Comfort Bun!

Mirin Ramen Noodle

Winter has been my favorite season since before I can remember. Its something about snuggling and getting warm that is more comforting than stripping and trying to cool off. This year has been a little different, the lack of cold days has slowly started to change my mind from loving winter to missing some heat! Its too warm and wet for soup and hot chocolate but still too cold for popsicles and nachos... for some. This back and forth has continued all winter, and due to this confusion, my soup, stew, chili purge hasn't truly developed. As Winter passed I continued to look at pictures of soups and stews, reminding myself of what I was missing, photos of chicken noodle soup and Pho filled my Pinterest, until one day while roaming in a skewed Pinterest thread, I found pictures of hot, spicy ramen noodles that piqued my interest. I continued clicking on the pictures until the only suggested photo was ramen. I knew I had made up my mind and I would need this. I changed my focus from Pinterest to searches for "authentic ramen near me", I wanted to try a place I had never tried and decided on Mirin located at 2011 Frankfort Ave 40206. I waited for a cooler day, one where a heavy jacket was needed but a run from the car to your destination without one wouldn't kill you and started on my food journey.

Mirin is a little place located next to a PiYo gym in the Crescent Hill area which is foreign territory for me. I have no reason to travel to that area of Louisville. However, I noticed a wide range of eateries that caught my attention. Once I arrived, parking was a bit difficult, but I was able to find a great metered parking in front of the restaurant. My daughter who had just left High School shadows joined me but made it very clear she would not be eating here; she was happy to keep me company if I bought her a soda. Looking at the menu created some relief, for one it was small, which meant a few things to me. 1- They are very good at the few things they do, and 2-I don't have a lot of menu selections to obsess over.

I've had ramen before and knew most were served with a piece of pork belly or vegetarian with a soft boiled egg and a miso broth. I decided on the Spicy Triple Soup and the KFC Bao Buns. The soup was very good and true to authentic ramen, the spicy level was advertised as pretty hot, but I could have used more of a kick. The ramen was tasty with a full flavored broth, sticky and fulfilling; the green onion was a great compliment to the noodles. The dish was garlicky and spicy with delicious thick firm noodles that kept the flavor of the broth. Basically, I liked the soup. What was surprising was how much I loved the steamed buns. Ordered as an afterthought the steamed buns took over the meal. Each shiny, plump, sweet bun was stuffed with a fried chicken breast dipped in a spicy red hot sauce with an Asian chili tang and topped with pickled purple cabbage, cucumber, and a jalapeno. My daughter watched as I shoved the first bun into my mouth, sauce dripping, bun fluffy and covered in flavor. She continued in her phone only to watch me go after another, until finally, she claimed the third for her self, grabbing it taking a full bite and giving me the "ok" hand sign verifying her excitement. She shook her head up and down in satisfaction happy to not have missed out. When I tell you these are amazing, don't believe me, believe my 12 years old who couldn't watch me eat them all.

Mirin would be somewhere I would return to if I were in that area. I would like to try other ramens, sake and revisit those buns!

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