Chuko

Love this place! It’s one of my fav NYC places! Great veggie food! Great scene! Great vibe!

I’ve been here with my boyfriend and we were waiting over 40 min for ramen. My friends said this place from morimoto. Ramen was tiny bowl and $ 15 seems to expensive but it was delicious. Busy place and very casual. If I have chance might be back again.

The most delicious ramen that makes the long wait SO worth it, and then some. Portions are deceivingly filling, and ramen so perfect. The broth is what sells it for me, to be honest.
Only con would be that it’s too popular!

Read a lot of reviews about this place and my girlfriend and I decided we had to check it out. We came on the Saturday of MDW because we knew it would be a bit quieter but it was relatively empty and we had no idea grabbing a seat. The place has a friendly and easy going vibe, with a bar, and the staff was very friendly.
My girlfriend ordered the kale salad and it was really good. With the ingredients they use, it had a good mix of crunchy and soft. I started of with a pork bun (bao) and it was very good as well. For the entrée I ordered the bone marrow ramen which was great. The broth was rich and flavorful and the noodles and toppings were a great compliment to the broth.
Would highly recommend and will be stopping by again!

Chuko is a small unassuming place that packs a powerful menu that has ramen at its center. I ended up here after suggestions from local friends after not wanting to travel to the city for more known places. It’s some of the best ramen I’ve had in Brooklyn! I still prefer Totto Ramen but this place def hit the spot. I got a shrimp roll and miso ramen with pork. The shrimp will was AMAZING! The shrimp was flavorful and crispy and had an accompanying sauce hat just tied everything together. The miso ramen with pork came with squash and some other veggies to make a hearty meal. They don’t fill you up with noodles (extra 2 for more) but the broth is full of flavor. The pork itself was mostly meat and had a nice flavor. Place is CASH ONLY so come prepared. Would recommend.

This place has the most delicious vegetarian miso ramen. Ever.
The broth is perfect– not too salty or bland. It also had tons of veggie toppings that were so yummy. My noodles were cooked al dente, and they were the thick wavy kind. My bf even tried it and said it was really good. Also, the kale salad is a must! It had really good flavor and a crunchy texture.
The service was great. I definitely cant wait to go back.

Loved the kimchi ramen at this ramen shop. great casual atmosphere, great location with a lot of natural light, and fairly quiet. The service was wonderful, and so was the food! I will definitely return next time I find myself in that neighborhood!

This place is hands down my favorite ramen place. I’ve tried so many popular ramen places before and was never a fan. But this place is different. I’m always craving for ramen from here. The miso ramen is definitely my favorite. The broth is so rich and flavorful i just can’t help coming back. There’s this buttery taste to it that really adds to the broth. And the garlic chilli oil! It tastes so good that I’ve eaten it alone without the noodles cuz its just that yummy.
Only down side is that every time I’ve been here, the servers all seem super busy so a bit hard to get their attention. It’s also a small place so seating arrangement is tight. And definitely expect to wait if u come in lunch or dinner times. But to be honest i think it’s definitely worth it to go and try the ramen regardless of the downsides. Honestly this is my favorite ramen place right now.

This one is in my top 3 of pork broth-​based ramens… We actually came at an off-​hour so there was no wait in this smallish restaurant. I could easily give Chuko a 5^th star, but I really hate the «cash-​only» ethos of restaurants in this area. That’s so annoying.
But this place makes excellent ramen. We had a sho-​yu and a pork bone bowl and both were wonderful. I mean top 3 wonderful of any ramen shop we’ve been to anywhere in the US. The apps (chicken wing, gyoza, and pork belly bun) came highly recommended but to me they didn’t stand out at all (the gyoza was the tastiest).
Good service, and warm and friendly ambiance rounded out the experience. We’ll be back…

