Ramenwell

Ramen.  Not something I seek out.  Not even when in Tokyo.  But San Francisco has a decent ramen scene, although, again, not really what I seek out.  And yet I sought out Ramenwell, a ramen restaurant in the Mission.

"San Francisco's source for delicious ramen, beer, and sake. Best Ramen in the Mission."

I don't think Ramenwell would make it to the top of lists of best ramen in SF, as there are too many others that are far better known such as Ippudo, Mensho, Marufuku, Hinodeya (very good agadashi tofu, fyi), Waraku (which, by the way, has excellent takoyaki!), and more.  But, per their claim, it could be the best in Mission, as most others are in Japantown or further out.  Yelpers seem to like it, with 4 stars overall, and in particular, folks love that they have both vegan and gluten-free options.

The menu at Ramenwell obviously features ramen as the main attraction, available in signature pork ramen, but also a vegetarian mushroom one, and even a vegan version.  The base recipes for each bowl include some toppings, but you can add more on as you choose.  Or you can just get the add-ins on the side, which, um, of course I did.  There were more than 20 additions available, ranging from wakame to garlic confit to three different kinds of noodles (vegan, regular egg, gluten-free) and many, many more.  The thing is, even if ramen is what the restaurant is known for, it isn't really something I like all that much.  The rest of the menu however called out to me instantly.  I wanted tons of things, even from the relatively small menu.

For those who want something before their ramen, or, like me, wanted something other than ramen, there are a couple appetizer options, including basic edamame to munch on, or more exciting things like takoyaki, "fries with eyes" (yes, fried smelt), two kinds of bao, katsu chicken, and dumplings.  Besides the chicken, all sounded good to me.  I also don't understand how it fits in to the menu at all, but they also randomly have macaroni salad ... vegan macaroni salad at that.

And then, of course, you know me, no meal is complete without dessert.  And what a stunning dessert lineup they have.  Small, but, um, so very good.  First up, pudding.  But not just any pudding.  Rice pudding.  And not just any rice pudding.  *Ube* horchata rice pudding.  Zomg.  And then, soft serve ice cream.  And not just any soft serve ice cream.  *Taro* soft serve.  Double ZOMG.  If you know me, you know I love pudding, you know I love soft serve, and you know I love both ube and taro.  Seriously, ZOMG.

I didn't actually venture to the restaurant though, and opted for delivery, via Door Dash.  While ordering was easy, and I loved that they had all the extras available a la carte, including tons of sauces too, the delivery experience was pretty abysmal.  My Dasher got very, very lost, and spent 35 minutes circling my neighborhood.  And then got lost in my building.  Etc, etc.  It meant that more than an hour elapsed between the time he picked it up and I got it, and thus, it was clearly stone cold (at least I didn't order the soft serve ... I wanted to, but decided not to at last minute just due to delivery concerns ... it would have been such a disaster!).  My order was also missing an item, and missing the utensils I had requested.  So, um, delivery experience, not great.

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App: Dumplings. $8.34.

"Scallop, pork, shrimp, fried garlic, scallion, cilantro, side spicy sesame soy garlic sauce."

Rather than ramen, I opted for dumplings.  Technically an appetizer, they came 5 to an order.  Because of my loooong delivery time, the dumplings sadly were stone cold when they arrived, and completely stuck together.  Thus, I know my experience is not the same as if I had them actually at the restaurant, or even delivered in a reasonable time frame.   Once I dug them apart, I ended up re-steaming them, and even tossed one in my panini press try it crispy.

The dumplings were fine.  Average.  Well formed, sealed, and stuffed with a filling that was a mix of scallop, pork, and shrimp, all ground.  The mix worked well actually, and I liked how some bites tasted more like a classic pork dumpling, and others had a fishy nature.  The wrappers were reasonable thickness.  There didn't seem to be any herbs or seasoning in them, so, although the mix of proteins was interesting, they were a bit bland.

The toppings, pickled red onion, scallions, and fried garlic were a bit lost due to my needing to reheat the dumplings - the fried garlic had long since gotten soggy anyway.  The sauce on the side wasn't particularly great, but it was slightly spicy, slightly soy, and had sesame seeds in it.  I didn't taste any garlic.

I'd call these highly average, and I wished for a bit more flavor, either to the filling, or to the sauce.  I jazzed them up at home with more fried garlic and onion, and some chili crisp.  I don't see a reason to get these again, but if I ever wound up at the restaurant and wanted dumplings, I'd consider them.  The price was reasonable for 5 big dumplings.

