#oiistar

George Cheng: Yes yes! The search for the best ramen in Chicago. Well, I’ve only been to a couple ramen places in the Chicagoland Area. I would say, so far, Wasabi and Santouka in Mitsuwa would be in my top picks. This is my first time at Oiistar, hopefully I can add it to my list of go-to ramen shops.

AW: We both started off with some buns. I got the 6 Hours Pork Shoulder, which was adorned with sauerkraut napa pickles, cojita cheese and crisp onions.

GC: I got the Pork Belly Bun, topped with cucumbers, dressed in their Oiistar signature sauce, and finished with some micro wasabi. The bun was very soft and fluffy, and had a very subtle sweet taste that you get from the carbohydrates just breaking down in your mouth. Now on top of that, the savory flavors of their signature sauce adds another dimension to the bun. The flavor of the sauce is very similar to that of the Taiwanese braised pork belly over rice. As I bit into it, the pork fat gushes out and drips over my fingers. It was quite messy, but very oishii. What did you think of your bun, hun?

AW: The Pork Shoulder was tender and well-cooked. The pickles and onions added a nice crunchy texture to the bun. If anything, it made me appreciate traditional pork belly buns more. I found the shoulder to be too heavy when paired with the soft buns, making for a mushy experience.

GC: The ramen I got was the Oiimen Umami ramen, which was one packed ramen bowl. It had barbequed pork belly, ground pork, scallions, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, and lastly soft boiled egg. The soup base was a spicy pork broth. It was very savory. It felt like there was so much going on, which may explain the soft-boiled egg being bland. The egg was not seasoned like the usual ramen egg. To get any flavor, I had to sip the broth with each bite into the egg. They may have done that to try to counter the blast of flavors from the broth. The noodles were their homemade original. These noodles had a very nice bounce to them, very QQ. They carried broth flavor really well.

AW: My Spicy Oiimen came with the same spicy pork broth. While I found the broth delicious, its strong spices mask much of the flavor coming from the other ingredients. It’s a shame because the cabbage and green onions tasted fresh, and the meat had a hint of charred taste to it--giving it a hint of smokiness.  I ordered it with the wavy noodles, an underwhelming selection when compared to their handmade ones.

AW: Oiistar! I think the restaurant has all the right ingredients, but it just doesn’t quite come together. Its individual spices and components make for mouth-watering food, but the inconsistencies result in a solid--but not spectacular--bowl of ramen.

GC: I am going to agree with you on this one. Overall it was a good bowl of ramen, but there were some parts that could be better. In the end, I would say if I was craving ramen, this might be my go-to, since it is close to where I live. I wouldn’t say, you have to go out of your way to get this bowl of ramen.