When Manny's Neighborhood Grill closed this past June, a ramen shop swiftly took its place on George St near the College of Charleston campus. It's already well on it's way to becoming a new favorite among students downtown.
Menkoi Ramen House opened its second location on George St in downtown Charleston this past June. One of it's biggest draws is that it is open from 11am to 3am, providing another delicious option for the late night crowd who usually line up at Gilroy's and Sabatino's after a night on King St. A long night isn't what had me and a friend dropping in this past weekend though. We were hit by the need for a warming soup as the ultimate cold remedy just a few days before a busy semester kicked off, and with it's giant bowls of ramen with slices of pork or chicken, noodles, bean sprouts and spinach, Menkoi definitely delivered.
Priced at about $7 per bowl of soup, broke college students everywhere might balk at paying that much for something we can, presumably, make for less than a dollar in our coffee pot. This would be where we are wrong. This traditional bowl of a popular Japanese soup is so much more than what you get out of a standard plastic package and foil pouch. The stock used in making the soup is made with beef, chicken and pork, and most of the soups are served either with slices of chicken or marinated pork. For any of you with dietary restrictions against eating pork, you can substitute the broth for vegetable based and the pork slices for chicken upon request.
I decided to try the Shio Ramen, listed as number six on the menu and described as a salt based soup with yellow noodles, marinated pork, spinach, green onion, nori, beansprouts and boiled egg. The egg is soft boiled and sitting along side the noodles in the broth and the pork was just salty enough to remind me of eating country ham at breakfast. Except this was tender enough to break apart with chopsticks. Between that and the salty broth, it was exactly what I needed to soothe a bad cold. My friend was feeling the same way and went with the Chicken Ramen, a soy based soup with all the same sides but chicken instead of pork. While I didn't get to try it, she seemed to come to the same conclusion as me, that we had stumbled into one of our new favorite places here in Charleston.
Along with the great bowls of soup, Menkoi also offers plenty of extras to customize your meal, as well as some appetizers that I can't wait to go back and try. I'm wishing all the best to Menkoi Ramen House and hope they're here to stay. Look out for another post next week, I've been hearing great things about Freshii on King St and can't wait to share my experience there with y'all!