***.

Side: Vegan Macaroni Salad. $4.74.

I really don't understand why Ramenwell has macaroni salad on the menu, as I can't imagine pairing ramen and macaroni salad, but, I love macaroni salad (even cheap mass produced deli ones), so I was thrilled to see it on the menu.  I ordered it to go with my lunch the next day.

The portion was quite reasonable, and I used a scoop per day for two days alongside my lunch.  It was fine macaroni salad.  The pasta was not too soft, it was creamy but not over dressed.  I did hope that it would have some kind of interesting element to it, a Japanese twist, even a sprinkle of furikake, or chopped up bits of Japanese pickles or something, but it was fairly plain.  I needed to jazz it up a bit. ***.

Interestingly, they choose to make this vegan, again, just like the existence of the macaroni salad on the menu in the first place, it seems like an odd choice.  I didn't mind though, as it didn't taste like "fake mayo".

The Door Dash price of $4.75 still seemed reasonable given the generous portion, but it is only $3.95 at the restaurant.

Side: Fried Enoki Mushrooms. $3.54.

Ramenwell has more than 20 extras you can add on to ramen bowls, or, even just get as a side.  I kinda love extras, and wanted many of them, including at least 4-5 of the sauces.  I settled on just one random extra to add to my order though: fried enoki mushrooms.  I'm so glad I did, as these were the highlight of my meal.

These were super crispy.  All stuck together, but in a good way, it made them fun to eat.   Really well seasoned, salty, "chef's palette" level of salt.  You could see salt glistening on them.  Clearly fried, greasy in a good way.  Did I mention, so crispy? 

Basically, just a joy to munch on, satisfying my immediate desire to eat something while I heated up my dumplings, but also very satisfying in a fried sense, and a super salty sense.  Comforting, slightly unique, and quite tasty.  It seems like it would be a shame to submerge these in ramen, and I think they were tasty just to munch on, or, as I did with a few, crumble on top of my dumplings and macaroni salad for a bit of texture and salt.

I'd definitely get these again, and would even probably make it a double order so I'd have more for the next day.  ****+.

The portion was small, but it was just an add-on, not a real dish.  The Door Dash price of $3.54 did seem a touch high, and they are only $2.95 directly from the restaurant.

Dessert: Ube Horchata Rice Pudding. $7.14.

And then, of course, my dessert.  While I really did want the taro soft serve, and people rave about it, I knew better than to get soft serve delivered.  Plus, I do love pudding, and rice pudding, and people do rave about the ube horchata rice pudding too.  It sounded like perfect comfort food.

I took my first few bites, and was underwhelmed.  The ube flavor was really quite mild.  It also seemed most likely to come from either powder or possibly extract, as there was no real visible ube in it, and it was too purple to be the real deal.  Most ube or taro milk tea has considerably more flavor.  I was really expecting, and hoping for, something far more intense in the ube department, and I had hoped for chunks of ube too.  So, the ube part?  Definitely a let down.  At least it wasn't cloying sweet.

The "horchata" part was also underwhelming, but that I didn't mind.  I thought the cinnamon would clash with the ube anyway.  I think the only cinnamon was just what you could see on top.

And then, the rice pudding itself.  It was a slightly odd style, made of chopped bits of rice, no full grains.  Tiny bits of rice.  Slightly al dente, which I did appreciate, but I wanted bigger grains of rice.  It wasn't a thick and rich and creamy pudding, rather, more of a thin style.  Almost frothy on top.  

I mostly just found it boring.  No strong ube, nor other, flavor.  No thick creamy pudding.  No interesting texture.  It just ate kinda plain.  I jazzed it up, adding fresh kiwi, white chocolate crispearls, whipped cream, and hunks of waffle cone, and then did enjoy it, but, on its own, just, plain.  I probably wouldn't get it again. ***.

The portion was reasonable, and only $5.95 at the restaurant, but it felt small for the delivery price of $7.14.

Tamano Hikari Junmai Ginjo. $14.40.

Since Ramenwell prides itself on the beer and sake selection, it was no surprise they had a good lineup available for takeout.  I fairly randomly just picked a mid-priced ginjo from the lineup.

I'm not sure if it was cold when my Dasher got it, but, by the time it got to me, my can was room temp.