Samurai Bistro

Samurai Bistro is a small eatery with a small menu that specializes in Japanese noodle soups. Customers can choose the kind of noodle (ramen or udon) and stock (pork or miso) in any of the eight or so choices.
I had a vegetarian bowl with ramen and miso. The soup was out of the league of the instant packaged noodles common on grocery shelves — the bowl as almost as deep as it was wide, full of soft, thin noodles, filled to the brim with miso broth, and overflowing with different kinds of mushrooms, as well as rice and Asian lettuce. The mushrooms stole the show — so many different shapes and sizes (including two portabello caps — which I found delightfully chewy, but bitter), and all kinds of fungi that I don’t know the name of but have seen before in Asian vegetarian dishes. Most notable was the Chinese mushroom on top — it looked like a large seashell and had a smoky taste to it. The part that was floating above the soup was moving as though ti was breathing, due to the hot steam from the soup hitting it. It was definitely one of the most bizarre things I have ever eaten, but was worth it.
The broth is not as multi-​layered as it’s cousin, Vietnamese phở, but it is not really a fair comparison. The seaweed in the miso gave a salty kick, while the corn added some needed sweetness. I was mostly overwhelmed by the sheer size — at $ 9 it was enough to keep me full for the rest of the day and I could not even finish.
My dining companion had the chicken rice bowl, which was different than any other I have seen in a Japanese restaurant. The chicken was grilled, cut into pieces, and had an orange citrus taste to it. It was served in a bowl separate from the bowl of rice. A small bowl of miso soup rounded out the meal. He wasn’t a fan of the miso soup but liked the chicken. The portionw as decent, and around $ 10.
To start, we had grilled beef skewers for $ 7.50. Three small skewers of teriyaki beef — delicious, but too small. At the very least, a fourth skewer would have made things less awkward to share.
Service was friendly, reasonably fast, and the prices are reasonable. There is no sushi, and this isn’t Japanese fast food.