Marubi

Marubi is a tiny litte Japanese ramen restaurant in central Prenzlauer Berg that serves two great dishes. That's right, I'm going to make a visit at Marubi easy for you and there will be no messing around when it comes to ordering. Because one thing is certain, Marubi is not one of the best Japanese restaurants in Berlin. It is however the home of one of my favourite bowls of ramen in Berlin and that's exactly the reason why I'm going to send you to Marubi.

Marubi opened up shop on the Southern end of Kollwitzstraße in Prenzlauer Berg some time in late 2014 and, unlike other ramen shop openings, which caused Berliners to go absolutely mental (hint hint Takumi Nine), this place has operated completely below the radar ever since. Nobody has ever recommended Marubi to me or talked to me about the ramen, the only reason I've really been coming here often is that I absolutely love Japanese food and that it's located close to my home.

As a result I've tried pretty much everything on the menu numerous times and I've grown to like the place. The food at Marubi is generally not amazing, but it's very honest and simple. The "dons" rice bowls are very simple and straight forward and the beef tofu version actually pretty good. The ramen broths definitely don't have years and years of refinement behind them and especially the the beef and the shrimp ramen have never made a lasting impression that's cause me to re-order them. The kimchi used in the beef ramen is just overly sweet and the quality of the shrimp isn't really great.

However, despite the advice to avoid the dishes mentioned above, Marubi serves two other dishes that really belong to the best of their kind in Berlin. I'm talking about the pork gyoza and the Chashu ramen. The handmade gyozas are just like you want them, thin and silky dough with a juicy and steaming filling, ready to be dipped in your light soy sauce and devoured. The Chashu ramen bowl is based on a pork salt broth and comes with white noodles, bean sprouts, a soft boiled egg and a couple of slices of "chashu" braised pork. The broth of this bowl of ramen is pleasantly salty with a mild umami tone and the slightly chewy noodles are a great vehicle to slurp down this tasty broth. All in all a very tasty and comforting bowl of ramen that doesn't mess around. Just keep in mind to eat it quickly, a bowl of ramen like this drastically degrades in terms of quality evert second you don't eat it. Get it, slurp it. That's the rule of thumb here.

It does hurt to say anything bad about Marubi since the eternally friendly staff just are too sweet. While most of the food at Marubi is average, the Chashu ramen also ranks as one of Berlin's best bowls of ramen. Is that because we have a general lack of great ramen shops in Berlin? Yes, absofuckinglutely. Does that mean you shouldn't go to Marubi? Hell no. This place is lovely and with ramen soups priced at HALF the price you pay at Cocolo and Takumi Nine (the gyoza and chashu lunch special is a only 7.50€!!), Marubi is both in terms of taste and value for money a great destination for a quick and filling bowl of Japanese ramen in Berlin.