Casa Ramen Super
In the Isola area of Milan, in Via Ugo Bassi 26, there is Casa Ramen Super. This is the second opening by Luca Catalfamo, a young Milanese chef who also distinguished himself among the Japanese for his ramen.
Casa Ramen Super is the second opening by Luca Catalfamo: in fact, a few steps away from these, in fact, there is Casa Ramen, a fortunate and famous local of ramen that at the time even aroused the curiosity of the Japanese who came to try it and who were so impressed that they convinced Catalfamo to go to Yokohama to open his temporary ramen house at the Ramen museum, Casa Luca. Opened in 2017 with the idea of recreating an izakaya, in reality it is a convivial space: there is in fact a large table created by the Portuguese craftsman Romain Jainet where to eat shared with other people. From this premise it is possible to understand the project implemented: starting from an idea of authentic Japan to create a new place where to experiment different experiences. And looking at the menu, you immediately realize that traditional Japan is a starting point: the dishes are so inspired by Japanese gastronomy, but they are actually contaminated by a whole series of ingredients, ideas and preparations that determine a new and very personal result.
Luca Catafalmo is indeed a great traveler, as well as a cook. During his career he worked in Italy, New York (where he also ate ramen for the first time in Ippudo and opened Casa Ramen Power in 2019), Sidney, London and this allowed him not only to grow professionally , but also to acquire different stimuli. Having studied the preparation of ramen in Japan, having reproduced it in Milan, he therefore wanted to rework it according to his point of view. And at Casa Ramen Super you can enjoy this individual vision:
We want to stimulate a memory and not to copy traditional dishes.
The menu has two choices: omakasè — izakaya-style tasting menu (five dishes with the possibility of pairing wines) and the menu à la carte, in addition to the offmenu. On the menu the freshness of the raw materials is emphasized: the products are in fact Italian and follow the seasonality, the noodles are of 00 flour from the bakery and the meat is from Venegani. The starters include: Bao (pork, five-spice sauce, sweet and sour onion), Trout “on fire” (trout tartare, spicy ponzu sauce, roasted nori seaweed), Fried red turnips (mayonnaise with yuzu, katsobushi), Fucking tofu salad (market salad, tofu cream, sour, sesame, soy) and Pork dumpling (double wasabi, fried onion). It then proceeds with brazenly fusion carrying, as entitled: Chawanmushi (steamed omelette, crab, sea urchin, lime, shiso), Kakuni (braised pork rib, bay lettuce, tempura onions), Temaki (beef tartare , roast marrow, rice, nori seaweed) and Qfc (fried casaramen quail, Chinese cabbage, lime, tonkatsu sauce). Finally we arrive at ramen, of which there are four types: Super ramen (thick noodles, miso, soy, vegetables, marinated egg), Yuzu ramen (fine noodles, fish broth, roast croaker, spring onion, nori seaweed, sesame, egg onsen, yuzu), Paitan ramen / red paitan ramen (thick noodles, chicken broth, chashu, bamboo, spring onion, marinated egg, sesame) and Dan dan noodles (little broth, fine noodles, lamb, coriander, pepper, spring onion, bamboo, marinated egg).
So, what is it like to eat at Casa Ramen Super? It didn't convince me. Ramen is not a real ramen (obviously), broths tend to have too similar flavor and the ingredients of some preparations in my opinion tend to create a too messy soup. The appetizers are much more good, perhaps they are the real protagonists of this place.
In short, in my opinion these preparations are much more beautiful to photograph than to eat. And of the initial idea of creating a sort of izakaya, there is really too little left, since the choice of beverage is bare.
🌎 http://www.casaramensuper.com 📍 Via Ugo Bassi 26, Milan 📞 02 8352 9210 💰 $$