No-spice tori paitan on a chilly day in Eunpyeong: Oreno Ramen

It was a cloudy day with a bit of a chill in the wind, and all I could think about was hot broth. I wanted something rich and smooth rather than spicy, so I headed to Oreno Ramen Eunpyeong, a well-known spot in Eunpyeong-gu. It felt like the perfect day to eat a bowl of ramen and head back out.

What I ordered at Oreno Ramen Eunpyeong and what it cost

Looking at the menu, there was the mild tori paitan and the spicy kara paitan, and since I can't handle spicy food well, I went with the tori paitan. This time I didn't just order ramen — I also got the newly launched assorted tsukune and a highball. Per the kiosk, it came to ₩13,000 for the tori paitan, ₩5,000 for the assorted tsukune, and ₩7,000 for the highball.

Is the dachi bar at Oreno Ramen Eunpyeong good for eating alone?

After ordering, I sat down at the dachi bar. On days I come alone for ramen, this kind of seat is by far the most comfortable. You can just look straight ahead and eat without worrying about your surroundings, and it's easy to receive your food and dig right in the moment it arrives. No awkward waiting around just because you're eating solo.

Once I settled in, the side dish I'd ordered came out first. If I'd only planned to eat one quick bowl of ramen, I would have just ordered the tori paitan, but this time with the highball and assorted tsukune added on, it felt like a proper full meal. In the end, ordering the tsukune too was a really good call.

The new 5,000-won assorted tsukune and its two flavors

The assorted tsukune, which arrived before the ramen, came in two styles on one plate. One was topped generously with scallions, and the other came with a sauce. Both were easy bite-sized pieces to pick up, so I started eating them one by one while waiting for the ramen.

The first thing I thought after taking a bite was how genuinely soft it was. Instead of a dry, dense chicken meatball texture, it was moist enough to nearly melt apart in my mouth, and the scallion-topped one had a fresher taste from chewing on the scallions along with it. The sauced one had a bolder flavor that made me want a sip of the highball right away. Rather than one being better than the other, alternating between the two was the way to go.

First spoonful of tori paitan broth at this Eunpyeong ramen restaurant

While I was still eating the tsukune, the tori paitan I'd been waiting for arrived. On top of the pale, milky broth sat scallions, a soft-boiled egg, and chicken, with fine bubbles rising densely across the surface. Seeing it like that, I found myself reaching for the broth before the noodles.

That very first spoonful was exactly the taste I'd been craving that day. The broth was warm, rich, and smooth — a perfect match for the chilly weather. I'd gone with the mild version, no spice, and it suited my palate far better. I meant to have just a spoonful or two, but I kept going back for the broth again and again.

Tori paitan noodles: thin, broth-coated and easy to slurp

After a few spoonfuls of broth, I finally dug into the noodles properly. The tori paitan comes with thin noodles, and I liked picking them up all at once with my chopsticks so they'd get well coated in broth. Since the noodles themselves weren't thick, it was easy to taste the broth along with them, and I ended up alternating one bite of noodles with one spoonful of broth.

Picking up scallions along with the noodles here and there gave the bowl a bit of textural variety. Since the broth was so rich, I preferred eating the noodles together with the soup rather than on their own. One bite of ramen, a sip of highball, another chopstick of noodles — even though I was eating alone, I ended up taking my time over the meal.

Soft-boiled egg, then the chicken tenderloin topping

Among the toppings in the tori paitan, I ate the soft-boiled egg first. When I cut it in half, the yolk inside was still moist, perfect for scooping up with a spoon. Eaten together with the warm broth, the egg's mellow flavor added something extra, and it felt like a nice little pause in the middle of the meal.

Next I picked up the chicken, and this too was really soft. The moment I bit into the chicken tenderloin, there wasn't a hint of dryness, and my hand went straight for the next piece. Even after sitting in the broth for a while, it hadn't gone tough at all, and switching between the noodles and bites of chicken tenderloin made the whole bowl feel a lot more substantial.

Noodle and rice refills at Oreno Ramen Eunpyeong

At Oreno Ramen, you can refill both noodles and rice, so if one bowl leaves you a little short, you can order more. You can add noodles and twirl them back into the broth, or add rice to the leftover soup instead. Anyone with a bigger appetite would probably be glad to hear that.

Between the tori paitan, the tsukune, and the highball, I was completely full by the end of the meal. The hot broth of the tori paitan on a chilly day, the tender chicken tenderloin, the soft-boiled egg, and the new tsukune — every item on the menu was exactly my kind of thing. Next time I go back, I'd order the tori paitan again, and definitely get a plate of tsukune alongside it too.