What's the difference between Saimin and Ramen? The dashi in Saimin is a little clearer and crisp to taste with a saltiness at the end versus the heavier milky clouds of fatty richness brought by ramen. While being similar in having a soup, noodles, and toppings its no wonder there are comparisons between Saimin’s cousins of Wonton Soup and Ramen, both of which also are inspired or originated by chinese cuisine. Saimin also has its differences in its noodle texture being much more chewy and keeps a separate taste to the soup, beside its ramen noodle counterpart it is clear that the noodles in Ramen become a single flavor of the broth. Other than that it's just a preference of regional ingredient toppings.
Which should people choose? With ramen joints being so abundant and taking over the scene with its rich flavor there is no denying its spot in Hawaii, but Saimin in comparison does not seem to have the same tools as Ramen shops which might be one reason for their decline. Luckily cuisines divide the two as different identities, so a preference of Hawaii Cuisine for the meal or Japanese Cuisine would be the main factor. But, if the options of making the most out of the shop experience and menu it would have to go to Ramen for its mixture of items of Stir Fry, Dumplings, Stew, and Noodle Soup versus Saimin which has Noodle Soup and a extremely limited selection of wonton dumpling standing alone and maybe three types of grilled sticks. The heritage of the people who live on the island is important to note, since even though the noodles of the food industry are at war it doesn’t mean it affects our relationships by ethnicity in the same light. One way of cooking is taking ethnic family history and making it Ethnic Hawaii local food and then taking the second way and making the foods that came out of the ethnic melting pot that is Hawaii Local food that overseas the other way as a branch of local food. Then the next question is finding the belonging of food of the ethnicity local food and then finding out the land is what we have in common and then it makes another layer for a regional type of local food and then to top it off there is the personal histories to the dishes themselves and its ingredient sources have their own stories as well. We all carry our own stories and share the same story by the land, which comes back to the traditional Hawaiian ideas of the Hawaii community to take care of the land and give back as one family. The Ramen and the Pho are ethnic cuisines that can find their way in Hawaii cuisine in its Ethnic local branch and is celebrated as Saimin, but since a lot of the foods developed in their native countries Saimin has a lot of development to do to catch up and be competitive for its choice in peoples preferences of where to eat. The next comparison would bring us to looking at the way menu design and dishes are in the established ethnic shops and see if Saimin can keep up in its selection or speed in the kitchen and speed of customer ordering. Pho Shops there is the Noodle Soup accompanied by finger food Summer Rolls or Fried Egg Rolls and variety of Salads and Entrees that feature Barbequed Meats. Ramen Shops have their Noodle Soup and has finger food dumplings with tempura and a featured stew that is supported by fried rice. Saimin shops have their Noodle Soup with beef sticks being the finger food and fried saimin dishes on the side. What Saimin could do to help its comparison is adding a Stew, adding Dumplings, and keeping the grilled sticks. In Menu designs there are only so many items on Ramen shops that make it fairly easy to make a decision of several specialties of the shop, while Saimin and Pho still have in common the selection of entrees, sides, and sandwiches that overrun the menu with a large number of dishes. This creates less emphasis on the noodle soup with more items and it takes customers more time to decide on what they want to eat. Which just makes them confused or frustrated. One of the secret advantages of Ramen shops is their regional connection of ingredients that are based on the themed Ramen to make different menu depending on the specialty. This too can be taken away from the Ramen Shop in advantages with the exploration of regional Saimins. Be sure to check back on the discussions to see the Imagine Hawaii’s findings over the years of revealed regional specialties of Saimin to give Saimin shops a fighting chance against its Ramen and Pho competition.
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