Upon entering Zen Box Izakaya, you step into a bustling space and are immersed in the full, open kitchen concept with perfect views of the ramen chefs. You are immediately greeted in unison with, “Namaste” from the entire staff – which includes the sushi chefs, servers, hosts/hostesses – the whole shebang! Talk about a red carpet greeting! The strikingly rich and modern décor is laced with traditional Japanese-inspired art and masks, textured lighting, and an impressive bottle collection of featured beer, liquor, and sake sits on shelving atop the sushi bar window.
Like many Japanese restaurants, our table was equipped with an online order and pay system. Our table signage had a QR code at which you would utilize a QR reader on your phone to scan the code which pops up menu, and voila - you are ready to order! This no-fuss/no wait ordering is very efficient especially when you are short on time or if the restaurant and wait staff are busy helping other tables. Genius!
For a little variety, we ordered two different kinds of ramen to review.
Tonkotsu Ramen
Ingredients: heritage pork bone broth, pork chashu, kikurage, ajitama, menma, and mayu
Description: This creamy, broth was extremely flavorful, and jam packed with herbs and spices that are consistent with ramen – such as julienned wood ear mushrooms, thickly sliced bamboo shoots, garlic oil, and of course ramen noodles. For the final touches, I added pork chashu (braised pork) and my dish was garnished with a sliced seasoned egg, diced spring onions, and sesame seeds atop the pork chashu. After evenly stirring all parts of this ramen dish together, the combined taste of the first bite was a burst of spicy, savory flavoring with cooked to perfection noodles, and great tasting pork.
Mapo Tofu Mazemen
Ingredients: brothless ramen, mushroom blend, eggplant, tofu, doubanjian, Szechuan peppercorns
Description: This brothless ramen was a savory flavored heaven! Sitting atop the ramen noodle bed was the vegetarian blend of mushrooms, eggplant, and tofu carefully tossed in a spicy bean sauce, and with an added sneaky heat of Szechuan peppercorns. After mixing this masterpiece of ingredients, and taking that first bite, my mouth was invaded with a very salty and a sneaky heat of flavor goodness!
