I heard that Setagaya had opened in the basement of D-Cube City in Sindorim, so I went to check it out. Setagaya is a proper seafood-broth ramen shop that’s hugely popular in Tokyo. Business has been booming so much that they’ve opened quite a few branches. Korea has a handful of tonkotsu ramen specialists, but I never expected this kind of new-wave Japanese ramen to make it here.
The Setagaya sign
It looks a lot like the sign at their Haneda Airport shop, too.
Curry
Ramen shops in Japan often sell curry or chashu-don as side dishes, and this place has curry too. I ordered it out of curiosity, and it’s really good. The portion of curry felt a little small, but I guess I should just be happy that I can eat proper B-grade Japanese curry in Korea.
Tonkotsu ramen, niboshi shoyu ramen, yaki gyoza
Shoyu is their specialty, so the shoyu was the best, and I was told the tonkotsu was above-average quality too. The gyoza were tasty as well.
Curry and chashu-don
The curry was satisfying, but the chashu in the chashu-don was a bit dry.
Shoyu ramen
With the extra toppings it looks pretty fancy. The broth is a bit thinner than in Japan, but I’m just grateful I can get niboshi ramen this good in Korea.
Tonkotsu
This one had no extra toppings, but I hear it tastes better than it looks. If Ippudo let you down, Setagaya could be a good alternative.
Yaki gyoza
Compared with Japan… it’s just ordinary, but if you don’t compare, it beats most gyoza specialists.
Beer
I drank it with ice floating in it. First time I’ve ever put ice in beer, but it was actually not bad.
I’m really glad there’s now a place in Korea where you can eat proper Japanese ramen at a reasonable price, but this visit was right after the opening, with Japanese staff in the kitchen, so that may be why it tasted like this. I’ll have to judge it again once things settle down, but for this visit, I had a really good meal.