We were all excited for Dining with Dad this week because Alex finally had a Friday night off of work. Since he’s the new guy he’s been getting stuck with every weekend evening. This week was a bit of a request from Chloe. I had mentioned months ago that there was a “fancy ramen” place that I want to take them to at some point. Sometimes I give them options of cuisine and so it was one of the options back then but they chose something else. Apparently it was time to try it so we headed to Slurping Turtle over in Easton for this week.

I was a little nervous about this week’s choice. I knew that they had sushi which both kids like so we could default to that if needed. I wasn’t sure that they would like all the things that are mixed in with the ramen as they are used to the cheap stuff from the grocery. Boy was I wrong!! Spoiler alert: they loved Slurping Turtle.

Surprisingly this place does get busy and I’ve had to wait before. I guess I was surprised because it’s ramen, I mean c’mon. Who waits for ramen? But once you try it you’ll know! We got there at our usual early hour though as we all like to go for an early dinner. They have a few happy hour specials so we took advantage of that by grabbing a beer (only for me) and a California roll while we looked at the menu and decided what we all wanted.

Alex started asking right away, “what is Bao?”. Their menu doesn’t have any pictures of the food on it and I had never tried it before so I had no idea. I told him to google it and so he did and instantly said “I want that!” As I chowed down on my sushi I asked him what it was and he said little dumplings. I google it as well and saw what he saw but saw more pictures of what looked like tacos. I showed that to him and he said either way he’d like to try it. When it was time to order, he went ahead and asked the server what they looked like and she told him it was the taco style. He went ahead and got 3 of the roasted chicken bao. He loved them! He described them as mini pancake tacos. He said he’d get those again if we go back.

Chloe requested the ramen place so I knew she’d be looking at the ramen side of the menu. I wasn’t sure what she would pick and it took her some time to decide. I think it was the other ingredients in the various ramen bowls that was her focus more on the main staple. She eventually focused on the shrimp one but had questions about the bamboo shoots. I explained it to her and showed her a picture of them. One last question and she was sold: “It doesn’t have peas does it?” She too liked what she got. She let me try a shrimp which was not terrible, but not the best in my opinion. To be fair, good shrimp is tough to get in Ohio. I think Chloe thought the same as she left some shrimp in the bowl that she didn’t eat. But she definitely loved the rest of it.

I’m a creature of habit and continue to get the same thing when I got back to restaurants. The first time I went I got the DFFC Miso ramen. So I had to go for it again! I was a little sad that I didn’t get my molten egg. Chloe didn’t want the poached egg that came with hers so I ordered it that way. Apparently the server assumed I didn’t want the molten egg in mine?? Oh well, it was still delicious and I enjoyed it.

As we walked down to the Lego store after we ate I asked the kids their opinion on the night. They said they loved the entire atmosphere of the restaurant. I pulled a little prank on Alex when we got up from the table. The chairs are attached to the floor and as we stood up I told Alex to push in his chair. Yup, he fell for it and tried. We all got a good laugh out of that one! Chloe really liked the anime that was playing on one of the televisions. They both really liked the music that was playing. If you’re looking for something a little different, give Slurping Turtle a try. I know you won’t be disappointed.