Tenkaippin Ramen

So after much convincing from a friend to meet her for a Ramen lunch, I reluctantly agreed to meet her at Tenkaippin on Kapahulu. I had been there a few times when they were on Kalakaua and once before at their new Kapahulu location. Each time I went there, for one reason or another I came away unsatisfied. But my friend is in love with their Koterri Ramen and since there is so much hype surrounding this place I thought I'd give it another go.


It's always so crowded at Tenkaippin, a great sign and indicator to the quality of the food - I actually had to park on the street half a block away. When we got there, we were lucky to get 2 seats at the bar and get our order in quickly.


First up was my friend's Kotteri Ramen:


Like I mentioned before, she loves this dish. For the taste and the fact that the collagen in the soup is good for your skin. I'll be frank, the broth isn't for everyone. If you like rich, thick broth than this is the one for you. It's similar to a Paitan broth but much thicker. Almost as if there were cornstarch in the base. I know a few people including myself who don't care for this "porridge." Me personally? I prefer something a little lighter.

I had their shoyu ramen, the Assari Ramen:


I'll be honest. I'm normally not very negative but the broth of the Assari that day tasted a little like hot water with shoyu and MSG in it. I was expecting it to have a little more flavor, so I was sorely disappointed. But on a positive note, the Noodles and the charsiu were very tasty. In fact, in my opinion, they have one of the better noodles than most ramen shops who seem to use the type you can buy at the store (Sun Noodle).

My friend and I both had the Gyoza which came as part of our ramen combo. This was the highlight of the meal. The Gyoza was very flavorful and cooked to perfection. I wish I had ordered more of it, the combo only came with 3:



In summary, a lot of people love this place including my friend who happens to be from Japan, so she knows her ramen. So Tenkaippin must be doing something right for sure. But she agreed with me that the portions are on the smaller side and for about the $10 we paid for our ramen/gyoza combos, we needed a bit more from Tenkaippin to fill our bellies.


This place wasn't horrible, but I personally prefer the taste of Goma Tei/Goma Ichi or Ramen Nakamura over Tenkaippin. In fact, I encouraged another friend to have lunch with me over at Ramen Nakamura last week and she liked it enough to write her own blog about it. She's a lot more famous than I am so you're better off taking her word for it. You can read her blog and see the pictures for Ramen Nakamura here: http://dailydish.honadvblogs.com/2009/08/28/fuud-ramen-nakamura-in-waikiki/


Tenkaippin Ramen
617 Kapahulu Ave. (at Mooheau Street)
732-1211
Hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays to Thursdays, to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays