How much can one really say about ramen?

As it turns out, a lot: There are people like David Chang, impresario and owner of Momofuku, who are obsessed with it. Ippudo, probably the most famous brand in the ramen franchise world, has been drawing crowds in the East Village since it opened, and is soon to open in Manila. There was a movie about it, “Tampopo,” in 1985.

Now there are books, magazine articles and an entire subculture around the elegant simplicity of a bowl of noodles in broth.

I think noodles in broth are about as perfect a meal as one can get, and I would be happy to eat it every day for the rest of my life. Except that I’m not so much into Japanese ramen as the Chinese version—with softer noodles and a light beef broth with long-simmered brisket. This is my obsession.

I also like the rice noodles one gets in roadside stalls in Bangkok, the fragrant Vietnamese pho, hot Singaporean laksa with cockles and a dollop of fermented fish paste, as well as a good batchoy.

So, I don’t dislike ramen, and won’t spend hours debating the origins of the flour and the exact proportions of the pork broth, either. And yet I don’t begrudge the people who have this pleasure because I feel there’s a difference between sashimi chopped randomly by an indifferent line cook, and the slices made by a sushi chef with years of experience.

I’m convinced that I can heed the difference between a “new old stock” Mullard ECC83 long plate vacuum tube and a Russian reissue. To each his own obsession.

Ramen Nagi

I tried out the newly opened Ramen Nagi on the top floor of SM Aura in Taguig; it was in the top league of ramen that one can get in the metropolis these days, though I would be hard-pressed or bluffing on how exactly to rate it in comparison with the others.

I ordered the Black King because it’s what everyone puts up on his Instagram, and when I tried slurping it in the accepted fashion to mix in the air while drinking it, I managed to burble black squid ink like a faulty ink-jet printer over everyone around me. So much for my noodle connoisseurship.

The Green King, which has pesto, is a little strange, but then so is a parmesan cheese topping or noodles in the shape of a burger.

Tonkotsu, the milky white broth made by boiling pork bones for days on end, was (to me, at least) as good as Ippudo’s, going by the branch in Silvercord Center in Hong Kong that I’ve been to.

Ramen Nagi’s interiors are cramped and not conducive to lingering, which fits in with the idea of a noodle bar as a quick stop (and also happens to increase turnover).

But one can always hop over to Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf beside it, which has a pleasant, open-air patio, or saunter down to Paul for pastries.

Ogetsu Hime

There’s another restaurant on the same floor of SM Aura that has already received its share of press, Ogetsu Hime by the Villavicencio resto chain, which originally popularized Japanese food in this town with the Triple-V restaurants in the 1980s.

But you can put behind you the ideas about all-you-can-eat tempura and tuna maki that was all rice and no tuna; Ogetsu is decidedly high-end, with prices to match.

Some of the more abstruse inventions of sushi rolls don’t work well at all, especially the hot ones (chicken teriyaki with bechamel, for instance) that are cooked in foil and have to be reassembled on the table.

Of the nontraditional sushi rolls, the Ogetsu Hime roll is the one worth trying, though I might nitpick that it was slightly wonkily put together.

But the sukiyaki is perfect. I went for the version using the lower-priced US Prime Rib beef, which was carefully cooked on the table by the waitress, who put together a refined and well-judged dish rather than a haphazard, candy-sweet concoction.

Meanwhile, my cousin has opened a ramen restaurant. I mention this somewhat tentatively, because while I review restaurants that are run or created by good friends—and they know that I’m only showing them respect by being as honest as I can be—it’s the first time a close family member has opened a dining place.

It would be an extreme conflict of interest for me to review it, but I don’t feel the restaurant, which has several partners behind it, should be penalized by the misfortune of having one of its owners related to me.

So, I’ll put it out there for other reviewers and the public to judge, even as I say that I enjoyed my bowl of tonkotsu ramen and my black pig tonkatsu at Tampopo a great deal.

And that’s it for This Week In Ramen. Expect another update soon, because the trend shows no sign of stopping. Can someone please open a good pho or laksa joint to break the monotony, though?

Ramen Nagi and Ogetsu Hime are at the 5/F SM Aura, Taguig. Tampopo is at the G/F Promenade 2, Greenhills; tel. 0917-8547440.