Santa Clara, CA: Orenchi Ramen
There were quite a few people waiting for ramen…always a good sign. It was a little crazy…and lucky for us we go there just in time…we were #15 on the list, a few more names and then the list was closed!
One of the appetizers that we tried…Fries with Okonomiyaki sauce, mayo, green onions and bonito flakes…yummm.
This is their Ore No Tsukemen – just perfect for the summer. Cold noodles topped with bamboo, seaweed, green onions and pork. The dipping sauce is a shoyu sauce with vinegar, garlic and bonito flakes. It was pretty tasty…Their dipping sauce was ok…has a very strong shoyu taste, I thought it could use a touch of sweet to balance it out. My #1 tsukemen noodle dish is at Minca ramen in NY.
I ordered the Orenchi Ramen which is their tonkotsu based ramen. The bowl arrived with the standard toppings…a little bit of woodear mushroom, bamboo, green onion, sesame, pork and EGG. (Their egg is amazing, see picture below). The soup was nice and oily and I could see lots of bits of garlic. Loved the fat, soft and chewy noodles. A very filling bowl…had to take the rest to go!
How do they do this?! It’s like a marinated soft boil egg…look at that golden yummy yolk! Drool.
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!
