's very soul-warming on an icy cold day. I can just imagine how satisfying this bowl of soup would be for someone who has been standing out in the cold for two hours, starving.

The pork belly is lusciously melt-in-your-mouth soft and very flavorful. One of my pieces had less fat (perhaps it was pork shoulder?) and was just a bit tougher than the round slices of pork belly. I guess it depends on which pieces you get. The vegetables are fine - simply blanched, they are probably there more for texture than flavor. This dish is seriously all about the pork.

And the handmade noodles are great. Bryan especially liked that part.

"These are better than the noodles at Ippudo," he said.

Some may think Chef Nishioka is a ramen nazi of sorts. After all, there are many rules by which you must play if you want to eat here.

First of all, he only speaks Japanese. I almost felt like I was in Japan as I stepped into this little place - everything from the traditional "irasshaimase!" (welcome) that's yelled out right when you enter to the use of various Japanese phrases used throughout (like the garlic one).

Second, the place is cash only and they aren't shy about (gently) kicking you out of your seat if you're done. After all, there's almost always a huge line outside, and they try their best to move things along. We must have hit a lull, because by the time we left around 9PM, the line had started growing again.

Finally, everyone over the age of 12 must order a bowl of noodles - no sharing (even though the portion is huge!). They don't do take-out, and you can't take any leftovers home with you.

This rule was the hardest for me. On the one hand I felt terrible about throwing away so much of his labor-intensive handmade noodles and 24-hour broth. On the other hand, the idea of eating that entire bowl of pork belly, fat, and thick noodles just made me feel a bit sick. I was seriously stuffed even after eating just about half the bowl.

It looks like I didn't even make a dent, but this is what I had to leave behind.

Thankfully, Bryan did eat some of my noodles afterwards. I was seriously impressed with Bryan. Not only did he finish his own entire bowl (which was the bigger one with five pieces of pork), he made a sizable dent in my bowl of noodles.

At Yume Wo Katare, the chef will personally say "good job!" to you if you are able to finish your entire bowl.

Is it worth the hype?

Wow, that's a hard question.

The dish, as a whole, is very good with excellent execution on all fronts. The ramen broth is richly flavorful and the pork belly is luxuriously soft and tender. It's hard to get handmade noodles in Boston, so we really appreciate the care and dedication that Chef Nishioka puts into making them every morning. They have a decent "Q" to them, though I would still classify them as soft noodles.

This is the type of ramen that's hard to eat on a regular basis. It's just so rich and heavy, you're really kind of wiped out by the time you finish a meal here. Forget about trying to get some work done. Just go straight to bed with your pork-fat induced food coma.

I do love the concept of this place, and I liked being there. It transported me back to Japan, which made me very happy. In my own perfect world, I would be able to order a smaller portion size or take home leftovers. I wouldn't mind a wider variety of vegetables, and Bryan was sort of wishing for some hot sauce.

Of course, these are matters of preference, and it's more of a reflection of our personal opinions on Jiro-style ramen than on Chef Nishioka himself. Personally, I think Chef Nishioka is doing a fantastic job, something that is clearly, clearly evidenced by the popularity of this place.

Chef Nishioka will be going back to Japan for about a month (between April 7 and May 6th), during which time Yume Wo Katare will be closed. Update! He has postponed his trip. So you can still go get noodles!

If you want to get a taste of that ramen, I'd suggest trying to go in the next month or so when the colder weather is still a bit of a deterrent for some. Otherwise, if you try to come back after May, you may be faced with those scary 90-120 minute waits again.

I love the fact that more and more Japanese places are opening up around Porter.

Seriously, perhaps I'll have to consider buying a 10-year "dream" just so he won't leave the area anytime soon.

Yume Wo Katare
(Porter Square)
1923 Massachusetts Ave
Cambridge, MA


Sources: Ramen Tokyo Rameniac NYTimes CNN