Satori Ramen Bar – Spiciest Dish in Columbus Series

Sitting in the previous Katzinger’s Deli at North Market, Satori Ramen Bar is buzzing at the lunch hour. Folks crowd the bar area slurping their noodles down before heading back to their jobs. It’s a welcome addition to North Market and seems to be doing well so far.

Featured on their menu are standard appetizers like Chashu Buns, Edamame, Gyoza and Karaage and ramens that range from Tonkotsu to Veggie Abura Soba. Standing out on the list for us was the Kara Kapow! This ramen is listed as the only “Extra Hot” item on the menu, so of course we were going to give it a shot. Coming in at $13, the Kara Kapow is “Spicy rich pork broth mixed with our house-made chili sauce and oil served with chashu braised pork, green onions, vegetables (bean sprouts, cabbage and nira chives) with starched sauce.” They have a few different levels of heat the highest of which is Magma.

One thing to note, this is probably the best to-go packaging we’ve had from a ramen shop in Columbus, most likely because people almost have to take this ramen to go. The seats at the bar can fit roughly 15 people and the rest must go to the newly redeveloped upper floor with what looks like hundreds of new seats (not sure how factually accurate).

As you can see from the above the Kara Kapow! has a thick red broth and the chili oil had floated to the top by the time we made it upstairs. We opened it up, poured it over the noodles and extra ingredients and prepped ourselves.

After dumping the broth in, you can definitely still see the house-made chili sauce sticking out. There was a bit left over in the broth bowl so I drank that straight. A nice warm heat from the chili with a savory broth underneath. The ingredients are solid and the noodles were slightly chewy, but good overall. More green onions than I typically like, but the braised pork and soft-boiled egg definitely steal the show (as they typically do).

The heat of the Magma is immediate in broth alone, but not too noticeable when eating the primary ingredients. It wasn’t until the majority of it was gone and I was drinking straight broth that the heat started to catch up. At its peak it induced a couple of sniffles, but not enough to place it in the top half of our list.

Is it a tasty ramen? No doubt. I’d most likely roll with the Tonkotsu our next time there, but is it the spiciest dish in Columbus? No. It’s the second spiciest dish in the North Market (spicier than Firdous, less spicy than Hot Chicken Takeover) and similar to our review of Firdous, it’s a good lunchtime spicy. Enough heat to wake you up, but not so much you’ll miss an important board meeting with stomach cramps. In our list the Red Dragon Ramen from Fukuryu still takes the spicy ramen cake.

Satori Ramen Bar is a nice addition to the offerings at the North Market and we look forward to trying some of their other items in the future.

Look below for more in our spiciest dish in Columbus series and hit us up if you have any suggestions that are not already on our list!

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