Gardena, CA: Spoon House Cafe & Bakery
Hot diggity, a Japatalian restaurant! Does anyone have any idea how rare these are?
Love the red tables
10 minutes isn’t long at all! Will wait for good food.
Cod Roe Spaghetti with Uni, Seaweed & Oyster Mushrooms! Yes please!
I ordered the Japanese style clam with shiso leaf topping which I thought was ok. The shiso leaf added a nice freshness…like mint but milder. Japanese style is clam juice as the sauce. I should have followed my first instinct and ordered something with a tomato sauce.
Although I wasn’t 100% content with my order, it was still pretty yummy. The flavors were delicate and light and the noodles were perfectly al dente. The star was definitely the noodles!!! Chewy and doing doing! A new destination restaurant for future L.A. trips.
Rosemead, CA: Shin Sen Gumi Hakata Ramen
Hakata ramen is not easy to come by in my neck of the woods so I was giddy with excitement! I’m not a big fan of L.A. but I do love all the tasty ramen the city has to offer. The wait was excruciating because I was starving but it was worth it! We actually arrived at a good time – there were only 6 or 7 parties ahead of us.
Look at that creamy broth!
Aside from the hakata ramen, the unique thing about this restaurant is that you can have your ramen served “your way”; you have options like noodles: can be hard-normal-soft, broth: can be thick-normal-thin and you have a variety of toppings to choose from. I chose corn, fried garlic and their newest addition a poached egg.
We started with Tuna Yukke. I’m not a big fan of tuna but this was buttery. Yum.
I thought I was done until I saw fried chicken skin on the menu! Wahoo! One order please! They arrived to the counter deep fried with a side of salt and lime. It was like a chicken rind, a thinner version of a pork rind/chicharrones. Sooo good and fun to eat.
New York, NY: Ippudo Ramen
Ahhh yess…the much discussed Ippudo Ramen. Somehow, we found ourselves in the East Village a lot whether it was for food or shopping. As you pass through the curtains you’re greeted by red walls one of which is adorned with ramen bowls and a counter display of dried ramen blocks and hip bar music. It’s by far the trendiest ramen restaurant I’ve ever been to. Not sure if I was digging it though, sometimes too trendy = expensive food that may be visually appealing but totally lacks flavor.
As the hostess leads you on your journey to your table you’ll get a holla from the entire staff which is fun yet a little embarrassing. We walked by the open kitchen where all the bowls of ramen were assembled. These noodle chefs were moving so fast I couldn’t get a steady shot.
Shiromaru Hakata Classic (Traditional Tonkotsu Flavor):
If you don’t know already, I am really into tonkotsu flavor! The creamy, savory, rich broth is sooo addictive. The tonkotsu here was tasty but not crazy tasty. I don’t know…it was kind of just ok I guess…I mean it was still better than a lot of ramen shops back at home and it wasn’t as yummy as our first stop at Terrakawa ramen. Maybe it was all the hype about this place? The toasted sesame seeds did add a different flavor which was yum and the texture of the noodles were good! Turns out they’re made fresh in house! The egg was good too but still not better than Terrakawa ramen.
Akamaru Modern:
This flavor was a tonkotsu with a twist served with Ippudo’s secret sauce (which looked like bean paste mixed with sambal olek), a drizzle of garlic oil and done in like a miso/tonkotsu combo broth. This wasn’t bad at all but yet not as good as I had expected – my expectations were probably too high after hearing so many raves about this place.
This restaurant was definitely a fun experience and had the most expensive bowl of ramen I’ve had to date ($13 bucks and no combo). The decor was very cool and edgy and I loved the little peek-a-boo window to the ramen noodle machine downstairs. I might come back if there were no other options but I think can pass on this place for a while. There are many more ramen shops waiting out there!
New York City, NY: Terrakawa Ramen
This was my first taste of ramen in the big apple and it was like nothing I’ve tasted before! I was very fortunate to find such a tasty treat on the first shot and bonus that it was walkable from the hotel. My mouth salivated as I stood outside reading the menu. They had a special that looked tasty and a tan tan ramen that called out to me so I had to try. One of the first things I observed walking in was that all the patrons were Japanese which is a really good sign for a ramen shop. Their special ramen is called Terrakawa ramen which is actually tonkotsu ramen. I’m proud to say I think I can now recognize a tonkotsu broth with confidence. To me, what can separate a great ramen shop from a good ramen shop is their combo items like gyoza and chahan (fried rice). When the gyoza and/or chahan are just as delicious as the ramen it can catapult the experience to a place beyond words!
Terrakawa Ramen and Gyoza Combo:
The Terrakawa ramen and gyoza special was amazing. The skin of the gyoza was thin and the bottom had that nice crunchy sear that all good gyoza have. It was juicy and savory aaand juicy….mmm…thinking about it is making me hungry! It was quite chilly in NY back in October so it felt really good to start off the trip with a big hot bowl of ramen. Bonus that it was tonkotsu. There were all kinds of goodies in the bowl like wood ear fungus, plenty of pickled ginger, a generous amount of green onions, bamboo shoots, a slice of pork and the best part: a flavored egg. I’ve never tasted a better egg and I’m still awed by how it was made! Like a tea egg the white was was soft boiled butIt’s currently my new favorite flavor. The noodles were the thin, al dente and whiter not yellower…I’m still not sure what they are called but I’ve had this type of noodle before.
Tan Tan Ramen:
Anything tan tan is normally hit or miss. This was a hit! The balance of savory and sweet was just right and as in most situations it could have been spicier but I’m not complaining, overall the soup was delicious. The noodles that were served with the tan tan ramen were closer to the type of noodles that I like which are chewier.
After this first experience it got me really excited about exploring the rest of the city’s ramen restaurants.
Terrakawa Ramen
18 Lexington Ave
(between 22nd St & 23rd St)
New York, NY 10010
(212) 777-2939