An impromptu day-long adventure to Philly left two tired and hungry travelers scouring for food. That is until we stumbled upon Yamitsuki Ramen shop located near Chinatown. Usually, Chinatown is the food destination for many, but located right outside Philly’s Chinatown is Yamitsuki Ramen, the new ramen spot hitting Philly. What caught our eyes and for many others searching for food is the GIANT Iron Man suit in plain sight.
Photo by Herman Li
Walking in, you see a new wooden and brightly light restaurant complete with a bar dishing out classic drinks like bubble tea and other non alcoholic drinks. Near the back of the space you get a glimpse of the magic happening in the kitchen. You’ll spot a painting of some iconic Japanese Anime characters eating ramen with the staff and people from the nearby store, TeaDo, a popular bubble tea shop.
Photo by Herman Li
Lets get down to what matters the most: the food. To drink, I got the watermelon slush and my friend got the Yamitsuki Lemonade. The watermelon slush was made with real watermelon, none of that watermelon powder. The taste was very refreshing considering how weary we were from our adventures. The Yamitsuki Lemonade is made from organic rishi tea, lemon, and mint. The taste was also very refreshing with that kick of mint in the drink.
Photo by Herman Li
We ordered some pork buns for our appetizer. This Taiwanese specialty has been served everywhere including the famous Momofuku restaurants. These pork buns can only be described as heavenly. The buns were filled with melt-in-your-mouth pork belly, lettuce, pickled daikon, cucumber, and spicy mayo.
Photo by Herman Li
For our main entree, we both ordered ramen. I ordered the Shio ramen with pork chasu and onsen tamago (soft poached egg). The chicken-based ramen broth wasn’t too heavy in taste, which has been a problem with some of the ramen I’ve tried. The pork chasu is the same melt-in-your-mouth pork belly used in the pork buns. The ramen included some of the other typical toppings including Naruto (fish cake), cabbage, bean sprouts, and scallions. Other toppings you could top your ramen include the a variety of veggies, inari tofu, nitatamago (seasoned soft boiled egg), and fire bomb (for you spicy food lovers).
Photo by Herman Li
At this point, we were stuffed we barely made it through the ramen, but they do offer snow ice and tofu cheesecake for dessert. Our total came to about $36 without tip, a very reasonable price for a dinner for two, especially considering how much we ate. Yamitsuki Ramen is definitely a place to try and delivers on expectations especially considering a new restaurant. If you’re in the Philly area, skip the Reading Terminal Market and head over to Yamitsuki Ramen for a meal you won’t forget.