Even though I had eaten at a lot of places on this Vegas trip, most of them (Raku, Sweets Raku, Kabuto) just so happened to be located in the same plaza. Monta Ramen is located just a couple doors down from Raku. Not to be a spoiler to this post, but out of a pretty great lineup of restaurants in this plaza this was probably my least favorite meal of the trip.
Due to the multiple visits to this plaza, I had my eye on the huge lines every time I ate at a restaurant in this plaza so I knew I had to head out here before the restaurant opened to secure a spot in this tiny restaurant. The line wasn't too bad. Arriving 15 minutes before the restaurant opens will secure you a pretty good seat in the first seating. Both the wait and the menu reminded me a lot of Los Angeles's Daikokuya (see post HERE).
Due to the multiple visits to this plaza, I had my eye on the huge lines every time I ate at a restaurant in this plaza so I knew I had to head out here before the restaurant opened to secure a spot in this tiny restaurant. The line wasn't too bad. Arriving 15 minutes before the restaurant opens will secure you a pretty good seat in the first seating. Both the wait and the menu reminded me a lot of Los Angeles's Daikokuya (see post HERE).
The kimchi fried rice only comes in one size. Its a shareable size if you decide to eat ramen as well as a rice dish. There are small bits of pickled vegetables amongst the mound of rice. Its not really a Korean style kimchi fried rice as you can tell from the color (the korean style is more red in color from much more kimchi as well as a fried egg on top). The kimchi taste is very light.
The only other pork bowl I've had is the absolutely #1 fantastic one at Daikokuya so this one obviously pales in comparison. If you've never had Daikokuya's version then this can make for a decent pork bowl, but side by side to Daikokuya's its missing the sweet sauce that ties it all together. Also, there is a noticeably skimpy portion of meat in the bowl.
Even though the menu says that Monta offers miso, shoyu, and tokotsu ramen, they actually offer a spicy tonkotsu ramen as well as a kuro (black garlic) ramen. I opted for the traditional tonkotsu ramen. The bowl comes with noodles, bamboo shoots, 2 slices of pork, green onions, wood ear, but surprisingly no egg so obviously I had to add the egg to make a proper ramen bowl. Another odd thing about this bowl is the noodles are really thin. Almost like Chinese chow mein noodles found in won ton soup, which threw me off a bit. While the broth does have a fatty pork flavor, it doesn't have that complexity of a good tonkotsu ramen broth. Better than the most bowls in the San Francisco, but not in LA or the South Bay area.
Address:
Monta Ramen
5030 Spring Mountain Rd. Ste 6
Las Vegas, NV
Chomp worthy: nothing
5030 Spring Mountain Rd. Ste 6
Las Vegas, NV
Type:
Japanese/ramen
Popular chomps: tonkotsu ramen
kimchi fried rice
pork bowl
Popular chomps: tonkotsu ramen
kimchi fried rice
pork bowl
Chomp worthy: nothing
No comments:
Post a Comment