There already has been a lot of pre-opening buzz for Guchi’s Midnight Ramen and hopefully its success will bring the late night food spirit. In New York City, the two late night Japanese and noodle I have been to include East Noodle (May Chan Ramen) and Kenka.

Men Tei Japanese Noodle Cafe is one of our standards for ramen, fried rice and tonkatsu for under $10 each. The service is super fast and I wish the restaurant was open late. They have great lunch and dinner specials, but I think their katsu curry, cutlets, fried noodles or rice are the best items to order on the menu.

The restaurant seats less than twenty people and is a cash only establishment. The decor is simple with fish cut outs and bamboo screens.

Pork cutlet and rice ($8.90) is a must get and for an additional $2.00, upgrade to their  fried rice. I really enjoyed the texture of the slivers of tangy seaweed with the flavorful pork fried rice. The cutlet was crispy and nicely breaded.

The flavorful noodles had fried chunks of marinated chicken, sprouts and veggies for $8.95. The chicken was slightly dry, but the noodles themselves were quite tasty.