Midtown Lunch

After weeks of random on again/off again lunch service testing, and a two weekend Coachella pop up with sister restaurant Egg Slut, Ramen Champ is now officially open for lunch in the same Chinatown mall that houses Pok Pok and Chego.  The menu is pretty simple. For $10 you can get the vegetarian shitake shio ramen, topped with scallions, roasted mushrooms, and a seasoned egg.

Or the build your own bowl thing they served at Coachella.  You start by picking between rice, mushroom mazeman noodles, or kale salad for your base.  And, yes, they will do half and half on the base if you ask.

Then you choose between shredded pork, lime chicken, curried fingerling potatoes, or the deep fried mushrooms that are an appetizer on the dinner menu.  Sadly they won’t do half and half on these, but for $4 more you can add a second topping if you want.  The poached lime chicken is better then it was at Coachella, and you can never go wrong with pork, but don’t sleep on the deep fried mushrooms.

They’re pretty excellent.  The bowl is then finished with bean sprouts, scallion ribbons, shredded carrots, sesame seeds, togarashi, and that perfectly cooked, of-course-it’s-good-because-you-also-own-Eggslut seasoned egg.  The ramen might not be perfected just yet, but I don’t see how anybody could not like the mazeman noodle bowl topped with fried mushrooms.

No word on whether or not more of the dinnertime ramen options will be added to the lunch menu in the future, or if there are any more planned changes- but we’ve got our fingers crossed for this tantanmen. According to Eater, they won’t be doing lunch this weekend but starting Monday lunch service will be 7 days a week.

Ramen Champ, 727 N Broadway. 213-316-8595