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After a long wait, Sun Noodle's Ramen Lab is tantalizingly close to opening. Recipe testing and previews are underway after Con Ed finally paid the tiny space on Kenmare a visit around Thanksgiving. The 10 seat counter will double as a restaurant and educational facility, schooling New Yorkers in the ways of ramen. To get started, it looks like there will be just three ramens on the menu: a traditional shoyu, a veggie ramen, and a seasonal special (the tsukemen and mazemen promised back in September are out, at least for now). The traditional is topped with one piece of pork, what appears to be fermented bamboo shoots, some greens, and a single sheet of nori. All bowls are of course made with custom noodles from Sun Noodle's Jersey factory.
Thank you, @RamenLab for opening your kitchen and welcoming us in for a bowl this afternoon! ❤️ #sunnoodles pic.twitter.com/955IDLhz0t
— C.B. Cebulski (@CBCebulski) December 16, 2014
Master at work! @chefnakamura preparing #ramen @sunnoodles #RamenLab #comingsoon #sunnoodles Thanks @CBCebulski pic.twitter.com/9oCluzlen5
— hungrycarly (@CarlaSiegel) December 17, 2014
Thin-skinned gyoza pan-fried together into a fan — which Danny Bowien's also been testing out and is on the menu at Ganso and a couple other places — might also make the menu. And — because mason jars are so 2012 — all of the beverages come in beakers, reports Eataku.
Previews are continuing through next week, and the lab should open sometime early in the new year.
While waiting on that, check out how those noodles are made:
