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New Ramen Restaurant Serves Up Soups and Sounds on Cornelia Street

By Danielle Tcholakian | September 24, 2016 12:50pm | Updated on September 26, 2016 8:51am
 The Kara Shoyu is the restaurant's spiciest ramen, essentially the same soup as the Shoyu Chintan, but topped with a sautéed minced pork with a homemade chili sauce.
The Kara Shoyu is the restaurant's spiciest ramen, essentially the same soup as the Shoyu Chintan, but topped with a sautéed minced pork with a homemade chili sauce.
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MEW MEN

WEST VILLAGE — A new ramen restaurant with a focus on both taste and sound opened this week in the West Village.

MEW MEN, at 7 Corneila St., opened Sept. 21, and places an emphasis on the music that is played while the ramen is cooked and eaten, with a sheet music stand at the entrance holding the restaurant's menu, deconstructed music cases re-purposed as legs for the oak dining tables and stage light fixtures in the ceiling of the 39-seat restaurant.

The dining area has communal seating, plus an 11-seat chef's counter where guests can watch the chefs prepare the ramen in sync with the music. Food is served on imported handcrafted Japanese pottery and dinnerware.

An open DJ sound system lines the back wall, while the rest of the walls are adorned with curated artwork by photographer Masayuki Azuma.

(Courtesy of MEW MEN)

MEW MEN serves small share plates plus five types of ramen soup in Culinary Director Hiroshi Hiraoka's signature style, made with chicken broth rather than traditional pork bone broth.

The chicken broth is made fresh daily from locally-sourced chicken, and all other ingredients are fresh and free of MSG or other chemicals.

MEW MEN's signature ramen is the Shoyu Chintan, a variation on chicken soup with a distinctive soy sauce flavor, topped with braised pork belly, chicken, scallion and marinated snow pea.

(Courtesy of MEW MEN)

Another type of ramen is the Shio Paitan: saltier, thicker and creamier, made from smashed bone marrow. It comes with either chicken or seafood broth, and is topped with pork belly, chicken, fresh onion and onion flakes.

(Courtesy of MEW MEN)

The Kara Shoyu is the restaurant's spiciest ramen, essentially the same soup as the Shoyu Chintan, but topped with a sautéed minced pork with a homemade chili sauce. The pork is cooked with ground fresh jalapeño and served with ground habanero peppers on the side for diners who want their dish even spicier.

(Courtesy of MEW MEN)

And the Vege Tartan ramen is made with three types of miso — red, white and kome — along with sesame paste and chopped peanuts to provide a nutty base to the broth, topped with seasonal vegetables and chopped scallions.

Small share plates include traditional Japanese snacks like Kara Age, fried chicken marinated for more than 24 hours, deep fried in smashed cornflakes, and served with a homemade onion sauce.

(Courtesy of MEW MEN)

MEW MEN is currently open for dinner six days a week, and plans to launch lunch service later this fall.

It is an offshoot of the Hand Hospitality Group, the same team behind Izakaya Mew on West 35th Street near Herald Square and Korean restaurants Her Name is Han on East 31st Street and Atoboy on East 28th Street, both near Kips Bay.

MEW MEN, 7 Cornelia St. Hours: Tuesday to Thursday from 5:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.; Friday and Saturday from 5:30 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.; Sunday from 5:30pm to 10:00pm. Closed on Mondays. Reservations not accepted.