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.
Los Angeles, CA: Orochon Ramen
I must admit that the whole reason for this trip to Orochon Ramen was because I saw the Orochon challenge epsiode on Man vs. Food. Curious, I thought what ramen could possibly be that spicy that I couldn’t handle? So I had to find out. From the beginning, I had no intention on doing the Orochon challenge. Why torture myself? Did you see the size of the bowl on that episode? I could probably handle the spice and be able to eat all the noodles but finishing the entire bowl of broth would have been death. I like taking my time to enjoy the ramen and savor the goodness. It surprised me to find Orochon Ramen on the top level of a small, 2 story, depressing shopping center in L.A.’s Japan town. It was slightly overcast but still warm so we decided to sit in the patio area. Though, I would recommend sitting inside if you want a beer because they won’t serve alcohol outdoors. Sadly, I didn’t care to go inside the restaurant to check out the wall of bravery.
The ordering system is quite interesting. First you pick what kind of broth you want, the choices are miso, shoyu or shio. Then the fun part! You pick the level of spiciness that you want and there are 9 levels to choose from. Special #2 is their spiciest soup and the challenge level. Then finally, you can add extra toppings for an extra charge. I chose to have the miso broth with the special #2 level of spiciness (the spiciest). The boyfriend ordered the shoyu broth with a special #1 spiciness level. We decided to forgo the toppings and ordered a side of char to share instead. After we placed our orders, I was giddy with anticipation.
When the waiter brought my bowl of ramen to the table, he had a timer in hand and asked “challenge?”. I quickly shook my head and said “no, no challenge for me, thank you”. The glowing orange broth was still bubbling when it was set in front of me. There was an abundant amount of jalapeños. What I didn’t expect to see were green bell peppers which I’m not a big fan of. After digging in, I was happy to find other tasty toppings in the soup like bean sprouts, wood ear and slivers of pork. Now for my first bite…mmm mmm mmm…garlicky, rich, savory and spicy! This was absolutely the spiciest ramen I’ve ever had but not the spiciest food I’ve ever eaten. The temperature of the broth truly amped up the spiciness level of the ramen. My tongue was numb, my nose was running and the adrenaline was pumping. And as the soup cooled down, the spice subsided. The noodles were chewy and tender. I was beyond happy and satisfied.
The shoyu broth was also very tasty and was much more mild in comparison to the special #2. It was a really nice contrast to the miso. The shoyu broth was savory, slightly sweet and clean.
I would highly recommend ordering a side of cha siu, it was delicious! The slices were thick and immensely flavorful, tender and most importantly, not dry. It practically fell apart when I picked it up with my chopsticks. This is the best char siu I’ve had to date. I can’t wait to go back for more.
Orochon Ramen
123 S Onizuka St
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 617-1766
Monterey Park, CA: Foo Foo Tei Ramen House
Situated in a small lack luster strip mall, Foo Foo Tei Ramen House stands unassumingly in the corner. It was about 2pm on a Wednesday and there were no other customers when we walked in. Usually, this is a red flag but for some reason, I wasn’t afraid. It actually turned out great because we had the whole place to ourselves. One of the first things that catches your eye is the wall of menu items displayed on faux wooden placards all in Japanese. I thought it was kinda cool because I imagined myself walking into a ramen house in Japan but after closer examination, it felt more like walking into a Chinese noodle house. As I sat down, I noticed a special on the wall that was posted in English and had a picture! The special was nanchatte tonkatsu ramen which included a soft drink and croquettes for just under 10 bucks. Score! I was having that! And what is the best accompaniment to ramen? Gyoza! One order please! When the waitress set down the bowl of nanchatte ramen, I started drooling instantly because it looked soo tasty. The first bite was heavenly…so yummy! The broth was creamy and full of flavor. The noodles were on the thinner side and had a good chewy texture. When the gyoza arrived I was in awe…I have never seen anything like it before…the gyoza had a hat! Aside from the dramatic presentation, more importantly, the gyoza was delicious and very juicy. I was utterly satisfied with my meal at Foo Foo Tei Ramen House and look forward to visiting again the next time I’m in Los Angeles.
Foo Foo Tei Ramen House
750 S Atlantic Blvd.
Monterey Park, CA 91755
(626) 588-2010