I have never had ramen before.

I didn't know until two days ago that there was such a thing as restaurant ramen.

Because I was vegetarian, I never had experience with ramen because it had animal byproducts in it.

I'm expecting, you know, slimy noodles and soup that's too salty.

I'm hopeful.

I'm a little bit nervous.

I've had Vietnamese pho.

I've had Thai boat noodles.

My name is Toshiro Tagami.

I am a store manager of LA Artisan Noodle.

I am very excited for you guys to try the ramen for the first time.

[Ramen was one of Japan's first industrialized foods, with a mechanized noodle-maker used by the late 1910s]

[By the 1970s in Japan, some were making ramen to be more artisanal]

Here we go ramen.

Thank you.

I think I smelled seaweed.

Yeah.

Gross.

This doesn't look anything like I was expecting.

It looks eclectic.

Hardy and eclectic.

(slurping)

(laughs)

I'm splashing all over myself.

But it's not a date food.

It's a little salty.

It's not too salty.

It tastes like chicken noodle soup.

It's like if gravy was like, mixed with the chicken broth and kinda watered down a little bit.

That is really good pork.

Pork isn't my favorite thing.

There's a slimy thing going on.

Juicy, it's salty, it's all the good stuff.

I've never seen a brown egg.

I don't think I've ever had a whole egg since I was probably a small child.

I'm a fan, I'm a fan of the egg.

Like, passable.

Actually, the aftertaste or whatever it is, it gets a little bit better as you eat it.

It's good, it's definitely growing on me.

I'm gonna have to order stuff that's not sushi when I go to Japanese places now.

Dude, the more I eat it, the better it is.

That's so weird.

This is like, if you added a Japanese twist to Thanksgiving.

Now by the end, especially with that egg,

I'm like, I'm a fan.

Instant ramen's got nothing on this.

This is like, legit.

But I'm not a full-blown believer.

I feel like I should have been introduced to this a long time ago.

College students should not be given the 45 cent plastic, red-wrapped, whatever that is.

This is what I want.

When it's raining, with a book, I want some ramen.