Kuro-Obi
“We had Totto because the wait was luckily short, but Kuro-Obi blows Totto out of the water.”
“Located inside a modern (food court) called City Kitchen where there is plenty of comfortable seating.”
“As for the ramen, at $13 for the original, it was still pricey for ramen, but it was solid quality, especially considering it comes in a paper bowl.”
Kuro-Obi
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
PokéStop Nearby: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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Ippudo Ramen perfected a new recipe, which involves "a process that takes over two days they felt confident enough to open a new NYC ramen specializing in it. Kuro-Obi Ramen located inside the City Kitchen. It also marks the first time any Ippudo branch is offering ramen to go, with the recipe supposedly adjusted to make it "more friendly to the perils of "take away ramen". This makes it perfect for me since I don't like being solo and rather have take out. And this is only a few blocks from the PABT and my bus home.
I tried their Shiro-Obi Classic, the simplest of the three offerings on their menu, served only with scallions and char siu pork belly as toppings. The soup was thick and flavorful and exceeded my expectations as I often find bone broths a bit watered down in take out joints. That was not the case here; full of tasty fat and flavorful. The noodles, which are made in-house by Ippudo, were light and springy and held up perfectly to the thick soup after I got home 45 minutes later.
They also have the Kuro Modern, and the K.O. Karaka Men which I need to try.
Price is about $13 and these are not big bowls or should I say takeout cups, but you can add extras like Umami Tamago, (Soft Boiled Egg), Karashi Takana (Leaf Mustard) and my choice, Chashu Pork. They also carry Pork Buns, Japanese beer and sodas.
Just in case, you don't have to venture to 8th Avenune for Kuro-Obi Ramen, they have open up at the Urbanspace Vanderbilt too.
I almost missed this little find, if it wasn't for my cousin getting it, as it was tucked away in the corner! My cousin and I decided to try different ones so we could have the best of both worlds: Kuro-Obi and Aka-Obi.
Of the two, I really liked the Kuro-Obi because of the garlic flavor. As a big fan of garlic, having it as part of the broth base was delicious and satisfying. Something different from what I'm usually used to. For the Aka-Obi, I was hoping that it was going to be spicy, reminiscent of Ippudo's Karaka-men, but it wasn't as spicy or had that kick I was anticipating. Would rather just go to Ippudo to satisfy that spicy ramen fix.
Overall, I like the concept of having ramen of this stature be accessible in this capacity, especially if you're not trying to wait that long wait at Ippudo. Definitely not the same, but an awesome alternative in getting your meal in less than 10 minutes. Wham, bam, and in your stomach!
Okay ramen, pork very fatty. Broth and noodles okay. People nice, fast service. Seating in the City Kitchen area, needs more attention to cleaning tables
An ippudo spin-off, this place sells ramen and pork buns for pretty high prices. Though the notability of its name and the location inside a trendy food court in midtown says that.
Only had an order of pork buns. Overall the meat was pretty tender, the bun was moist, and the sauce on top had a noticeable kick of sweetness, miso, and spiciness. It was fine.
3.4
Inside City Kitchen on the 2nd floor!
They're suspiciously quick with getting the orders out. Quite efficient.
I got extra egg in mine, of course. That was the best part. Second best part was the pork. So fatty and tender. The broth was good too, but made me really thirsty after. The noodles were just ok, had the texture of spaghetti, not chewy or bouncy.
I wouldn't come out of my way to eat here, but if I'm in Times Square (uh, there's really NOTHING to eat in TSq!!) I'll definitely come back!
Since my wife and I came back from Japan we have wanted to find a great ramen place and good news, we just did. We ordered the kuro obi ramen (black belt) and it had an amazing flavor that reminded us of Japan.
This place is associated with Ippudo since the ramen bowls used does say Ippudo. We have yet to venture there and here lines are long. At this place there was no line, however, it's take out style. You'll be given a paper bowl with a lid and then you'll bring that to an open table.
This ramen has been the best we had since Japan. We will definitely be returning and trying out all the other ravens on the menu. A must try if you're around the area.
I hear Kuro-Obi is Ippudo's Spin-off. It's located inside City Kitchen and it's very packed inside if you go during lunch/dinner hours. We ordered the Black Belt, the Red Belt, and the pork belly bun. All of these items are comparable to Ippudo's status. They use chicken based broth for their ramen and it's very flavorful. The Black Belt has more of a mushroom taste it to and the Red Belt was the spicer version. The pork belly bun was delicious, but I wished the meat was a little bit thicker. I've also noticed that their buns are larger than the typical ones you see at Chinese restaurants. *One difference I noted between Ippudo and Kuro-Obi is that I believe Kuro-Obi uses some kind of MSG or chicken broth cubes. I left feeling very thirsty. Overall, a great meal!
I had no idea this was affiliated with the Ippudo family of restaurants until I saw the chopsticks said "Ippudo NY" and did some digging. For ramen in a food court, this was actually really good and beats the time spent formally sitting at Ippudo. I actually enjoyed it more than what I remember from Ippudo.
I got the Kuro-Obi or "Black Belt" ramen ($12) which has a garlic oil in there which you can definitely taste. This broth was heavy and definitely fatty/greasy for anyone who is opposed to that type of broth. This one definitely had a layer of oil you could visibly see the separation going on. But that's flavor man… just don't eat it every day for lunch. No one likes a greasy garlic-y co-worker.
My only gripe is that you have to pay $2 to add an egg to any bowl which brings the price-point almost back up to restaurant pricing which kind of ruins the whole "I'm getting ramen in a to-go container and saving money" vibe. I think the portion is also slightly smaller here so at that point you might as well just go sit-down at a ramen shop and get the full experience. I think for $10-12 with the smaller portion, it should include an egg. So you know what I did… I deprived myself of the egg to prove a point. #IncludeTheEgg2016
Overall, this was a good bowl of ramen and a convenient way to sample some of the Ippudo creations. It also lets all your non-ramen loving friends eat something else while you get your fix.