ramen rating: daikokuya – costa mesa, ca
I’ve previewed Daikokuya when they first soft-opened but have never formally reviewed it. Since it’s been so long and a few things have changed, I decided to start the new year right with another visit to this popular and expanding ramen chain. First, a few small changes: the fancy restaurant pager is gone, replaced by...
ramen rating: tokyo table – irvine, ca
Tokyo Table is a fine dining restaurant that offers “modern yet authentic Japanese cuisine, complemented by tastes from other Asian and world cultures.” I have a tendency to look down on and avoid “fusion” type restaurants (more on this later) like Tokyo Table, whose signatures dishes include “sushi pizza” and “grilled pesto salmon.” I recently...
ramen rating: santa ramen – san mateo, ca
Among the unique logistical nightmares I face when traveling with a group of people is: 1. how do I trick–I mean convince everyone to eat ramen with me, and 2. how far out of the way can I coerce everyone into going for ramen? Recently, I was excited to be able to try another bay...
ramen rating: kairakutei ramen – tustin, ca
There are hidden gems, really hidden gems, and then there’s Kairakutei Ramen. Nestled in the corner of a strange two-sided plaza that can be best described as a sandwich cut into two triangles, Kairakutei doesn’t even have a sign that says “Kairakutei,” at least none that I saw. Unless you can read Japanese, the only...
ramen rating: marutai shoyu tonkotsu stick ramen
There are numerous kinds of instant ramen, from the ubiquitous brick ramen, to cup and bowl ramen. A less common type of instant ramen is “stick ramen.” Unlike the other kinds of instant ramen, stick ramen noodles are packaged straight, like a package of spaghetti. As with other kinds of instant ramen, stick ramen comes...
ramen rating: kohryu ramen, take 2 – costa mesa, ca
Kohryu Restaurant has gone through not only a change in ownership but a complete remodel since my last review. After their grand re-opening in January, I thought I’d give them another try. We arrived in time for a late lunch, hoping there’d be less people…wait, why are all these people huddled outside (it was really...
ramen rating: asameshi maeda honten – costa mesa, ca
Orange county residents: if you haven’t gone to the Costa Mesa Mitsuwa Ramen Festival yet, you have one more day to go, unless you want to go to Torrance or San Diego. Fellow ramen blogger Keizo has already covered all three locations, but was nice enough to join me today (thanks for the ramen souvenirs!)....
ramen rating: hirauchimen
This is different. Hirauchimen to dashisyoyu…flat-made noodles with pork bone shoyu soup…more or less. (Trivia: the kanji for pork in Japanese is the kanji for dolphin in Chinese!) This was pretty good! It doesn’t taste like a “typical” ramen. The noodles are flat and chewy and the soup is pretty tasty and rich. There’s a...
ramen rating
very…ordinary but in a decent way. the meat is the typical poor excuse for a sliver of meat in these instant ramens…but it’s…slightly…spicy? …iiiiiiinteresting…well it’s not great but it’s not bad. it gets a 5.
ramen rating
tonkotsu-shoyu soup…i think the instant noodles that’re tonkotsu based are all pretty flavorful…yeah, i probably should’ve realized it earlier…this one has good soup and good noodles…the meat brings it down though…chewy and veiny…i give it a 7…8 without the meat.
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