High Fives for High Five Ramen

Recently, a friend and I asked ourselves the classic question: what should we have for dinner? Though we are both lovers of Asian cuisine, we wanted to switch it up from the usual Thai food we order together. She lives in the West Loop, and had heard of a ramen spot not too far from her apartment. Having gone to college and lived off of ramen noodles, I knew the meal would be much more delicious than any bowl of instant ramen could ever taste, but I was unsure what to expect from real ramen. We decided it would be the perfect meal to warm us up from the inside out, so we headed out to see what all the fuss was about.

The Vibe

High Five Ramen is located next door and downstairs from Green Street Smoked Meats, a very cool restaurant in the West Loop with an entrance in an alley off Green Street. High Five Ramen opens at 6:00 PM daily, but my friend had heard that it is very popular and gets crowded quickly, so we showed up 30 minutes early just to be safe. When we arrived, we were told to enter through the door for Smoked Meats, walk through the restaurant, then go through a second door and wait on the stairs until High Five Ramen was open and ready for business. When we arrived at 5:30 we were the third group in line, but within five minutes, the line reached all the way up the stairs and into the restaurant above. While we waited, we grabbed drinks from the central bar at Smoked Meats, as the sign at the bottom of the stairs suggested (see number 2), and sipped our beer until 6:00 rolled around.

A hostess came to seat us promptly at 6:00 PM and we got our first peek into the restaurant. What adds to the popularity of High Five Ramen is the intimate atmosphere and limited seating; Patrons sit on stools at two high tables that only can seat about a dozen people at a time, hence the long line and long wait time.

The restaurant itself is dim, with large glass windows painted over to only let in a little bit of light. The exposed brick and cement walls further add to the basement vibe as you wait for a steaming bowl of ramen to appear in front of you.

The Food

Every college student loves ramen noodles, the instant packs in different flavors that are quick and easy to make. High Five Ramen will not remind you of your college days. The menu at High Five Ramen is small and straightforward: They serve their full spice ramen, half spice, or no spice as well as a super-duper spicy version and two other lighter versions. My friend and I both ordered the Half Spice because the description of the original spice warned us of “pain, suffering, sweating, discomfort and a creeping feeling of deep regret that is followed by a pure sensory euphoria.”

From my seat, I could see into the small kitchen, which whips up a few bowls of piping hot ramen – in both temperature and spice level – at a time. When our ramen was finished, the waiter quickly whisked it to our table and placed it before us. Like I said before, this is not your college ramen: the rich broth, with slow-roasted pork belly, bean sprouts, scallions, black garlic oil, and seasoned egg was absolutely delicious. I was very glad I did not order the full spice version, because I still had to pause a few times to sip my cold beer even though I only had half spice.

At the conclusion of the meal, the waiter gave us a moist towelette to clean our hands and apparently wipe the sweat off our faces after eating all the spice, as I saw another man doing. I left feeling full and satisfied with my first Japanese ramen experience and would recommend it to anyone wanting to try how authentic ramen is supposed to taste.