Yummin’ Austin Ramen: Daruma

Everyone has gotten excited about the ramen excursions I’ve been doing for the Austinot. As a result, my ramen posse has expanded quite a bit. When Annie told me that the EIGHT people coming to Daruma might be difficult to accommodate, I didn’t realize how right she was.

If Daruma Ramen is the sister to Kome Sushi House, it is the LITTLE sister. Their space holds a grand total of 29 people, at two long tables and two high bars. Daruma can be found with a magnifying glass at 612-B East 6th St.

To Daruma’s credit, they fit our big party, even though we took up pretty much a whole table at primo lunch hour.

Types of Ramen at Daruma

There are four main kinds of ramen here, but the Daruma base starts off being different. They use whole chicken broth with partial tapioca (“Chijire”) weavy-style noodles. The tapioca doesn’t really taste different, but it does sit differently, a point I’ll come to later. Importantly, the noodles don’t include EGGS.

Daruma has Miso, Shoyu, Shio and a vegetable ramen. There are not any add-ons advertised. And, most likely due to the size of their space, there are not a lot of OTHER things on the menu besides ramen.

We tried their Onigiri (fish balls) and their croquettes. Both were…okay. The onigiri was a bit salty, and the croquettes were essentially…hash browns. Obviously delicious, as most things that are deep-fried tend to be.

There was beer and sake available, but it was lunch, lushes, and it was freezing outside. So all I really wanted was a hot drink. Which, sadly, they did not have (I specifically wanted hot tea).

The ramen was back to looking like hot noodle soup! A welcome return! And it really was very delicious, though it tasted entirely different than the Kome ramen.

It was fully evident that the two restaurants were very connected, since the napkins at our table said “Kome Sushi House” on them. But I was perplexed as to why/how the two places could taste so different!

I’m glad that everyone’s ramen was good, so our mouths were full and we didn’t need to chat with one another, because it would have been impossible. I’m sure if we’d been a smaller group, we could have just leaned in across the table to hear better. But when you’re eight people along a table full of hot soup, leaning in is…not smart.

But yes, it was noisy. It was small, and full of people, so if you’re someone who slurps soup and doesn’t want to be embarrassed about it, feel free to go to Daruma because no one will hear your slurping and you can save your dignity.

Bottom Line: The ramen here is super delicious. Don’t go with a big group.

 

@amalthya asks:

Of the four ramen spots I’ve reviewed, is Ramen Tatsu-Ya, Michi Ramen, Kome or Daruma your favorite?