For excellent ramen and a hard-to-find Japanese specialties, head to this Gilbert restaurant
I sunk my spoon into the unctuous red peppery broth, pulled out a perfectly soft boiled egg and thought — this is seriously great ramen.
I was at Kazu R, which opened in February in a small Gilbert storefront tucked in a sprawling shopping center otherwise filled with the usual suspects, like Trader Joe's and Cold Stone Creamery.
Like most great ramen shops, the menu at Kazu is small, with five ramen varieties, including an exceptionally clear chicken-based ramen, as well as some donburi rice bowls and a short list of sushi and appetizers. The dining room is stark and minimalist, so as not to distract you from the complexities of the sensational Japanese noodle soup in front of you.
I enjoyed their tonkotsu, a robust pork broth ramen, so much during a casual dinner with a friend that I had to make a return trip to try even more.
Other noodles: Try these 10 unique pasta dishes at metro Phoenix restaurants
Great ramen starts with great broth
Every ramen excels in a different way, but Kazu's tonkotsu is all about the broth.
Kazu makes one of finest slow-braised tonkotsu pork broths that I've tasted in recent memory. The spicy broth in the signature Kazu Ramen is even better than the lighter, milky tonkotsu that wowed me during my first visit. Every element is in balance: The broth is cloudy and thick with a pure savory pork flavor underlined by a rich pepper kick.
Kazu offers a side of sriracha-based house-made hot sauce for $1.50, but with a broth this flavorful, I barely touched it.
As is customary, the pork-based ramen bowls are offered with a thinner, straighter variety of wheat noodles than the curlier ones found in the miso broths. And though they clumped together a little on my second visit — a common ramen malady — the first time I had them they were sleek and slurpy.
The noodles tasted even better when balanced with a crisp bite of raw bean sprouts or wood ear mushrooms, which also come in the bowl. If you get the tonkotsu ramen, they'll serve this up with the traditional slabs of fatty chashu pork. But the signature Kazu ramen comes with both pork and grilled chicken, along with a hit of black garlic, which adds an earthy tang to the broth.
Kazu also does a great job with their soy-tinged soft boiled eggs, which are served split open to reveal a custardy yolk inside a firmer white. The chashu pork could have been a bit juicier, but I enjoyed the bitterness of its char-marked edges.
The spicy Kazu and the tonkotsu ramen have the most powerful broths, but my favorite noodles were the thicker, curlier ramen noodles that came in the Katsu-Men, a chicken-based ramen that features a delicate broth served with fresh corn kernels and a crispy layer of deep fried chicken katsu, which got soft and tender where it was submerged in the flavorful liquid.
A guide to MeKong Plaza: Here's your menu guide to every food stall
Go beyond ramen at Kazu
The ramen is the main draw, but the sushi rolls and appetizers are all excellent side players. Every meal at Kazu should start with an order of takoyaki, little dumpling balls of octopus tentacles that are deep fried in an eggy pancake batter.
A Japanese street food that goes all in with seaside flavors, this takoyaki was the perfect size and texture and was expertly layered with just the right amount of sweet Worcestershire sauce and salty bonito flakes, quivering like fishy flower petals.
Deep fried karaage chicken thighs were expertly prepared, but unmemorable, and the same can be said about the salmon roll, which did the job, but not much more.
Far more interesting is the gyudon, a favorite of our server that made my JapaneseAmerican friend's eyes light up when she saw it on the menu.
Made with thinly sliced ribeye, this beefy rice bowl is a rare find, so you should jump for it when you see it. I end up ordering it on every visit, just to enjoy another bite of the meat and sweet onions mingling with savory scrambled egg and delicate white rice.
It's all softness and comfort until you hit it with a sprig of explosive pickled ginger. Wowie. I can see why my friend kept this one for herself and left me to the ramen on my first visit. But no complaints here, my first impression of Kazu Ramen is that very little on this menu will disappoint.
More homestyle eats: Why I take everyone to this old school Vietnamese restaurant
Kazu Ramen
Where: 1849 E. Williams Field Rd., Suite 105, Gilbert.
Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, closed Sunday.
Price: Appetizers $4.50 to $9.95; ramen $12.95 to $16.50; rice bowls $12.95 to $13.50; sushi rolls $5.50 to $10.95.
Details: 480-687-2319, kazuramen.com.
Reach reporter Andi Berlin at amberlin@azcentral.com. Follow her on Facebook @andiberlin, Instagram @andiberlin or Twitter @andiberlin.
Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Kazu Ramen restaurant in Gilbert makes great ramen and Japanese snacks
