Noodle is a common staple food in many cultures. It can be stretched flat, twisted, extruded and cut into the pipe, or in alphabet shape. With the difference in shape and ingredient, there might be hundreds of ways to cook noodle. In China, noodle is made by wheat and barley flour, in some area people use rice to make noodle. In Europe, pasta is made wheat flour and egg. Noodle is cooked in a boiling water, and pasta is cooked in boiling water with salt. This post will introduce a famous noodle restaurant near PITT.
Zen’s noodle house is a popular ramen restaurant, offering ramen, style rice, and yakisoba. The ramen is in firm texture, but it is extremely soft in soup. There are three types of soup: shoyu, shio, miso, and curry. Shoyu soup is based on vegetable, chicken or fish, and soy sauce. The soup is in a great balance of salty and tangy. Shio soup is closed to shoyu soup, but it is made by salt instead of soy sauce. Miso soup tastes sweet and strong, and Curry soup is made by pork bones and curry. Ramen contains curly noodle, fish cakes, boiled eggs, bamboo shoots, and bean sprouts. My favorite ramen is chicken katsu shoyu ramen. A nice fired chicken katsu is the best partner of shoyu ramen. I like to add chili pepper and white sesame on the table, the chili pepper opens a new dimension of the ramen.
Here are some tips about Zen’s noodle house. Space is small, and it is not suitable for large groups to come. Tables can only sit 2-4 people. There used to have no enough space and customers had to stand outside waiting. At the beginning of this semester, the 4-top table is replaced by the 2-top table. In this way, they have more space for customers. The price of ramen is $10 to $11, style rice is $8, and yakisoda is $9. Highly recommend to pay in cash, or they will charge 4% service fee no matter how much you consume. There is a mixed vegetable ramen, and I’m afraid the rest of dishes are not vegetarian. I’m not sure if the soup is vegetarian or not, since commonly soup is made by bones, chicken or fish. Ask before you order. Last but not least, I see some complaints about servers’ attitude. I have been there for many times, and fairly saying, some waitresses are rude while some are not. All in all, Zen’s noodle house is a nice ramen restaurant.
