Boxer Ramen is another ramen place in Portland. It has 3 locations in Portland. 1 on Alberta Street, 1 in downtown Portland, and 1 on 23rd Street in Portland Pearl District. The one we went to today is the one located on 23rd Street. Boxer Ramen on 23rd street is new and only opened recently. The location of the restaurant is across from Salt and Straw, just beside The Waiting Room. It is kind of hidden in a little corner and we would have found the restaurant if we were just taking a walk on the 23rd Street.
We got there around 1PM in the afternoon and there are many people. We were told that Boxer Ramen at other locations are usually pretty packed, thus we were surprised that there isn't any line up. It could be that this location is new so not many people know about it. This Boxer Ramen restaurant is a bit small. The restaurant can fit around 30 people. There aren't many items on the menu either, but we don't really mind since we are just here for the ramen. This time we ordered a Tonkatsu Shio Ramen and a Red Spicy Miso Ramen.
About 5 minutes later, our ramen is served! This is quite fast! It usually takes around 10 minutes at other ramen restaurants. The first thing I tried is the soup base. We like the Shio Ramen soup base. It is a little salty but still satisfies my taste buds. We don't quite like the Red Spicy Miso soup base. We were expecting it to be spicy; however, it is more like spicy and sweet taste. It just feels a bit odd when there is sweetness in the soup.
We don't quite like the egg either. For people who have been to ramen restaurants, ramen is usually served with a less cooked boiled egg. This means that the egg is still quite soft and not quite hard. The egg yolk is usually not completely cooked. At Boxer Ramen, the egg is just a bit too raw. On a scale of 1 to 10, if 10 is completely cooked, then the egg at Boxer Ramen is like 3. We would like the egg to be at least cooked to medium.
The pork served with ramen is a bit different from other ramen restaurant as well. We don't have a problem with this but some people might find the Portland to be a bit too thick and hard to bite. So this may turn down some people.
Lastly and most importantly, the noodle is a bit too hard to chew. We would prefer the noodle to be cooked a bit longer and become a bit softer.
Overall, Boxer Ramen is a good ramen place but we probably won't come here as often. We still prefer Ramen Ryoma.
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