Saejeol Station ramen shop: fizzy beer, mild karai paitan, Oreno

Ramen: rich broth, chewy noodles, slurp slurp. Some days the broth smells a bit fishy to me, and other days I crave that very broth like crazy. (Maybe it's the hormones..?)

Ramen is great when you just want to get a meal done quickly, but I think it's also the food I look for when I want to slowly enjoy how the broth and noodles work together. Ramen is Japanese, but it's a familiar dish here now. Every ramen shop differs in how it makes its broth, the texture of its noodles and the thickness of the soup, so one bowl can feel completely different depending on where you go. Today's place is Oreno Ramen Eunpyeong (오레노라멘 은평점), near Saejeol Station.

What kind of ramen shop is Oreno Ramen Eunpyeong?

Oreno Ramen Eunpyeong is a spacious, relaxed shop, and its signature dishes are the tori paitan, with a rich broth, and the spicy karai paitan. The one I looked at this time is the karai paitan, which should interest anyone who likes spicy ramen.

Oreno Ramen Eunpyeong is a specialty shop where ramen is the center of the meal. Ramen looks simple at first glance, but it takes more steps than you'd think to finish one bowl. You prepare the broth, boil the noodles and combine various ingredients into one bowl, and what shapes the impression of a ramen most is the broth.

Open kitchen and kiosk ordering: is it easy for solo diners?

Oreno Ramen Eunpyeong has an open kitchen and a kiosk ordering system. An open kitchen can give customers an open, transparent impression because you can see the cooking area. That said, being an open kitchen doesn't prove anything about hygiene, and actual hygiene management has to be judged separately. Ordering at a kiosk is convenient because you can see the menu and choose for yourself.

Being able to pick what you want without a long chat with staff is low-pressure for people dining alone. The spacious shop and comfortable mood also work whether you come solo or with a friend.

Even with the same noodles, the broth's thickness and flavor can make a dish feel completely different. Oreno Ramen's introduction says that, drawing on a long time spent learning to cook and making soup, they promise to use good ingredients every day to make a delicious bowl of ramen. They seem to care about the ingredients and cooking process as much as the finished bowl.

A bottle of beer before the ramen

The tidy interior of Oreno Ramen Eunpyeong made me think of a beer, so I had one first. Maybe because it's been a while since I had bottled beer, but it was really fizzy and delicious.

What kind of ramen is tori paitan?

Tori paitan is a paitan ramen made with chicken broth, and it's one of Oreno Ramen's popular dishes. Paitan is generally a ramen style known for a creamy white, rich broth.

Since the broth matters as much as the noodles when eating ramen, tori paitan seems like a good fit for anyone who wants to enjoy the flavor of the broth. Oreno Ramen also presents the harmony of rich broth and chewy noodles as its main feature.

Ramen isn't a dish where you eat the broth and noodles separately; the fun is in how they come together. You lift a bite of noodles and eat it with the broth, then taste the broth again, enjoying that combination.

How spicy is the karai paitan?

The karai paitan at Oreno Ramen Eunpyeong adds spice to the rich tori paitan broth, but personally I could barely taste any heat at all. Even if you love ramen, tastes differ a little, right? Some people prefer a rich, smooth broth, while others look for a broth with a spicy kick.

On days when you're craving something spicy, it's nice to pick something different from your usual ramen. The karai paitan is worth considering when you want rich broth and spiciness together. Spice tolerance varies from person to person, though, so it might be a good idea to ask the staff about the heat before ordering. (Personally, I could hardly feel any spiciness at all.)

Side dish: assorted tsukune

Looking at the current menu, it seems a new side dish has been added at Oreno Ramen Eunpyeong. I think ordering a side like the assorted tsukune (chicken meatballs) to eat with your ramen would be nice too.

What ingredients does Oreno Ramen use?

Oreno Ramen explains that it uses domestic (Korean) ingredients in its ramen and tries to use refrigerated ingredients, and it also says it will do its best to find even better ingredients going forward. (This is in the Naver Map introduction, haha.) Of course, the actual origin and ingredients of each dish would need to be checked individually, but the shop clearly values good ingredients.

Ramen is a dish where broth, noodles and various ingredients come together. So rather than explaining the taste through one element, it's important to look at how each ingredient harmonizes. In the shop's own words, they've worked for a long time at cooking and making broth but still feel they're lacking, which shows an attitude of continuing to think about the quality of each bowl.

Ramen is a familiar food, but the appeal is that you can find new flavors depending on how broth and noodles are combined. If you're in the mood for a spicy broth, I recommend trying the karai paitan at Oreno Ramen Eunpyeong. Like Oreno Ramen's aim of making a delicious bowl with good ingredients every day, in the end the charm of ramen lies less in fancy descriptions than in the satisfaction you feel eating the broth and noodles together.