The veggie ramen @ Chuko is one of my favorite ramen bowls in the city!
Probably come here the most often whenever I have a ramen craving because it’s in the neighborhood, but make no mistake — this place still makes some of my favorite ramen anywhere in NYC. The wait can be a bit long in the evenings, but they have a cool little phone app that you can use to see where your party lies in the queue. Plenty of nearby places where you can grab a quick drink while you wait, even their sister Bar Chuko right across the street. The space itself isn’t very large, a bit cozy. Dimly lit. In addition to the main seating area, bar seats and some stool seats at the window facing out towards the street if you’re by yourself or a couple/​small group. The servers I’ve had have always been attentive and affable.
Foodwise, I recommend the veggie miso ramen. For you carnivores out there, I still recommend the veggie ramen! Just ask for the pork added to it and they will gladly oblige. They cram so much umami in that veggie broth it’s crazy. My go-​to is the veggie miso ramen with spicy chili oil and soft boiled egg +/​-​pork depending on how I’m feeling. The ramen comes out piping hot, just on the edge of almost burning your mouth, but not quite — the perfect temp! Noodle texture is always spot on, with the perfect ‘bite’.
Only thing I’m probably not too fond of is the cash-​only policy… but it’s something I’m learning to get used to after moving to NY. Anyhow, if you’re in the neighborhood and craving ramen, definitely worth a stop!

REDEMPTION. I think the previous time was an off night for broth. The miso ramen with added pork and egg we had this time was perfect. Well, almost perfect as they initially forgot the pork and there was a hair in my wife’s soup. The staff was great though, they brought the pork right out and got a new soup for my wife out in 5 minutes. They were really apologetic about it too and gave us a free extra app.
Another great discovery this time was the kale salad, which has a miso dressing that is to die for. Will continue to come here at hopefully non-​peak times as it does get very busy.

CASH ONLY!
Top 3 favorite ramen spot!
Décor: very simple, high chairs at the bar and window seats, and they’ve got table seating as well. It’s dim in there during dinner so don’t expect good lighting in your photos unless you’re sitting by the windows, or turn your flash on, but I don’t recommend you do that lol.
Food:
I always get the pork bone broth w/​pork chasu cause why go any other way?
It’s $ 15 a bowl but trust me when I say you’re tummy will be stuffed after this one. There isn’t too much going on in the ramen, which is great cause it allows you to enjoy and appreciate their rich broth! I normally like the squiggly noodles and this dish comes with the straight ones, but I’ll eat any type of noodles with this broth!
I tried the kale salad for the first time today because Mike Chau raves about it on his review, and I finally understand why! The kale was perfectly blanched, dressed with like a sweet miso dressing — I think — topped with sweet raisins and thinly sliced fried sweet potatoes! Everything was so good together I couldn’t believe how flavorful it was. Normally when I eat kale, I’m toughing it out, but this salad was truly enjoyable!
Service was good, waiters and waitresses are always polite and provide great recommendations (which is why I always order and continue to order the pork bone ramen). Today we waited long for the ramen, but it was well worth it.

I absolutely LOVE Chuko — my new favorite ramen place! I came here with some friends on a Tuesday evening and there was a bit of a wait, but we were able to go to a bar across the street to kill some time (thanks Woodwork!). I have to say, the food and the amazing service here made the wait absolutely worth it. Between the three of us, we sampled about half of the menu — everything was phenomenal. A tip for your visit though: this is a cash only restaurant!
To start, we ordered the pork buns, shrimp buns, and crispy brussels sprouts. The pork buns were exactly what you would expect: soft, fluffy buns and a delicious blend of flavor within each bite. The shrimp buns were delicious as well, and the crispy shrimp filling was a nice touch. Make sure to ask for the garlic chili sauce to dip your buns in!
When it comes to the ramen, you literally cannot go wrong. We ordered the Pork bone ramen, vegetable ramen, and kimchi ramen, all of which were equally good despite being so different. Each person’s broth had such a deep range of flavor, I’m salivating as I’m writing this. I highly recommend getting the ground pork as a protein option regardless of what ramen you get (although veggie and ground pork seemed to stand out the most), since the ground pork adds a little kick to it and is quite flavorful in itself.
TL;DR — Cash only. Amazing service, even better food, and definitely worth the wait.

