Ramen (or "rahmen") and Fine Dining never crossed my mind as two words that can be associated with each other in one sentence; now "MIST?" proved me wrong this evening. This new establishment in Causeway Bay put itself right amongst the fine dining scene in Hong Kong with its specialty: Ramen of course. Ramen to me is something hearty and down-to-earth, just like burgers which is soul food without costing a fortune. Perhaps my belief is already outdated?
The decor was upscale indeed with leather bounded chairs (I assume they were leather) and utensils were hiding inside the drawer in front of each diners. A nice touch indeed.
However, 2 things I noticed which I disliked very much: (1) the menu smells, literally of unpleasant leather smells odor and the staff admits it! & (2) with approx 26 seats including bar seats, there were 6 waitstaff around, always one nearby which was kind of intimidating for me. (even when their service was attentive and friendly)
It is a very bold move indeed for it to offer only 5 variations of soup to go with a single type of Ramen (or "Rahmen") noodles. Each bowl came with only one single piece of pork and everything else is extra. There were some cold / hot side dishes but limited choices once again. We ordered the "Rahmen" Sushi to start with and it was lovely in term of presentation with 4 metal spoons holding sushi like pieces made of ramen noodles topped with different items. Honestly, not overly spectacular or extraordinary at all, the flavors + textures were very predictable in a sense.
I ordered the ume shio "rahmen" (plum) with an extra boiled egg which looked very pretty. The noodles were relative thin and soft compared with those I tried before. According to the information leaflet provided, three types of flours were used to make this special noodles and over 25 ingredients for the soup as well. Personally I prefer the more chewy and thicker types of noodles. The soup on the other hand was wonderful with the right level of saltiness to it and hints of citrus flavor from the ume (plum). Two Thumbs up on the soup!!!
Thanks to my brother who held up the noodles for me to take this picture.
The one and only piece of BBQ pork was semi-fatty in a delicious way and the boil egg was good with yolk flowing out.
Likes:
- Great soup base, not too salty, just the right amont.
- (semi-dislike) very unique noodles but rather too soft and too thin for my liking
- Attentive service
- Rather costly for a bowl of hearty ramen.
- Although service was great, too many waitstaff within the limited space, privacy was a concern in my case.
MIST? Rahmen Fine Dining 創作麵工房
G/F, 4 Sun Wui Road, CWB
Tel: +852 2881 5006
http://www.mist.com.hk/
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Update 23 Feb 2010:
After my months of ramen quest in Hong Kong, there are only a few that I would return and (1) Noodle House Ippei-An 麵屋一平安 @ Miramar Shopping Centre remains to be one of my favorite joints despite the recent setbacks. I am yet to try its Elements outlet and will update the experience here accordingly. My other favorite ramen joints are (2) Sapporo Japanese Restaurant 札幌元祖北海道拉麵 @ Forum, (3) Yachiyo Ramen 八千代麵坊 @ Noho. Let the Ramen quest continues!
7 comments:
I have a fair bit of trouble with their noodles here too. It just doesn't taste of anything much plus its boiled too soft. What a pity, as the rest of the bowl is pretty awesome! Problem applied to both #26 and #18 noodles.
I can't work out why they can't see this as a problem - its too much like Shanghainese 'wui min'! : P
I also had the shio-ume ramen, and I still think about it. Light, refreshing and yet full of flavour. The ume was perfect, as was the soft-boiled egg :) Did think that there could have been more soup, though - the bowls seemed too small for the volume of noodles.
@BABEDOLPHIN @Charmine: yeah! kind of ironic that in a ramen shop, the items I like the most were not the noodles but the soup and other side items. HAHA ...
Perhaps their noodles are the new trend? a New breed of the ramen?
u know i posted in my blog before on MIST?, but I was quite disappointed that time ..think it'll only be my first and last time there.their texture of ramen are too soaky for me..soup was not enough for my bowl last time and it was bit too salty. I dont mind to pay a bit more if it is a really good one, but sorry..not my type of ramen.
@Greentea00: I guess I was lucky that the soup was good (not overly salty) but yes the noodles were not the type I prefer either. I prefer the so-called traditional ramen with a chewy texture to it. I might go again to try their other soup bases but I really doubt the ramen / noodles would have much difference unfortunately.
I just came back from having ramen at Sapporo near IFC and those were the types I prefer. I think the most important thing is that ramen is a hearty food for everyone at a fair price and should not cost a fortune in my opinion.
ate here at babedolphin's recommendation. ordered miso rahmen and loved the soup! can't say much about the noodles though. btw, that's a great shot of the egg!
@Jin: the egg? thanks to my dear brother for the nice shot! :)
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