On a freezing winter night, the Black Knight and I ventured out for my favorite cold weather food – soup noodles. Ramen, pho, udon, beef noodle soup – it warms the soul from the inside out on the coldest of nights. Farm to table japanese food with pork belly to boot – sold!
So Bloom is the new re-incarnation of Showa, which was replaced by Le Petit Cocheon, which were just at a few weeks ago? Funny how things come back full circle… We sat up at the bar with friendly bartender Mike, who we loved, and was nice enough to chat with us about weird dreams and the chemistry of cooking alcohol. We asked, he delivered, every time. 🙂
Fried tofu – it’s not agedashi tofu, closer to the dense hard tofu, with what I want to call a miso sauce, but I’m sure was not (maybe yakitori?)
pork belly hotpot – mushrooms, cabbage, pork belly, and that umamai flavor; they bring out udon noodles half way through; hotpot is not easy to come by, so this was a treat
pork belly ramen – there’s a tofu option, but if you’re carnivore, you must try the pork belly. It is cooked to perfection – flavorful with just the right proportion of fat and meat, a nice solid piece of meat to bite through. The broth is a little on the salty side, but that’s what the noodles are for 🙂
The menu is fairly limited, but I could go back for either of our main entrees without even bothering to look at the menu. There’s something about ramen and hot-pot that will always draw me. And the kitchen is open until midnight every night, so I think we have a new spot to hit up for late night dinner.
SUMMARY
Overall: happily ever after
Highlights: pork belly anything
Footnotes: There weren’t very many people there on Saturday night, so it felt like we had the place to ourselves, however, I don’t expect it to stay this way for long; late night dining at its best; the Black Knight approves of their hot sake
