Midtown Lunch

We are somewhat lacking in quality ramen soup options in the Financial District, or rather I should say, quality options for $10 or less. Most of our ramen comes from glorified delis or places like Niko Niko. When I saw that Koodo Sushi on Nassau (at Liberty) had a new ramen soup special I decided it was worth a shot since a real restaurant had a better shot at giving us the good stuff than a deli sidelining in Asian food.

You can go two directions with the ramen special: basic or with add ons. The basic is $6.95 and comes with greens, bamboo shoots, carrot, a slice of fish cake, and half of a tea egg. If you want a meat addition it’s going to cost you $3 extra and puts you over the $10 mark once tax is added. Before you decide on a topping, you have to choose from four different types of broth. I went for the “rich bone with miso”, which the woman taking my order assured me was an excellent choice. And I added on Japanese roast pork with other options including Chinese roast pork, mushrooms, five spice beef, chicken or salmon.

This broth was indeed rich as advertised and was the best part of the soup. The pork was plentiful – I counted at least five largish slices – although it was also pretty fatty. Also thrown in was half of a tea egg, some greens and slices of carrot that I found an odd addition. The noodles were the last thing dredged from the bottom of the soup and unfortunately they were a little less al dente you might like, although to be fair it’s probably because they sat in the takeout container with the broth for about 15 minutes before being eaten. Perhaps they could pack the noodles separately like other places do?

Like so many other types of food, the ramen from Koodo is “good for the FiDi” and will fulfill your cravings, but it’s probably not going to be the best you’ve ever had.

Koodo Sushi, 55 Liberty St. (entrance on Nassau btw. Maiden Lane & Liberty), (212) 587-8744