Afuri

Afuri was only in its soft opening, when we visited last friday night.  When Marukin opened nearby, it had long lines, and so I thought it might be best to head to Afuri before the official opening.

There was a lot of buzz created, when Afuri announced that it would open in Portland, as it is a well known ramen chain in Japan.  After that, there was nothing more about it until just recently, when they announced their grand opening.  Afuri's specialty is yuzu ramen and they say they selected Portland because of the similarities in the water to what they use in Japan.

We were able to sit at the ramen bar, so we could watch the care taken in putting together each bowl.

The full menu was not available, but there were enough options.  We ordered the Afuri roll and the house made gyoza.

The gyoza arrived in a stylish swirl pattern.  They were crispy on one side and a bit gooey on the other.  And they tasted pretty good, I love gyoza and I almost always order gyoza if they are on a menu.  The Afuri roll, I really enjoyed, it was a simple roll predominately filled with tuna, but the soy marinated salmon roe piled on top really gave it a great flavor and interesting texture.

I ordered the Yuzu Shio ramen, which did have a light citrusy flavor, very different from other ramen that I have had.  The noodles were thin, and the topping were good, egg, mushrooms, pork, and endive.