The Dudes of Food

Ramen Kagura
Calle de las Fuentes, 1, 28013 Madrid
http://www.ramenkagura.com/index.html

I want to break out in sweat as broth steams into my face. And to feel really full, and really thirsty from the salt. Please, let my shirt inundate with broth drippings. Where can I find a big bowl of Ramen in Madrid? 

Ramen Kagura is smack in the middle of downtown by Plaza Mayor and hits the dangling noodle spot. It’s not the fanciest, most authentic, most blah blah Japanese noodle soup restaurant, but it’s cheap in cost, rich in flavor, and the portions are huge. 

On weekday lunches, you’ll find lines pouring out onto the sidewalks as Madrileños (peeps living in the Big Jamón, a term I just made up) patiently wait for the 10-euro lunch special: An appetizer of gyoza dumplings, a bowl of ramen (200 grams, which is plenty), a drink, and dessert. 

Beyond the special lunch deal, known in Spain as a menu del día (or menu for locals), you can get a bowl of ramen for 9 euros and double the noodles (400 grams) for only one euro more. I can barely finish the double and I fancy myself a serious eater.  

Be warned, the spicy sauce is not spicy. It’s more like a parsley-based Argentine Chimichurri sauce, a clever use of Spain’s popular mild, flat-leaf parsley varietal, which goes surprisingly well in the noodle soup. The broth’s on the lighter side, meaning, not too fatty, to please the Spanish palate. I found the noodle to broth ratio to be a little off with the 400-gram double noodles filling most of the bowl. But hey, pick your poison, hungry reader, and think of how much that same 400-gram bowl might cost in Tokyo. 

Each ramen dish comes with a wedge of lemon, another testament to Ramen Kagura’s respect for local ingredients. The citrus might not seem authentically Japanese (whatever that means), but hipster Tokyo ramen houses like Rinsuzu Shokudo have been introducing lemon to “healthify” their soups for the past few years, so you could think of Kagura as avant garde. And it’s not nearly as weird as Northern Japanese ramen served with canned corn. 

Dude Tip: Stay simple. Pick salt or miso broth and avoid the monthly specials, which might include mountains of cabbage or spicy Korean-inspired flavors.