Aji Ramen – Albuquerque, New Mexico

If a television show was to be created about ramen (some pronounce it ray-men), it would probably be called “Everybody loves ramen.”  According to the World Noodles Association (yes, there is such an entity), Americans consume 5.15 billion servings of instant ramen every year.  If you think that’s a lot, the United States ranks as only the sixth-largest consumer globally, significantly far behind such Asian nations as China and Indonesia.  Still, the land of spacious skies and fruited plains ranks as the top ramen consumer outside of Asia.   The per person consumption rate among Americans is 15 servings of ramen per year.  Would you believe South Korea is ranked the world’s number one per capita in instant noodle consumption (72.8 servings of instant noodles per annum)?

Perhaps because of my non-traditional route (night school and testing out of courses) to higher education, I’ve never had instant ramen.  That’s right.  In my 39 years on planet Earth, my lips have never partaken of the food most commonly associated with college students.  Maybe it’s a good thing.  The high-calorie content and the high concentration of refined carbohydrates, fats, and sodium  in instant noodles, contribute to an increased risk of metabolic disease.  Though only anecdotal date exists as to the exact per-student ramen consumption, the stereotyped college student instant ramen diet remains popular…and perhaps a necessary evil.  That’s because this budget staple for quick meals is affordable for most college students on a threadbare budget.

As has largely been the case, my epiphany of a food heretofore unknown to me came at a restaurant in the Boston area where the Air Force graciously sent me after technical training.  The eye-opening revelation that springy, chewy tangles of noodles in a porcine broth could be so delicious, while not life-altering, was significant.  Alas, it would be many years before restaurants dedicated primarily to preparing and serving ramen would open up in the Land of Enchantment.  Some Japanese restaurants offered ramen, but it wasn’t necessarily their causa existere.  Fast forward a few years and there are a number of ramen-forward restaurants in the Albuquerque metropolitan area.

Still, the launch of a new ramen restaurant is reason for celebration, especially if it’s a good one.  In November, 2025, Aji Ramen opened its doors at the former site of the transcendent and much-missed Budai Gourmet Chinese.   Budai shuttered its doors in February, 2025, leaving the space vacant for nearly nine months.  Few vestiges of this hallowed former tenant remain though it’s difficult to make many significant changes in a space that’s longer than it is wide.  Aji, a Japanese term which translates to “flavor,” is functional and attractive, its cynosure being a smallish sushi bar.

Much like a storefront window displays its offerings, a menu is a restaurant’s “window” as it provides a glimpse into what you can expect from your meal.  Ahi’s menu is rather comprehensive, offering not only ramen but a variety of Japanese options.  Fourteen appetizers include such sumptuous starters as fried oysters, baked mussels, gyoza and takoyaki.  Next on the menu are three salads and miso soup.  Four “signature” ramen dishes grace the menu in addition to six “house” ramen dishes.  Teriyaki entrees can be prepared for you with your favorite proteins: chicken, shrimp, steak and salmon.  Chicken and pork katsu are next on the menu followed by five donburi dishes (including unagi don, my favorite).  The menu also includes curry rice (three items), eight yaki, soba or udon noodle dishes, five fried rice dishes, and a sushi menu that would be the envy of many a sushi restaurant.

Though my Kim and I have largely eschewed skewer-type starters at Asian restaurants (thanks to copious mediocre Thai satay), my bride was intrigued by Aji’s chicken meatball skewers (two skewers with a sweet teriyaki glaze).  Better than most satay, these skewers gave us several bites of tender, juicy chicken.  If (like my Kim) you want the chicken meatballs a bit sweeter, ask your server to ferry over a little extra teriyaki sauce.  If (like me) you prefer your food piquant enough to water your eyes, ask for wasabi and soy sauce.  Trust me on this one.

Japanese curry ranks below Thai and Indian curry in my estimation, but who can possibly resist curry on a wintry day.  Ergo, the spicy curry ramen (pork bone broth with Japanese curry, topped with chashu pork, marinated soft-boiled egg, bean sprouts, baby corn, bamboo shoots, scallions and seaweed sheets).  It comes from the house ramen menu.  It’s not an especially pretty dish.  In fact, it’s the color of the Animas River after the 2015 Gold King Mine disaster.  Don’t let that color dissuade you.  This ramen dish is quite good and will challenge even those of us with asbestos-lined palates.   All ingredients were perfectly prepared and the twisted intertwined mass of noodles were slurp-worthy.

My Kim surprised me by also ordering from the house ramen section of the menu.  Her choice was the black garlic tonkatsu ramen (pork bone broth with black garlic topped with chashu pork, marinated soft-boiled egg, fish cake, bean sprouts, baby corn, bamboo shoots, scallion and seaweed sheets). Renowned for liking dishes with enough garlic to ward off a family of vampires (or an amorous advance), my Kim didn’t find her black garlic tokatsu ramen particularly garlicky.  She did love the noodles, however, and would have enjoyed an entire bowlful of the marinated soft-boiled egg.  By the way, you’re offered the opportunity to order more of any ingredient you like.

A nostalgic recalling of the many times we shared Budai’s transformative “lion’s head” dish was our impetus for ordering the lion king roll (inside: shrimp tempuura, mixed crab meat, avocado, cucumber; outside: seaweed paper, rice, seared salmon, baked sauce, eel sauce, pork floss).  This “everything but the kitchen sink” maki roll was equally delicious whether dipped into a marinade of wasabi and soy sauce or enjoyed sans sauce.  Likely because its construction includes so many ingredients, it started to fall apart the second you began to pry a piece from the serving vessel.  We wound up  mostly eating this vibrant roll with a fork.  Still, that did spare us sticky fingers.

Even if your dietary life hasn’t been largely defined by out-of-a-box ramen dishes, Aji Ramen will remind you just how much better restaurant ramen can be than the instant stuff.

Aji Ramen
6300 San Mateo, N.E. #H1
Albuquerque, New Mexico
(505) 595-3722
Website | Facebook Page
LATEST VISIT: 14 December 2025
# OF VISITS: 1
RATING: N/R
COST: $$ – $$$
BEST BET: Lion King Roll, Spicy Curry Ramen, Black Garlic Tonkatsu Ramen, Chicken Meatball Skewers
REVIEW #1502