New Haven, CTRamen

A downtown ramen bar from chef-owner Angel Cheng, who trained in ramen shops in Japan after starting as a baking student at Johnson & Wales. CTbites, in a January 2022 feature by Brian Lance, describes a kitchen working both a rich paitan and a clear shoyu chintan broth, plus donburi and sandos. Order a bowl built on the shoyu chintan broth with chashu pork and a soft-boiled marinated egg.

Takumi took over the long-running Hanami space on Route 1 in Branford and split the menu between a serious sushi bar and a six-bowl ramen program. CT Bites went for the ramen first, with Hope Simmons driving to the shore weekly for the spicy miso kurobuta built on a milky pork-bone broth with bamboo shoots, soft egg and sliced Japanese sausage, and the same publication named it again in its statewide ramen roundup six years later. Order the spicy miso kurobuta.

Roishi opened in 2022 in the old Roost space on Whitney Avenue, aimed at the Quinnipiac and Southern Connecticut student crowd with an affordable ramen, sushi and bubble-tea menu. CT Bites put it on its statewide great-ramen list for a nine-bowl lineup and a house respect for ingredients. Order the Inferno ramen if you want the heat, or the tonkotsu if you do not.

A small Boston Post Road noodle shop in Orange, a straight run down the Post Road from New Haven. CT Bites included it in its statewide great-ramen selection for a nine-bowl lineup running crispy pork belly, shrimp and Japanese fish cakes alongside udon and chow fun. Order a pork belly bowl.