Missing Restaurant Ramen? You Can Now Get It Delivered Worry-Free
Meet the TKO, a noodle firm enough to weather takeout and delivery.
There are few meals more deeply satisfying than a bowl of fresh ramen. It’s the ultimate comfort food — a soul-warming, meaty carb fest. The one downside? Ramen noodles, which are designed to be eaten fresh out of the kitchen, can’t really stand up to takeout and delivery. Once its delicate, chewy noodles are submerged in steaming broth, it doesn’t take long for them to expand and become soggy. (Ordering refills of noodles throughout a meal, known as kae-dama, has become popular for this reason.)
Now, one innovative restaurant is looking to help people around the country get their ramen fix at home. Ramen Lab, based in New York City, has collaborated with celebrated chefs from renowned ramen shops to create a rotating variety pack. Each $100 pack includes five handcrafted recipes, like Ivan Ramen’s Shio Ramen, Nakamura’s Torigara Shoyu Ramen and Ani Ramen’s Spicy Miso Ramen. The order also ships with the soup base, chashu and two portions of noodles for each bowl.
So how does Ramen Lab manage to keep their ramen so springy? The secret is a new type of noodle: TKO. Made in collaboration with Sun Noodle, the nation’s leading manufacturer of freshly made ramen and Asian noodle products, TKO noodles are specifically designed to be firm enough for takeout. After four weeks of testing and feedback, Sun Noodle and Ramen Lab landed on a wheat gluten from a flour blend from sources in Canada, Australia and the United States, using a high-tech milling process.
TKO noodles are already earning a following. Masaharu Morimoto uses them for takeout at his New York location of Momosan Ramen and Sake.
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