There is no shortage of ramen noodles in Madison these days. The latest entry in this craze is Ramen Station, located in the former Cousins Subs building on South Park Street.
Another patron said exactly what I was thinking–it’s a cute place. The layout and Japanese decor present a cozy feeling. If you sit at the bar, you can watch the kitchen team cook all the dishes.
Obviously, I need to talk about the ramen first. In fact, half the menu is dedicated to it. All of the ramen bowls use either a chicken broth or pork broth for the base and come with a generous helping of egg noodles topped with braised pork, a soft-boiled egg, fish cake, one large piece of dried seaweed and bamboo shoots. Thus, differences are subtle.
For example, the Gyuniku ramen ($10.99) leans on the spicy side and comes with ground beef, while the Sesame ramen ($10.99) adds the anticipated sesame flavor to the broth. Also in the noodles section of the menu is Yaki Soba, which is pan-fried buckwheat noodles with vegetables ($10.95; $12.95 with chicken or beef).
Japanese curry isn’t heavy on the spices, and Ramen Station follows that style exactly. You may choose from beef, chicken kastu or pork kastu ($12.95) as well as vegetable ($9.95). The beef was tasty but chewy. At least the carrots, onions and potatoes were super soft.
Eating with a small group is fun because you can order and share the appetizers and skewers. The former includes konoge (fluid potato cake for $4.50) and seaweed salad ($5).
Fifteen items comprise the latter. I enjoyed the tender and lightly seasoned lamb ($2.99). The bony mackerel pike ($2.99), aka Pacific saury, was a bit bitter as expected and picked up the flavor of the grill on which it was cooked. Next time I may get the curry chicken wing ($2.75) or the bacon enoki mushroom ($2.50).
Ramen Station is open every day for lunch, dinner and carryout.
You know why there are more and more restaurants selling ramen in Madison? It’s because ramen is inexpensive and delicious. Taking a simple bowl of noodles and adding textures and flavors is a winning recipe, and that recipe can be found at the newly opened 
Rice dishes, in both teriyaki and curry form, also are on the menu. The super-thick sauce in the pork cutlet curry ($7.75) reminded me of gravy in terms of texture, but it was still a very tasty curry, though light on spices. The pork cutlet had a 2-to-1 breading-to-meat ratio, yet I appreciated the texture contrast it brought to the dish.
It’s been a long time since I was inside the building that 
It sounds silly, but I was impressed with the Gyoza (six for $6), as they were packed with a tasty pork mixture that contained hardly any vegetable filler. Another hit on the appetizer list was the spring roll (two for $4), which was all veggies in a knock-out crispy shell. I actually ate it as part of the Salmon teriyaki bento box ($10), a steal that also includes soup or salad, rice and a four-piece California roll. And lest I forget to mention, the salmon was super flavorful.
