Hey Lovelies!
When I was in college, myself and several of my classmates survived on Top Ramen noodles! I’m pretty sure many of you can relate whether you attended college or not. It was a $0.10 staple to get you by when the fridge was looking bare! If you were anything like me, you “doctored” up your ramen by adding all sorts of toppings and protein! I loved adding chicken or shrimp, a little cheese, and scallions if I was feeling fancy! Remember I was a college student. I never would’ve thought that there would be an abundance of restaurant concepts, popping up, that specializes in craft ramen! Crane Ramen recently opened in Jacksonville and it’s been all the craze!
We started off with appetizers or OTSUMAMI which means “small snack” in Japanese.
Kimchi Brussels Sprouts
Roasted Brussels sprouts tossed with garlic mushrooms, lardons, and kimchi puree. These were some of the best Brussels sprouts I’ve ever eaten. They were perfectly flavored and had pieces of pork through out that were the perfect addition.
Chicken Steamed Buns
Kara-age chicken tossed in rayu mayonaisse and pickled radish. This was a nice starter. The buns were some of the softest pieces of bread I’ve ever eaten. The flavor of the chicken and mayo with the radish meshed together well. I’d definitely order them again.
House-made Kimichi
When I was a kid, there was nothing on this side of heaven that would get me to eat this. Thank God for a matured palette. I actually really like it! (It’s actually pretty good Mommy! lol)
The Ramen is craft and scratch made! At Crane, whenever possible, the meat, eggs, and poultry are local, and the vegetables come from farms with in a 100 mile radius.
SHIO
Sea salt favor ramen with a blended chicke and sadhi broth topped with snow crab, pork belly, six-minute egg, nori, enoki mushrooms, garlic oil, and scallions. This was my friend Christin’s ramen. She said it was good but needed more heat. I wouldn’t mind trying this ramen next time around for the crab meat alone!
PAITAN
Rich, ginger-scented chicken broth topped with confit lemon chicken, bok choy, oven-roasted tomato, soy-marinated egg, pickled onion, nori, and scallions. This was my friend Yuri’s ramen. It looked super safe and super healthy in my opinion. She got it without the egg and said she really enjoyed it that evening and again the next day for lunch.
SHOYU
This was made with soy sauce and chicken and dashi broth topped with pork chashu, bokeh hoy, soy marinated egg, menma,nori, saba oil, and scallions. I added pork belly for a couple of bucks because I mean….it’s pork belly and it was only a couple of bucks. I’m so glad I did because it was cooked to perfection and brought the entire dish together for me.
The ramen was cooked well! The noodles were perfectly al dente and there was lots of flavor. I will add though that the flavors were more developed when I had the rest for lunch the next day.
Macha Green Tea Ice Cream
This was the dessert for the evening. There is no dessert menu per say because they vary depending on the day. I didn’t taste it but if it was made with match green tea and orange zest, I imagine it was a very refreshing dessert.
Overall, I am very pleased with Crane! I really enjoyed the Otsumami and everything was reasonably priced. They recently opened and I believe restaurants get better and better with time. This was my first craft ramen experience and I look forward to going back!
Have you ever been to a craft ramen restaurant? Let me know in the comments below!
As always, thanks so much for stopping by!
XOXO
