Monday, December 11, 2017

Oda Ramen

Oda Ramen is located on N Mississippi Avenue in Portland, Oregon.



Oda Ramen opened a little over two weeks ago on November 22. They ran a special on opening night, serving all ramen dishes for $5. As you'll see below, the regular price runs anywhere from $11 to $13. Regular prices and hours began the day after Thanksgiving (November 24).



This is Tommy Shin's third Portland ramen spot after Nama Ramen (in Sellwood) and Akasaru Ramen (NE Alberta).

I went in for lunch a couple days ago - and no customers. To be fair, there are a bunch of eateries on N Mississippi and a shortage of parking spaces. Still, I had hoped for a few more people in the house.

I learned the ramen here comes in four spice levels: mild, hot, spicy, and fire. The "fire" level apparently includes Carolina Reaper powder. Sign me up for fire, all the way.





The Miso ramen ($11) includes char siu pork, kikurage (Japanese mushrooms), negi (a type of leek), a soft boiled egg, and miso broth with a healthy portion of noodles all served in a deep ceramic bowl.

The miso broth looked slightly darker than other miso soups I've seen. The spicy powder may have played a role, but there are some darker miso pastes out there, too. Delicious miso. Very hearty, good depth of flavor.

As for the spice level, I expected more heat to hit me. Any spice was more of the back-end variety, consistent with what a powder would usually do. I initially was ready to give it more a 3/10 on heat, but any spice disappeared very quickly. I'd give it more a 1/10 on spice.

Still, the flavor was great and I could appreciate all the textures. Tender pork, lovely soft-boiled egg, and lovely mushrooms. The panda still devoured it all.



I don't know how successful Tommy Shin's other two ramen spots are, but if it's anything like this, I'm hoping more people are enjoying it. 8.5/10

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