ramen rating: kohryu – costa mesa, ca
I’ve been meaning to try Kohryu for a while but somehow just never got around to it. Finally, goaded by a recent comment, my wife and I decided to give it a try. It was a cold and windy day: perfect conditions for a nice hot bowl of ramen! The restaurant has fairly non-descript decor in a non-descript little strip mall. We ordered the lunch special, which comes with a bowl of ramen and one side dish, and decided on the shoyu ramen with a 1/2 order of fried rice. They also advertise in their menu that you can choose the hardness or softness of your noodles along with the amount of oil and the strength of the soup flavoring, but the waitress didn’t ask and I didn’t pursue it.
The ramen comes with bamboo shoots, spring onions, and I think bits of caramelized onions, plus 2 thin slices of pork. The soup was steaming hot and had a strong heavy flavor. It had a nice rich pork taste, and the heavy oil reminded me a bit of Shin-sen-gumi’s tonkotsu broth. I thought it was different but almost on par with Ebisu’s shoyu broth, which I think is very good, while my wife thought Ebisu’s soup is much better. The slightly thin noodles had a nice texture with a light taste and was just a tiny bit harder than al-dente, but I’m nit-picking here. Unfortunately, the pork was nothing special…just thin slices of lean (read: not fatty enough) pork.
While the ramen was good, the fried rice was excellent. It had a perfect blend of onions, egg, and tiny pieces of pork, and had a rich flavor. The rice was also heavy on the green onions, which some people may not like, but I thought it gave the rice a fresh taste.
Oh, I almost forgot that we had a side order of flavored egg. Its light shoyu flavor was a nice addition to the ramen. But since they arrived chilled, I recommend that you toss it in the ramen as soon as you get it so it has a chance to warm up.
Kohryu Restaurant is another great choice for ramen in Orange County. Give it a try!
Rating: 7.5
Kohryu Restaurant
891 Baker St., B21
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Phone: (714) 556-9212
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Thank you for the very good (as usual) review of my favorite ramen joint…..Kohryu! I think when you get excellent ramen like Kohryu, Ebisu and Shin Sen Gummi, it’s all up to personal taste. I prefer Kohryu’s broth to Ebisu, your wife prefers Ebisu. Viva la difference! Kohryu also makes a wonderful, slightly spicy cold pork side dish that is out of this world….yum! Ok…. I’m now gitting in my car and driving from Long Beach to have dinner there. See what you’ve done!
1Laughing Tiger, I’ll have to try the pork side dish next time I’m at Kohryu. You know, sometimes I actually hate blogging about ramen because I end up craving it, even if it’s in the middle of the night!
2You should try the Paiko-ramen here. Only the Paiko-don is on the menu and the waiters always say they can’t do it but insist on having them ask the chef. Trust me the chef will comply! Since the ownership change, I only order this ramen whenever I go. Btw, paiko is like a fried pork chop (boneless) sauteed with some vegetables and topped over the ramen. The sauce gives it a slightly thicker soup that has way more flavor than the normal shoyu-ramen.
3Hmm…Paiko-ramen…sounds good! Thanks for the tip!
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