It's been widely cited as the new cronut. Another freaky food phenomenon produced from two distinct items and made in short supply to draw snaking lines and drive up demand: Behold the “ramen burger.'
Since debuting at the beginning of the month at a food fair in Brooklyn, N.Y. the ramen burger has shown potential signs of generating as much buzz and viral interest as the cronut, a hybrid croissant-donut that has taken the food world by storm.
If you haven't heard of the ramen burger by now, here's how it looks: Two round discs of crispy, fried ramen noodles sandwich a beef patty topped with scallions and a special "shoyu" sauce.
It's an idea that borrows from the playbook of KFC, which caused a stir when it replaced burger buns with two deep-fried chicken cutlets back in 2010.
Meanwhile, buzz from Keizo Shimamoto's ramen burger drew snaking lines of people at a Brooklyn food fair over the past two weekends who stood for hours in the rain for a chance at one of the limited-edition sandwiches -- another strategy taken directly from the cronut playbook.
Cronut inventor Dominique Ansel succeeded in creating soaring demand for his deep-fried pastry by limiting daily production to just 200 a day when he first started in May. In just a few months, the croissant-donut has spawned knock-offs and copycats all over the world.
But the ramen burger isn't a new invention. In an interview with The Daily Beast, Shimamoto says he imported the idea from Japan, tweaking the recipe to replace the pork filling with beef patties.
The Japanese-American, meanwhile, is a self-described ramen "freak" who spent time in Japan studying the fine art of ramen-making before becoming a noodle chef himself. He also created a short film called "Ramen Dream" last year that pays homage to his food obsession.
He also hinted at plans to open a brick and mortar restaurant selling ramen burgers.
Meanwhile, the popularity of the cronut has inspired a food purveyor at Canada's largest fair, the CNE in Toronto, to sell the cronut burger, a facsimile of the hybrid pastry that also sandwiches a beef patty and which will debut this week.
http://www.dailybulletin.com/breakin...xt-food-phenom
I enjoy eating Ramen noodles so would definitely give this a try. Looks
Japanese junk food!
Quote Reply
