The ramen wave in Seattle is still going strong, after Santouka, second Kukai, Arashi and Jin Ya, two other ramen stores opened their doors on the east side.
Ramen Bushi-do is in Issaquah.
I was super excited with this place because the menu looked interesting.
The dish I was dying to try was the fish tsukeman.
Broth was very strong in bonito flavor, noodle was nice and thick.
The other attractive-looking dish was the salmon cold noodle.
Noodle was good, flavor was ok.
I had mechanical issue with the dish: why were the salmon and vegetables diced?
With every bite, the diced ingredient fell through the gaps of the noodle; then, I had to pick up the diced vegetables from the plate.
I would prefer the vegetables to be julienned, and perhaps salmon in larger chunks.
It looked great on presentation, but difficult to eat.
On the appetizers, gomae did not have enough sesame flavor and was too wet.
The “appetizer” of marinated bean sprouts were ok.
Chicken karaage was fried nice and crisp, but it came with a Chinese salt and pepper dipping sauce for Chinese steamed salted chicken, not Japanese at all.
We opted for the low sodium version of the Tonkotsu ramen which, perhaps was a mistake.
The sodium level was just right for our taste, but the flavor was weak.
There was the thickness from the collagen of the bone broth, but without flavor, a little strange.
By comparison to Ramen Bushi-do, Yoshi Ramen in Bellevue had a much smaller menu.
On the first visit, I had the yuzu ramen with chicken soup.
It had a fragrant grapefruit/citrus flavor in a light chicken broth, very delightful.
Their #1 noodle was the Jiro noodle with pork, and tons of bean sprouts.
The broth had a deep, garlicky flavor, little salty but still good.
Pork was tender, and noodle had the perfect chewy texture.
A note on their noodle, they were not the typical ramen noodle: a lot thicker, almost like Chinese noodle, and I absolutely found the bouncy texture enjoyable.
Some people online did not like their broth because it was not thick.
It did not bother me one bit.
Being Chinese, I like brothy soup, and Ramen Yoshi’s broth was right down my alley.
Ramen Yoshi’s shining star was their mazenmen.
Dan Dan, spicy flavor with ground pork, delicious and addictive.
For appetizers, chicken karaage was fried very well, and marinated flavorfully with lots of garlic, exactly how I like them.
The fried squid was also very good, tender and crisp.
I am partial to Ramen Yoshi in this round of ramen versus.
