I thought this one would be right up my alley, but the ginger in it was way way too strong for my taste. Oh – rye, pineapple, ginger beer, lemon, and basil. We settled into seats at the bar with a perfect seat to watch the chefs work their magic, and started off with a few cocktails. Tucked into an eye-catching green building next to The Mule, Goro is run by people you can trust – it’s owned by the same hospitality group as Empire Slice House, and the food is curated by local food legend Jeff Chanceleune of Project Slurp and Kaiteki Ramen. But this week, I was invited to a pre-opening sampling of the fresh eats at Goro Ramen and let me tell you: I’m a convert. Not a huge fan of soup in general, I’ve never gone out of my way to try ramen. I’m admittedly a little slow on the uptake of the whole ramen/pho trend. Drop everything and head down to Goro Ramen in the Plaza District in Oklahoma City.Forget the styrofoam cups and dehydrated noodles. Forget everything you know about ramen.
Texture lovers will also find a lot to recommend this dish with the addition of corn, which adds a mild sweetness and a satisfying crunch.If you’re new to the ramen house game, here’s what you need to do: Subbed in for pork belly are supple pork meatballs that have been infused with spice. You still get that rich chicken broth and ramen egg, but the addition of roasted garlic miso paste dyes the dish a vibrant, fire engine red. Giving spice and crunch to the dish are fried garlic and a fine dice of green onion, making sure each bite has variety and momentum.įor those interested in something a little more intense, the spicy miso ramen ($12) is the way to go. Lending more of that oozing, unctuous, luscious quality are melt-in-your-mouth slices of roasted pork belly and ajitama, aka a perfectly soft-boiled ramen egg. The broth is rich with chicken and feels creamy on the palate. It enrobes the tongue and coats the mouth with layer upon layer upon layer of taste built over hours of cooking. This liquid is full, not only of flavor but also texture. They are tender and chewy and slurpable and filling and lovely.Īnd where the noodles are a significant upgrade, the broth is in an entirely new category. The noodles are about 1000x better than their plastic-wrapped counterparts. It’s a big, cheap bowl of noodles.īut restaurant ramen is so much more than that. Not that I have any problem with the 10-cents-a-package Top Ramen. Let’s get this out of the way for the noobs: this ramen isn’t the ramen they sell at the grocery store. Goro is the distillation of his dream - a spot where noodle lovers can gather for strong drinks and big bowls of Japanese ramen well into the night. Goro was more fuel for the fire.Ĭhanchaleune has been at the forefront of Oklahoma City’s love affair with ramen for years, first as a partner in the Kaiteki Ramen food truck and then with the wildly popular Project Slurp ramen pop-up dinners he staged with Rachel Cope. The district was already on a hot streak. Thanks to popular destinations like The Mule, Oak & Ore and Goro’s sister restaurant, Empire Slice House, the area has been packing in Oklahoma City’s young and hungry for a few years.
The opening of Goro was a cherry on top of the sundae for the Plaza District.