Bassanova Ramen - you don't need much to be much

J and I first read about Bassanova and their ramen burger in the magazine and online, hoping they would have it when we got there but instead they said they'll have it by the end of the month. Still wanting to try Bassanova out since it opened in the midst of Chinatown, we were curious how this place would work in such an inexpensive area. Mind you, their ramen average about $14 a bowl, it's expensive considering you can get a bowl of noodles around the corner for about $5.

We chose to sit by the bar, facing the open kitchen where the chefs were putting together the bowls of ramen. There were mountains of different size bowls in front of us making the preparation hard to see.

Different sizes for different type of ramen. They only have 3 dishes on the menu when we went but I heard they increased it to 6 now, including the dipping style ramen.

The utensils given to us were huge. The chopsticks were twice the size of your average chopstick and the spoon was heavy, made with true porcelain . But it was fun using these to slurp up my ramen anyways.

J had the Green Curry Ramen. The bowl was big, not much was packed in it but everything was really good. Green curry was definitely something different in the ramen industry. When it comes to green curry, we think of Thai and southern Asian countries so the medley with ramen brings it to a new level. The wavy ramen was delicious and fun to eat. There isn't much broth so when you order kae-dama (more ramen) that might be a problem but by itself, finishing the ramen and broth is easy-peasy, if you can handle the heat.

I had the Tondaku Wadashi Jilu Ramen, simple yet flavorful. The broth was rich and the straight noodles were cooked al dente. Even though I was only served a slice of pork, it was nicely charred and had a really good smoke to it. Bamboo shoots were also really good, wished they gave more than just 3 strands. Yes, there's the problem of "not enough" broth again but realistically, how many people actually finishes the broth in a big bowl of ramen that has more than half a bowl of broth - not much.

I'm waiting for more items on their menu to return, especially the ramen burger.

Bassanova Ramen
76 Mott St
New York, NY 10013