Eat This Now: Curry Ramen at Muracci's

Berkeley – home of cheap eats and cuisines from all over the world. As I've said before, I usually avoid the area within a close radius of the UC Berkeley campus, but sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and brave the sea of hungry Cal students to get a taste of goodness. So it was the case recently, when Kayoko and I met on Telegraph Avenue for lunch at Muracci's #3.



As suggested by the number after the name, Muracci's is a chain. Actually, more like a mini-chain. The original location, in San Francisco's Financial District on Kearny Street, opened in 2008. Muracci's #2 was opened two years later in Los Altos, but it closed just two months after Muracci's #3 in Berkeley opened in September 2014. So as of now, there are only two Muracci's locations. Both are owned and operated by a married couple, who are originally from Osaka, Japan. Yasuyuki and Tamiko Murata named their curry house after their son, nicknamed Muracci. He's the guy in the logo giving a thumb's up!



Muracci's curry is based on Tamiko's recipe – a sauce that takes two days and 20 hours of simmering to create. All that time and effort is worth it. Especially since most of the items on the menu at Muracci's come slathered in this deep, delicious curry sauce, which you can choose to have served mild, medium, or hot in spiciness. The curry rice dishes come with white or brown rice and house pickles.

But as I said, Kayoko and I were there for the ramen, so we both ordered two bowls from their Weekly Special menu.



Kayoko got the Chicken Karaage Curry Ramen pictured above. She was pretty stoked about it.



I got the Katsu Curry Ramen (pictured in detail in the first photo of this post). I admit the addition of the sunny side-up egg on top was what sealed the deal for me.

Here I am about to dig in...



... and here I am going in for the slurp! Warning, it's messy food. Muracci's is probably not a good place to have your first Tinder date, in case you were considering it.



Although Muracci's Curry Ramen is definitely a noodle soup, the broth is very thick and rich. The oodles of noodles, if you can forgive me for using that mom-ism, get coated with the sauce, so every bite is really flavorful and satisfying.

Sadly, the ramen did not come with pickles, so we ordered a dish to share. Sweet and crunchy, these were a perfect accompaniment for our ramen.



I consider myself a hearty eater and I was fairly hungry that afternoon when we sat down for lunch – so I was very surprised that I couldn't finish my ramen. Both Kayoko and I were shocked by the seemingly endless supply of noodles inside our bowls.



But if you happen to have a monster appetite, you'll be happy to know you can order extra sauce and extra rice to supplement your hunger. Plus if you're a starving Cal student, you should know that Muracci's offers some good student deals. Just don't forget to bring your ID!



MURACCI'S #3
2428 Telegraph Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94704
T: 510.845.1101