B goes through phases. First, he was obsessed with loco mocos. Mmm, makes sense. He is from Hilo where there’s a place called Cafe 100. They claim to have made the first loco moco. After that, it was burgers. Then prime rib. But ever since I took him to Japan, his #1 absolute most favorite food has been ramen.
It’s a good thing that we’ve got such a huge Japanese population in Hawaii! There’s ramen everywhere! Here are our favorite spots.
1. Goma tei
By far, our favorite. Goma tei is a bit different than traditional Japanese (they give baby bok choy with their dishes as a garnish) but it’s DELICIOUS. Their signature item is a semi-spicy sesame flavored broth called “Tan Tan.” In Japan, B and I stumbled into a real ramen shop (we just beat the horde of office workers looking for lunch) and we had “Dan Dan” and whooooo boy. That thing was flavorful but SUPER spicy! Goma tei’s Tan Tan has all of the flavor of the Dan Dan but it’s a lot more pleasant to eat.
I like that they give the baby bok choy–vegetables are always good in my book. I like the texture of the noodles also. They aren’t too chewy and they’re not too soft. Delicious! My default order is the Vegetable Tan Tan because they give lots of Japanese mushrooms. B always gets the char siu Tan Tan (non-spicy. he’s allergic to spicy things). They cook the char siu the real Japanese way–boiled forever and then grilled to bring out the flavors.
Goma Tei has two locations: Ala Moana and Ward. We prefer the Ward location (I’m the Duchess on Yelp, yeah!) but the Ala Moana restaurant has waaay more tables. Both locations are styled the same–cool, modern interiors with a focus on a super neat ramen bar.
Goma Tei Ramen
Ala Moana Center
1450 Ala Moana Blvd
Honolulu, HI 96814
(808) 947-9188
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