Momosan Ramen & Sake

it’s hard to believe that a megawatt Japanese chef such as Morimoto namesake Masaharu Morimoto wouldn’t have forayed sooner into the lucrative world of ramen, having spent a decade erecting an international empire of modern Japanese restaurants and sushi bars spanning New York to New Delhi. But the bespectacled Iron Chef alum makes his splashy debut to the noodle-soup game with this 60-seat Murray Hill restaurant, which affectionately takes its title from the toque’s nickname in the kitchen. On the menu are the titular bowls, offered both in traditional varieties, such as tonkotsu (with soy tare, pork chashu and ajitama egg), and globally inspired broths, such as a spicy, Malaysian-inflected laksa version with coconut curry and red miso ground pork. Beyond ramen, small plates range from a romaine-cucumber chashu salad in garlic sauce to a Peking duck taco with hoisin and apricot-chili sauce in a soft tortilla. On the drinks front, a sake menu touts 13 regional varieties offered by the glass in traditional cedarwood masu boxes, along with a selection of sake-based cocktails.