Menkui-Tei
63 Cooper Square
(East Village right off St. Mark’s Place)
New York, NY 10003
(212) 228-4152
60 W 56th St
(between 5th Ave & Avenue Of The Americas)
New York, NY 10019
(212) 757-1642
Remember your old college days when you bought a whole case of Top Ramen for a dollar and thats what you lived off of for the entire 4 years (or 2 years shout out to Associates Degree holders! lol)…and you vowed never to touch, talk about, look at or think about ramen ever again?
WELL ITS TIME TO BREAK THAT VOW! Because what you had my friend, was not REAL ramen! That was bootleg ramen! The ramen you were eating was equivalent to a bootleg DVD…complete with babies crying in the background and silhouettes with big hair walking by with buckets of popcorn. Allow me to introduce you Menkui-Tei! The place to go, if you want PREMIUM Ramen! The only time I’ve had better ramen was when I was in Japan! But if you dont feel like catching a 14 hour flight, you can get your metrocard and take a 14 minute (give or take) train ride to the East Village.
Menkui-Tei has the most delicious ramen that I have had in New York so far! They have so many different types to choose from, youll want to go back every day to try each one! From, Soy Sauce, to Wonton-Men, to Sutamina you will not be disappointed! And for those of you (and by “you” I mean “us”) who like to mix and match, they even have a full menu of things that you can add to your ramen! Sometimes one ramen dish has the broth that you like, but the other ramen dish has the meat you like and another one has the dumplings you like! Well check out the “extras” menu and get them all thrown into one bowl!
Aside from ramen they have a full menu of other dishes like curry chicken, fried rice (very good!), and traditional Japanese dishes that I dont remember the names of! But forget about that stuff! Just stick with the ramen! You cant go to a NOODLE shop and not have noodles! You can grab a few appetizers like edamame, gyoza or fried chicken, but you really dont need side dishes. The bowl of ramen is so huge, it will keep you full for the rest of the day! My favorite is the Sutamina! My friend Yuni put me onto that! Its very tasty and has a slight hint of spice thats not too overwhelming, so even you wusses can eat it! It has a nice amount of scallions, delicious sliced pork, and veggies. With my sutamina I like to add a boiled egg (or 2), and wontons! Its so good, youll never look at top ramen the same again!
The only drawback is you could probably get about 12 thousand packs of top ramen for the price of one bowl of ramen at Menkui-Tei! This place is not cheap! I mean its not expensive but, a bowl of ramen goes from 9 to 12 dollars. And if you add extras it can get pretty steep! Mine ends up being about 15 bucks because I add wontons which is about 3 bucks, and boiled eggs which are about a dollar each! wtf! a dollar for one egg! I feel like smuggling in my own boiled eggs! I can get a whole DOZEN for those prices!
In general 9-12 dollars is not a steep price, but when you hear 12 dollars for ramen I bet the first thing you say is “FOR SOUP?!!?!?!?”…..YEAH FOR SOUP! Its worth every penny! Its authentic ramen and its cheaper than the thousand+ dollars it would cost you to fly to Japan for authentic ramen! Its a great place to go with your friends. The restaurant is clean and neat, not very big, but they fit a decent amount of people comfortably! They also play great music! The Menkui-Tei “DJ” is a better deejay than some of the deejay’s ive heard spinning at clubs! They play everything from old school hip hop and pop, to the some of the BETTER new stuff. Its fun to hear the throwbacks while you slurp your ramen!
Menkuite has two locations but my favorite is the one in the Village. The one in the Village plays the cool music and they have more to choose from on the menu. Also, the location in Midtown is more crowded and cramped and its so damn hot and sweaty in there that I dont know if Im eating soup or if Im IN the soup!
Overall, Menkuite is one of my favorite places to go with my friends. Its cozy and cute and youll walk out with a full belly and a warm spirit every time!
