Sunday, May 18, 2014

Rating system

I rate each ramen I ate on a scale from 1 to 20. This is a purely subjective scale, the rating being a measurement of how much I enjoyed the ramen. Thus, the usual disclaimer applies – do not consider it as any kind of objective rating.

A more stable rating system could be from 1 to 5; you can easily convert:

From 17/20 to 20/20 5/5: Loved it

From 13/20 to 16/20 4/5: Liked it

From 9/20 to 12/20 3/5: Neither liked it nor disliked it

From 5/20 to 8/20 2/5: Disliked it

From 1/20 to 4/20 1/5: Hated it

Originally, I started rating bowls on this 5-points scale, but found out that it was not fine enough to distinguish my enjoyment of different bowls; thus, I turned to the 20-points scale. However, such a scale is less stable in time and more sensitive to external circumstances, so I may very well end up giving different ratings to the same ramen on different occasions. This is not a problem: my subjective appreciation of a ramen can very well evolve, and as I said, the rating does not measure anything but my subjective appreciation.

Ramen is not the healthiest food on earth, so I try to pre-select the ones that I have a good chance to enjoy. Therefore, I mainly go to restaurants that are somehow recommended, and the sample of ramen you will find here is skewed to the upper quality; but there are plenty of bowls out there that I would rate lower than 10/20. Make sure to stay clear of them.

Finally, like everyone, I have my preferences. I love assari* (thin) tonkotsu broth and tantanmen, I enjoy very much gyokai tonkotsu tsukemen and niboshi ramen, I always welcome high-quality shio and miso ramen, but I’m rarely enthusiastic about classical shoyu ramen or kotteri (thick) chicken-based broths (a shame for someone who discovered ramen in Kyoto, where this is a local specialty, but so it is). Also, despite not having eaten so many mazemen and jiro ramen, I loved all the ones I tried. Finally, I strongly prefered firm (katame or barikata) noodles to soft ones. My ratings are likely to reflect these preferences, so keep that in mind when you’re reading my blog.

* for a definition of ramen-related terms, follow one of the links of the glossary section.

No comments:

Post a Comment