Astoria Ramen Restaurant Named Among Best In The City

ASTORIA, QUEENS — The advent of cold weather in NYC means that soup season is nigh, which is good news for Astorians who are looking for a local bowl of ramen.

A new list by Eater NY names HinoMaru Ramen, located at, 33-18 Ditmars Boulevard, as among the 29 best bowls of ramen in New York City — all of which Eater's senior critic Robert Sietsema promises will "chase away the chill."

The Astoria eatery was one of two ramen ramen restaurants in Queens that made the list, alongside Flushing’s Kyu Ramen.

HinoMaru Ramen opened its doors in 2011, claiming the title of Astoria's first ramen shop. Eater describes the restaurant as a "very serious ramen joint," which is among the best places in NYC to get a bowl of Hakata-style tonkotsu broth, which cooks for 17-hours to get a "creamy" texture.

The restaurant serves the ramen with traditional additions, like scallions, bean sprouts, and nori, but Eater recommends buying one of HinoMaru Ramen's signature "New York Style" bowls: One comes topped with fish cakes, and another — dubbed the "fireball bowl" — is topped with a "loose meatball of peppery ground pork that subsides into the soup as the flavor explodes."

HimoMaru Ramen is no stranger to glowing reviews: its made it on the Michelin Bib Gourmand guide — a Michelin-vetted list of New York City's best spots for cheap eats — every year from 2012 and 2019, and was featured in the Wall Street Journal and Business Insider.

In addition to the well-reviewed ramen joint, Eater editors have recognized a host of other northwest Queens restaurants as some of the city's best spots. Editors recently recommended a new BBQ joint in Astoria, and named two Astoria restaurants as among the best spots in the city for brunch.

Read Eater's list of "29 Bowls of Ramen to Chase Away the Chill in NYC" here.