Yamitsuki

Pretend you REALLY want a large, wall-scale mural of early 2000s anime and need an excuse to commission one from a legit artist. You decide that establishing a delightfully nerdy ramen bar in Chinatown, Philadelphia is the best cover. You name it Yamitsuki. 


 Atmosphere:

You kinda REALLY like the look of smooth, light-colored wood. In fact, every wall should look like it could be the floor of a beach house, planks of sanded wood separated by small gaps. Additionally, you decide to trisect your restaurant with solid, standing walls of the same colored wood about chest height. This is a great move because even when full, the guests won’t feel too crowded. Now your guests have a place to sit, but you have nothing to serve drinks in! Luckily the science department of your nearby university bought too many 250 mL beakers recently. You’re in luck, and purchase plenty of surplus Pyrex cups for your patrons to drink from.

Pyrex glasses as normal drinking glasses at Yamitsuki Ramen
Nerdy And Cool at an anime restaurant

Now, about your mural. Nobody’s gonna stop you, you own the place! You plop it on the main, non-wooden-panelled wall and give it a nice, hard ‘mire. When your parents come visit, they question how these characters will increase customer engagement. Enraged, you commission another mural of the same anime characters enjoying a freshly-made bowl of Yamitsuki’s ramen, and place it above the kitchen entrance so your workers are always reminded of who they should aspire to be serving.

Naruto wall mural at Yamitsuki Ramen at Philadelphia, PA
Big Anime wall mural

Hulkbuster cosplay costume in Yamitsuki Ramen at Philadelphia, PA
Cool Hulkbuster cosplay I guess
While you stare at your mural pair, you wonder why stop there? Each section deserves its own eye candy. Above the serving bar in the back, you add a sheltering, Japanese tile canopy (that the Japanese DEFINITELY didn’t steal from the Chinese). While you were digging for your authentic roof tiles from your “last trip to Japan” box, you almost missed your old, 7 foot tall Hulkbuster Iron Man cosplay costume also sitting in your mom’s basement. You decide that would be a nice touch placing it right behind the host’s desk, so it’s the first thing any customer sees. Beautiful. Your decor is complete.

Japanese roof tiles over the noodle bar at Yamitsuki Ramen

Actual Food:

You’ve always liked your noodles a little undercooked so they have some chewiness to them, and decide to offer an option for harder or softer-cooked noodles at the bottom of your menu. This menu also features several Naruto characters advertising your wares.

We had the miso ramen and Yamitsuki ramen. The miso ramen had standard noodles, which may seem fine but for the fact we weren’t paying 12 cents a pack for them. The Yamitsuki ramen was similar, with perfectly cylindrical noodles instead of wavy ones. They were chewy, I liked the added texture. However, mixing noodles and soy sprouts is pretty criminal. The mental mouthfeel of doughy, giving noodles sours into the crisp popping of their body segments, and your bite of noodles is ruined by its companion veggies. The broth was wonderfully tasty, salty and savory and incorporating the greenest scallions. After we finished eating, the check was presented to us sandwiched in a full-length Naruto manga.

Yamitsuki Ramen

Rating: (To the tune of Frere Jacque) Ramen ramen noodly air, seems to be the same anywhere, whether 12 cents a pack or 12 dollars a bowl, Yamitsuki tastes like cup noodle. 12/18 Naruto for the amazing decor.

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