Mini Chicago Ramen Tour

Thanks everyone for their inputs on which ramen spots to check out in Chicago. With all the great food in Chicago, i was only able to try 3 ramen spots.

1/3) Santouka in Mitsuwa
I've had the tonkotsu ramen here a while back, but this is my first time getting it with shio. Before I had it with shoyu, it was good but not something I remember as amazing. But this time with the shio tare (shio is the normal tare with southern style tonkotsu), and it was AMAZING! So flavorful. Savory and clean pork flavors, umami, and slightly sweet. This flavor profile reminds me of some good bowls of tonkotsu ive had in japan. Rating: 5/5 🔥

2/3) Chicago Ramen (original location in Des Plaine)
A lot of folks reccomend this spot for their tsukemen, and being by mitsuwa, I did a big back, back to back, mission. The tsukemen uses their pork broth, red and white miso, and some pork back fat. It also had an upfront peanut flavor. This bowl was smokey (cooked in wok), had a strong and nice upfront miso salt and flavor, fatty, and upfront yet lingering nutty peanut flavor. Imagine a Thai peanut sauce, but more complex and on another level. The noodles were lovely, thicker and a great bite. Take my rating as a grain of salt, because sadly im not a big fan of peanuts (i.e. i like to eat pad thai without peanuts, i hate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches). Rating: 3.5/5. Just personally not my cup of tea due to the peanut flavor, but it is a solid tsukemen. The broth does get addictive over time. Adding a scoop or their chilli and garlic also makes the broth more complex.

3/3) High Five Ramen
High Five have been on my try list for a while now, since I've seen them being covered by foodie channels on YouTube. A small and dark shop. I got their signature tonkotsu with a quarter of the spice. I like to describe this as… a dirty tonkotsu (opposite of Santouka). A spiced up and dark tonkotsu broth (they also add in miso). Upfront spice, salt, and porkiness. I like the quarter spice because i can enjoy the upfront yet complex flavors. Slowly mouth numbing the more you eat the bowl. Rating: 4/5. 👍

It's crazy to say that… i think Santouka is now my favorite bowl of Tonkotsu (shio) in the states. Next time I'm in Chicago I have on my list still… Akahoshi Ramen, Monster Ramen, Rudys Ramen, Birdman Ramen, and Wasabi Ramen. I have tried Oiistar way back and remember it being a solid and good tonkotsu (no rating as it was so long ago). I have also tried Rakkan Ramen (their location in LA, but I saw they opened a location in Chicago) and when I ate their chintan Shoyu in LA (i believe its called The Amber), it was amazing and full of umami (rating: 5/5). Thanks all. ❤️