Chuko is one of those spots where even if you arrive in the moments before the largest snow storm of the decade, like I did a few weeks ago, you will still have to wait a bit for a seat.
Once you do brave the line however, the food is pretty amazing. The fried kale salad here is as superb as everyone says, with a bright Asian-​influenced vinaigrette and amazing crunch. The pork bone ramen was also pretty outstanding, with a deep umami flavor and hefty noodles. Make sure to ask for the chili oil with this. I got the sliced roast pork but I realized I prob should have gone with the ground pork, which everyone around me had.
Also, the shrimp buns were absurdly delicious and surprisingly light despite the fact they are fried shrimp covered in sauce. So yeah, plenty of negatives: cash only, long lines, cramped seating, no desserts… but the food is so wildly excellent that it is worth it.
Also, as for the desserts, one of the best ice cream shops in the entire country – Ample Hills Creamery – is like two blocks away, so def make sure to rock that afterward.

Fast, efficient service with delicious ramen.
I’ve been here twice and had the pork bone ramen each time. It was delicious and hearty without being too salty. The pork was very tender. My favorite part about the ramen here are the noodles — chewy enough and not too thin (although I prefer slightly thicker noodles in general). Also has a limited but quality selection of beers.
Cash only.

I so wanted to hate you Chuko. How many times have I walked by you since you first opened and said oh hell no, I am not waiting in that line (20? 50? 100?). I am too old and there are way to many phenomenal ramen shops out there these days to wait in line anywhere. Sure I have unnecessarily waited for Momofuko and Ippudo with out of town guests many a time (as I am one hell of a host), but I would never go to either on my own. Just not worth the wait. I and long assumed Chuko was the same, as places like Dassara serve equal if not better ramen than Momofuko and Ippudo. Plus this place has been making piles of cash hand over fist for years now yet still are greedy bastards not taking any credit cards.
Then came the perfect storm this evening. By pure chance we had decided to hit Gold Star Beer Counter for some phenomenal Maine Brewing Company Beers and realized we were hungry and for once it was 10 minutes before Chuko opened. As luck would have it we arrived just as the doors were and there was absolutely no wait.
I was still skeptical but decided to dive in with their steamed pork bun with chili mayo and kale salad with crispy sweet potatoes and raisin (yes, I would never have guessed I would order a kale salad here too, but I am a brooklynite after all).
The pork bun was phenomenal and perfectly balanced out with thin slices of cucumber on top. The kale salad was also phenomenal with a really amazing dressing and just perfection all around.
For our ramen, the wife went with the veggie ramen with squash and market veggies and pork belly (as nothing goes better with veggie anything than pork). She also went with the «optional» soft boiled egg on top… oh why oh why do places charge extra for eggs these days? Just raise your prices $ 5 and include the egg and take credit cards… you will make even more of a killing and have happy customers who will order more not having to worry about running out of cash.
Sorry…back to the food. The veggie ramen with pork was perfection. Just a great range of balanced and even flavors.
I went for the kimchi ramen with ground pork and it too was just pure perfection. Perfectly cooked al dente noodles with an intense spicy broth that surprisingly wasn’t too rich or buttery… it was just pure delight.
Soooo usually a place this popular, and with truly deserving highly rated food comes surly service with staff who want to rocket you out of there for the next in an endless line of cash paying customers. Not so here. Our waitress was super attentive and nice and did not rush us in any way. In fact after finishing our appetizers she asked if we wanted more before bringing our ramen out. She was also super attentive with our water and seeing if we needed anything (without rushing us).
On the downside the drink selection is limited to sake, wine, Sapporo on tap, and expensive Japanese beers in bottle. mfor $ 10 – 11 a bottle. I was going to cave on the Sapporo when I noticed a Japanese IPA. Didn’t even think such a thing existed but how could I not try. It was really excellent and refreshing… in a Japanese kind of way of course.
Okay so not sure what else to say other than I was so wrong and should have gone here years ago. Of course maybe it is better not to know how good this place is. After all, I had no need to wait in line for ramen until I came here… and now I am hooked. You will be too, so consider yourself warned.

