From Nos to Tail

This inconspicous Pop Up Ramen shop, situated in Vega Bar, serves the best Ramen in Munich. Perfectly accompanying the high quality cocktails in the bar.

Monaco Ramen has a fixed offering of Tori Chintan Shoyu Ramen, as well as Vegan Mushroom Miso Ramen. But if you arrive on the right day you might have be lucky enough to taste special offerings like Tonkotsu Ramen. There is also an offering of snacks and starters, like edamame, kimchi or charred pork belly. The menu can vary daily since the kitchen is run by one person only, but everything is made in house by the chef himself, which is truly tasteable.

I was fortunate enough to get charred pork belly with a side of spring onions on that particular day, which was a recommendation by the chef personally.
The pork was marinated in an organic, naturally fermented soy sauce, which gave a perfect amount of umami and salt to the pork with a slight sour note. The pork itself was perfectly tender, with a modest but welcomed chewiness. The richness of the pork belly was cut by the fresh, raw spring onions, so overall the pork belly didn`t feel to heavy on the palate. Overall a no BS dish and definetely on of the best japanese pork dishes I had in a very long time.

Shortly thereafter the Tonkotsu Ramen arrived topped with a soy egg, marinated bamboo, charred chashu pork and homemade roasted garlic oil. The first thing I noticed was the tender smell of the pork broth . There was no pungent pork smell (if you`ve ever eaten Tonkotsu you know what I mean), but rather a lightly soothing meat smell. Whenever I eat Tonkotsu Ramen I test the texture of the broth first which is in my eyes a true quality testament of the chef and his broth, the main star of Ramen.
Let me tell you this, I wasn`t disappointed. The broth was flawless. The colour, the thickness, the smell and the taste, everything was bar none perfect.
With the broth setting such a high standard, the noodles are up to par. Made in house by the chef, they`re perfectly chewy, alkaline Ramen noodles. The bite and thickness of the noodles were ideally for the fatty Tonkotsu broth. A complexity was added by the marinated bamboo, which underlined the richness of the white, silky broth. The soy egg was perfectly cooked with a waxy yolk.

Overall my expectations where surpassed. I might even shed a tear when I emptied my bowl.
A quick chat with the chef afterwards shed more light on his passion, love and the care he puts into his ramen.
A definite recommendation by me and as a quick tip, you might want to skip a very well known Munich ramen shop, take a little extra walk and eat your soup here.

It`s worth it.