Miso Ramen

MANILA, Philippines — I chanced upon this new Japanese noodle place on Shaw Blvd. corner Ideal Street near Wack Wack on my way to Edsa from San Juan. The dining room built on clean spartan lines has a view of a spotless kitchen with a noodle making area which highlights the whole theme of this restaurant.

The menu explains the concept of Koshi. That the Japanese who are crazy and passionate about noodles are always looking for KOSHI. It is that sweet state of a noodle that is tender and chewy, firm but not hard with resistance to the bite. The restaurant states in its tenet that the only way to ensure the noodles are Koshi is to make them fresh in the store every day. Thus, the free standing noodle machine with its cutters surrounded by an armory of rolling pins. Moshi Koshi’s menu further states that there are only simple rules to follow in order to enjoy your Koshi noodles: eat them as fast as possible; slurping is allowed and even encouraged. (The science of having the broth stream through the length of the noodle plus the immediate flight of flavor to the nasal passages and mucous membranes is also practiced) by wine tasters who slurp their wines to imbibe some air into the tasting process.

So I decided to check out what I thought of was a very basic, almost too standard menu that had gotten me a little skeptical as there were two of us in the order line. The typical Ramen, Soba, Udon, Fried Noodles, Don buri, curry and bento box meals on its menus didn’t really excite me as I felt I was inside a mall restaurant. The only thing going was the anticipation and hope that the house-made noodles would truly make a difference.

It surely did because I’ve been back another couple of times, coming out smiling because the prices are also quite reasonable.

The selections at Moshi Koshi, though predictably standard, are well executed. The broth of the miso ramen is nutty with a tasty pork dimension topped with a fish cake and freshly slivered chashu pork. The ramen had a bite that was just right and springy. It was absolutely fresh. (The worse would be ramen houses with noodles that hint of ammonia or starch breakdown.) Another day, a sampling of Shio butter corn hit its mark as a slice of butter melted on the clear broth and brought richness to the noodles and sweet kernels of corn. My next trials focused on the thick udon and the soba that did pass with flying colors. The udon took on the soy and hondashi based broth as I quickly ate the two tempura prawns toppings on the bowl as I didn’t want these to get soggy. The soba also had more bite than the ramen.

The Tendon or Tempura topped rice was decent and so was the beef curry although I would have preferred a bolder curry mix. One can’t complain because the price is reasonable and the inclusion of some “sidings” on their menu would give more variety to one’s meal. I like their potato salad, well in fact, let’s put it that I like Japanese potato salad. What seems to be a half mashed mass of potato with mayo and vegetables that gives you this bridge to juvenile textures is a dish I always order at Japanese snack and ramen houses. The agedashi is a yardstick standard agedashi tofu with a silky interior, a small order of Gyoza is just right as many ramen houses give you about seven to eight pieces that a single diner cannot consume. Overall, Moshi Koshi scores points on flavor, value and hours of operation as it gives people a chance to have a late night snack or dinner as it closes at 12 midnight. Since it is inevitable that the menu design leans to chain expansion, it is with great hope that it can keep its stature and quality as the restaurant that proudly states “Noodle boss”.

You can e-mail me at

chefgenegonzalez@yahoo.com