I dream of oodles of noodles. Hence, I made it one of my personal missions to try out as many ramen joints as I can in the NY area. I’ve heard great reviews from Chuko and one evening I got hungry and decided to search for the closest ramen place to me. Chuko was the first to pop up and there I go.
It’s a small place with not a lot of seating. We arrived around 6:30 on a weeknight and it was already packed. However, they had windows seats and we decided to sit there. It was definitely not the most comfortable seating but you gotta do what you gotta do. The menu had various types of broth you can choose from and then you choose what protein you would like with the soup. I chose the pork bone with roast pork.
Our ramen came pretty fast and we digged in. The broth was so rich and full of flavor, I end up drinking a lot of it. The noodles also had that «bounciness» to it that I like and wasn’t all clumped together. TLDR: the ramen was pretty darn good.
The only reason this place isn’t a 5 but instead a 4 is because of the seating. It’s not the most comfortable of places and sometimes I just want to enjoy my warm soupy ramen at my leisure. You cannot do that here at chuko. However, I do see myself coming here again (maybe lunch) when they are less busy.

Usually the ramen is AMAZING. Like, the only place I want to go to the morning after a night of heavy drinking. Maybe it was because I wasn’t hungover or maybe they just lost their touch. The pork was lukewarm and my soft egg was way undercooked (runny whites). Still, the broth and noodles tasted pretty yummy.
We only had to wait 25 minutes for a group of four. This is pretty good considering we’ve been told to wait over an hour before. Seems like they need to pick up their game again.

It’s Sunday. I had this ramen on Tuesday & I’m still not over it! It was THAT GOOD. Seriously. Chuko has the most delicious ramen I’ve ever had.
Started off with a steamed pork bun ($ 5) — it’s a great bite. The bao was warm and the pork belly was tender. Not much to it, but these are such a staple in ramen places so I had to try it!
THE RAMEN (~$ 15) — best ramen, hands down. I got the pork bone ramen and omg. I’ve never had a ramen with that much flavor. It was so rich that I couldn’t believe it for the first few slurps. The noodles were good (and a decent amount). The pork belly I got with it was tender, juicy, and didn’t have too much fat on it (just how I like). It’s definitely one of the simpler ramens I’ve had — there aren’t too many components to it. My boyfriend got the kimchi ramen. I normally don’t tolerate spicy things too well, but I sampled his and it was delicious as well! It had a kick to it, but nothing I couldn’t handle. We actually ate in silence for a while because we were so engrossed in eating.
Service was fine, and the food came out pretty quickly. I came here around 6 and there was no wait, but by the time we were finished there was a wait. It has a chill vibe — dark and intimate at night. A bit loud in here, which was surprising to me. Like hello, are you going to eat that ramen? If not, I will gladly take it.
CASH ONLY — but there is an ATM on the side next to the bathrooms.

Chuko
NY Brooklyn Prospect Heights
12pm Wednesday 14^th October 2015
Five Stars
Zagat recognized Chuko as the best ramen in New York as a result they gave out a free bowl of Ramen. It was surprisingly unbusy and some walk-​ins had no idea of the special.
Chuko definitely deserved top marks. They were prepared, friendly, and efficient. I had a $ 5 Pork Bun Bite. The glazed pork belly was fatty with a caramelized crust. The pickled cucumbers, daikon, and carrot added a sour crunch. The spicy mayo and cilantro leaf provided the final touch. I opted for the Kimchi Ramen which came rather quickly. The broth was spicy with Korean flavors. The curly medium cut noodles were cooked al dente and intertwined perfectly with the ground pork. The kimchi added sweetness and texture to the dish. The super soft boiled egg had a running yolk. This dish was packed with simple but bold flavors. It kind of reminded me of a Mapo Tofu Ramen.
I am glad that I finally got to check this place out.
They have Sapporo on draft and Hitachino white in a bottle.