Noodle thickness compared: Kara vs Asari ramen, Ryusenso Beomeo

Hours: 11:30 – 21:00 (last order 20:30) No break time Parking: Beomeo public parking lot, on-street public parking near Dalgubeol-daero, Suseong-gu Office parking lot Open year-round

Ramen with clams? Curious enough to check out Ryusenso in Beomeo-dong, Daegu

I've weirdly been obsessed with ramen lately. No matter where I go, I end up looking up ramen restaurants first, and this time I visited Ryusenso in Daegu, a place I'd been curious about for a while. I went as part of a sponsored campaign, but there was one reason I was already looking forward to it before I even got there — from just browsing the menu.

Asari ramen (clam ramen). I've had plenty of tonkotsu, miso, and shoyu ramen, but ramen made with clam broth was a first for me too. "Would clams even go well with ramen?" That's what I was most curious about.

Bottom line first... The tonkotsu was delicious, but the asari had its own real charm too. The two flavors were so completely different that ordering both together turned out to be the right call.

Store atmosphere, parking, and no break time

The space overall had a warm, comfortable atmosphere, and the staff were friendly.

Most importantly, there's no break time, so it was great to visit even during that awkward mid-afternoon window,

and with several public parking lots nearby, it was also easy to come by car.

With Beomeo public parking lot, on-street public parking, and more nearby, it was convenient to visit by car.

Okay, now let's get to the ramen I was actually curious about.

What we ordered

On this visit we ordered: Ryusenso Kara level 2 + Ryusenso Asari level 2 + black pork gyoza Ordering exactly like someone who's properly obsessed with ramen right now, haha.

Ryusenso Kara level 2 — the spice cuts through the richness

The ramen came out faster than expected, and the first one we tried was the Ryusenso Kara. It's a ramen with a rich tonkotsu broth plus added spice, and level 2 was just right for my taste.

Tonkotsu ramen can get heavy and greasy if you're not careful, but the spice in the Kara cuts right through that. It's rich without being greasy, spicy without masking the broth's flavor. That balance was what I liked.

The noodles paired really well with the rich broth too, and personally, among the tonkotsu ramen I've had recently, this one ranks among the best.

But stopping there would've been a shame.

What happens when you add garlic, pepper, and ginger

Partway through, I added minced garlic and pepper, and from that point on the broth got even more to my taste, haha.

The umami goes up and the tonkotsu flavor deepens even more.

And the surprise for me was the ginger. Dipping into it now and then while eating the ramen cleansed the palate so well that I reached for it more often than the pickled radish. I ended up finishing almost the entire broth.

Ryusenso Asari — what does clam-broth ramen taste like?

And then, the one I was most looking forward to that day: Ryusenso Asari.

The broth is made with clams and soy sauce as a base, and from the very first sip it's completely different from the Kara. Clean and refreshing.

The clean, refreshing umami of clams combined with the light, savory depth of a soy sauce base made for a ramen headed in a completely different direction from the tonkotsu.

Eating it together with the char siu (roast pork) on top, it wasn't just light and clean — a bit of savory meat flavor got added in too, in just the right amount.

At first it felt a little like Japanese udon, but adding minced garlic completely changed that.

The broth's refreshing quality stays the same, but the umami kicks up another notch.

Personally, if you're having the Asari, I'd recommend trying it with garlic added in at least once.

Kara and Asari have different noodle thickness

Going back and forth between the two ramen, I noticed something interesting.

The noodle thickness is different. The Kara uses slightly thinner noodles that hold onto the rich tonkotsu broth well. The Asari uses slightly thicker noodles that suit the clean broth.

It might sound like a small thing, but eating them side by side made the difference obvious. Actually tasting it, I thought, "ah, this noodle really does fit this broth." They didn't just make different broths — they matched each ramen with a different noodle, which shows they really thought through the food pairing. Because of that kind of detail, if you're a ramen lover looking for good places in Beomeo-dong, I'd want to recommend this one.

Black dumplings? Black pork gyoza

Eating just ramen felt like it would be a shame, so we ordered the black pork gyoza. The visuals grab you right away. The dumplings are black, haha. More eye-catching than a regular gyoza just by looking at it, and once you bite in, the juices inside are still well preserved. The skin is chewy on the outside, moist and savory on the inside.

And I tried pairing this with a bit of ginger too... it worked well. A bite of rich ramen, a bite of gyoza, a bit of ginger to cleanse the palate. Eating it this way made for a great combination. Between the two bowls of ramen, it did its job as a side dish perfectly.

Kara or Asari — if you had to pick just one?

This one's a little tough.

• Craving something rich and spicy → Ryusenso Kara
• Craving something clean and refreshing → Ryusenso Asari

The flavor directions are so different that it's hard to say which is more delicious. The Kara gave a strong sense of "tonkotsu ramen done right!", while the Asari was "clean and packed with umami!" So if you're going with two people, I'd recommend ordering one of each and swapping bowls. That's how I ate it, and I liked it that way.

Now I already know what I'm getting next time, haha. If you're torn between Kara and Asari, I'd suggest going as a pair and ordering one of each. For me, the Asari, which I was trying for the first time, was especially memorable. But looking at the menu again, there's a miso ramen and even an oyster ramen? Came in for one bowl of ramen and left having already planned my next visit, haha.

If you're looking for ramen in Daegu or curious about something a bit different from plain tonkotsu, Ryusenso in Beomeo-dong is worth a visit. Next time for me... it's the oyster ramen.