Marufuku Ramen
4828 Telegraph Ave.
Oakland
Ramen — the real deal, not the packaged bricks — was an adult discovery for me. Turned off by meaty or overly sweet and uncomplicated broths filled with soggy noodles, I thought it simply wasn’t a dish for me. But, being the soup and carb lover I am, I braved bad bowls so that I might taste the ultimate mixture of umami goodness.
Lucky for me, Marufuku Ramen, located in Oakland’s Temescal neighborhood, serves up fast, steaming ceramic vessels brimming with cloudy broth, fresh veggies, a perfect egg, and a lovely mass of light green spinach noodles.
There’s only one veg soup option, but that’s enough — the hot broth is smooth and slightly creamy, opaque, with soft flavors and (at this lunch, not enough of) a little kick. You can order at your preferred spice level but there is also powdered spice tableside to pep things up as needed.
I ordered medium, and my friend Emily spicy. We both ladled in additional small spoons of red spice, finding them far from bland but utterly lacking in that hot kick. Maybe it was just our pale faces, but I was surprised to receive such a mild mix.
We’d also ordered two flavors of bottled soda, a mandarin and a yuzu, as well as tempura-fried Brussels sprouts to share. The drinks were lightly effervescent with a good sugar level — just sweet enough for good flavor and a lovely offset to the meal, not so sweet as to eviscerate the taste buds or leave an aftertaste. I found the mandarin flatter with almost an overripe flavor, though not bad, but loved the yuzu — bright, floral, and with much more of a tart edge. We both found them to be like elevated versions of a San Pellegrino limonata and, for lower-brow and older school tastes, an Orangina, but fresher and more fun.
The sprouts came three to a skewer, battered and fried, served alongside a small bowl of vibrant green matcha salt. They were listed as having truffle oil as well, but aside from a small puddle of grease I could not discern its presence. The tempura shell was light in color and medium thickness, and the sprouts were firmer and far, far greener (like, almost shockingly so — the hue of a blanched veggie, not the color you picture for something fully cooked) than I’d anticipated. Their flavor and firmness were good, as was the earthy match salt, but we both wished for something creamy or juicy to pull the dish together — it felt a bit unfinished.
The ramen itself, a cult classic in the area at this point, was fantastic, though perhaps not quite up to the standard I’ve come to expect from my previous visits. The broth is near perfection, as is the soft boiled egg, nestled and waiting to burst. There are baby greens, grape tomatoes, bell peppers, red onion, and sweet-spiced tofu, all covering the pile of noodles at the base.
My main gripe with any noodle soup is the mushiness that sets in. This is not immune, but these noodles do hold their own longer than most. It is a satisfying combination of textures and flavors, all set in a luscious broth.
The lunch crowd was steady but the restaurant was not filled, a lovely divergence from the usual mildly hectic atmosphere. We lingered at our table for over an hour. This soup is worth the wait at busy times, but come weekday lunch and you may beat the crowds and have the time and space for a luxurious bowl of comfort.
