There are several restaurants that when mentioned, it’s a given that dinner plans will end up there, no contest. Ani Ramen, the local ramen shop that has taken North Jersey by storm is one such restaurant. Ani Ramen opened its first brick-and-mortar in Montclair and has quickly become known as one of the best Japanese ramen houses in the area — expanding quite rapidly to Jersey City, Westfield, and other North Jersey towns. Read on to learn more about Ani Ramen.
How did Ani Ramen get its start in Montclair?
In case you’re new to the world of ramen, it’s a traditional Japanese soup dish made with noodles and either meat, chicken, seafood (or veggies), in delicious beef or veggie broth. (Be warned: you’ll get vicious cravings for it, especially when you have a hankering for soup in the winter months.) Check out what we ordered (and what we loved) when we visited Ani Ramen.
With cocktails in hand, we hopped over to appetizers — one of them was the night’s salad special, one was the crispy gyoza, and one was the shrimp buns.
But really, we need to tell you about these shrimp buns. Simply telling you they are made with tempura shrimp, shredded cabbage + pickled cucumber with sake soy glaze doesn’t quite do them justice, but telling you we wanted to order about 17 more might get close.
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And now, let’s have ramen talk. We got the No. 6 Ani Ramen (traditional pork bone broth, soy tare with chashu pork, kakuni, spinach, kikurage + scallions), and the No. 3 Spicy Miso (classic chicken broth, miso tare with chashu pork, kakuni, bean sprouts seasoned with roasted chili oil). If your only experience with ramen is out of a styrofoam cup with boiling water, you are in for a very welcomed awakening because you’ll really enjoy these tasty and hearty dishes.
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But if you’re a bit of a ramen connoisseur, then call the Uber STAT and get over to Ani. The broth isn’t overly oily (like some –ahem – other ramen houses in the area), the noodles are hearty, and all the veggies are fresh. The flavor is a little spicy, a little sweet, and because it’s not oily, the broth is (for lack of a better word) — clean. Serious nom.
BTW, April 4th (today) is National Ramen Noodle Day. So if you didn’t already have a reason to indulge in some Ani tonight, let it be known that there’s a national holiday you’ll be missing out on. Happy celebrating (and sipping)!
