Karma Ramen

Review

The ramen shop

Photo: Heribert Corn There are quite a few people who are completely crazy about Japanese instant noodle soups, almost addicted. It's hard to say why, but it's certainly not because of the great movie "Tampopo". Because it doesn't necessarily make you crave instant soup, but praises the fine art of simplicity. On the other hand, good ramen used to be hard to come by in Vienna, so perhaps the soup powder with the dry noodles has become a substitute drug. Who knows, but that may be over now, not least because of the three friends Daniil Sleptsov, Boris Strelnikov and Igor Kuznetsov, three Russians who met in Vienna and at some point had a three-hour wait at some airport, during which the trained interpreter Igor Kuznetsov confessed that he thought Japanese cuisine was great and that it was time to open a ramen restaurant in Vienna.
So they did, in the former Morrisson Club on Rechte Wienzeile, a place that, with Aming Dim Sum Profi, the fantastic Asian store Shao Yong and Xie Hong's Chinabar an der Wien, should somehow already be a good place for somewhat hipper Asian cuisine. They spent three months renovating, bringing in lanterns, bamboo canes, Japanese film posters and, above all, a Japanese noodle machine that doesn't look like one but weighs 700 kilos. Igor Kuznetsov did a ramen internship in Japan, visited ramen schools and ate in the ramen restaurants where most people queued up. There hasn't been such a fun, relaxed, everyday Japanese restaurant as Karma Ramen for a long time, certainly not since Mochi, perhaps not even since Haizaki-san no omise in Schleifmühlgasse, and that was 15 years ago. What you must and should eat here, of course, is ramen. The "Karma Dragon", for example, a creation by Igor, is based on a chicken soup-dashi mixture with chopped, fried chicken (lots of skin, like chicken grams), leek, a little yuzu for freshness and some chili oil for temperament (€ 9.90). After that, you're full. And you can't eat ramen according to European table manners - slurping and drinking out of the bowl are obligatory. If you're not in the mood for ramen, there are also a few "dry" noodle dishes or a few great examples of Japanese izakaya cuisine, such as really good gyoza with pork filling (€ 4.50) or beef tongue marinated in dashi with wasabi sticks - as great as it is difficult to eat with chopsticks (€ 6.10). A few designer cocktails are also mixed, but don't miss the Hitachino Nest beers from the Japanese sake brewery Kiuchi. No sushi here, by the way. Summary: A tiny, quirky club has been transformed into a tiny, rather great than quirky restaurant with everyday Japanese cuisine. Karma Ramen 5th, Rechte Wienzeile 2A Tel. 0680/321 68 38 Tue-Sat 11.30-14.30, 18-23 h

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