I think to say that I love ramen would be an understatement.

I eat ramen about twice a week (and this is a rather conservative estimate). Just this week, I ate Japanese ramen at a restaurant once and ate instant ramen twice and it’s only Thursday!

If you know me at all, I have no desire for cooking (#notwifematerial). It’s one of those things that once I have my own family someday, I wouldn’t mind cooking for them, but as a single person, I feel no need to prepare an extravagant meal for myself (I eat to live, not live to eat).  Of course, that’s completely the reverse in a social situation (this is why I take a lot of extra care when choosing my food options for group dinners; yelping/researching food is my unofficial part-time job).

However, if I’m preparing a meal for myself, the simplest, cheapest route is best. That’s why ramen is my go-to. Not only is it delicious, but it’s comfort food for me (As a latchkey kid, I grew up eating instant ramen almost on a daily basis). Ramen is my hangover breakfast, my midnight snack, and my birthday splurge meal – so versatile!

When I tell people about my ramen obsession/addiction, they are a bit alarmed. They reprimand me saying how unhealthy it is and how my sodium level must be off the charts. I mean, it can’t be that bad for you… I’m still relatively healthy (or that’s what my doctor tells me at my annual checkups).

So I decided to get to the bottom of this and asked quora (it’s actually the only question I have ever asked on quora) how bad ramen is for you. I can’t really remember the responses, but they were resoundingly negative.

I just found this article on the harmful effects of eating ramen. Apparently, “consuming too much sodium can increase a person’s risk of heart failure, osteoporosis, stroke, high blood pressure, and heart disease.” But looking at the comments (because everything written in a Comments Section is a reliable source), it looks like as long as you don’t drink as much of the soup, you should be good to go!

On that note, here are some notable NYC ramen spots:

Best ramen spot ever: RamenYA!
-consistently delicious broth
-pork is extremely tender (this is really important to me since I find chewing tiring)
-not toooo long of a wait
-two locations within 10 min of each other
-decently priced AND you can get a side bowl of a gyu-don for supercheap

Most overrated ramen spot ever: Ippudo
-if I talk to anyone about ramen, and they say Ippudo is their favorite spot, I legit get angry
-pork is tough
-smaller than normal portions
-overpriced
-overly long wait

Ramen spot with most perks: The Graffiti Room
-decent ramen
-cute/funky ambience
-but the thing that sets this place apart is the amount of free pickled side dishes (as a Kimchi lover, this is v. important to me)

The ramen spot that questionably gave me the worst food poisoning I’ve had in my life: Sapporo
-can’t remember what the ramen tasted like because I’ve deleted that night from my memory
-might’ve lost 6+ pounds
-we’re suspecting it was the water?

Up & coming ramen spot: Syo
-in Astoria
-great tonkotsu soup (my fave kind of ramen)
-it’s in Astoria!