the ramen blog & other goodies!

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 agreed to try Tokyo Table mainly because of my newfound enthusiasm for honey toast, a simple and delicious Japanese dessert also offered there. I was ambivalent about whether or not to try their ramen, due in part to Go Ramen’s less than lukewarm review, and in part because of the name of the ramen: Tokyo Char-siu Ramen Noodles. Call me picky, but “char-siu” is Chinese. “Chashu” is Japanese. And “Ramen Noodles” is redundant in the way that “ATM machine” is redundant. (An ATM is an Automated Teller Machine! Why would anyone say Automated Teller Machine machine?!? -end of rant.) To me, those are bad omens of things to come. Of course, dummy that I am, I still ordered the ramen. (more…)

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 area ramenya. Santa Ramen was not my first choice, but between one ramenya being closed when we wanted to go (damn you Ramen Club!) and one ramenya being too out of the way for us (damn you Kahoo Ramen!), Santa Ramen was the next best compromise (yay Santa Ramen!).

We arrived at Santa Ramen a little bit after noon, and braced for a long wait. The line was almost out the door, but at least it moved pretty quickly. Be aware that, like some “true” ramen shops, Santa Ramen only serves ramen at lunch (sorry “D”!). There’s no fried rice. There’s no gyoza. There’s no curry anything. Santa Ramen serves only three different types of ramen: a shoyu-tonkotsu ramen, tonkotsu ramen, and a miso ramen. (more…)

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 indication that this little restaurant even serves ramen is the partly obscured word “Noodle” (singular) painted on the front window. (more…)

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 with packs of soup base and seasoning.

This stick ramen has a shoyu tonkotsu base and the seasoning packet comes with a handful of sesame seeds and dried green onions. The soup has a heavy sesame smell, and is lightly flavored. There barely a shoyu flavor and not much tonkotsu. The flavors are entirely overwhelmed by sesame.

The instructions call for cooking the noodles for 2-1/2 mins, which is much too long. The soggy noodles are too slippery and not absorbent enough. Instead of working together, there’s too much of a contrast between the taste of the noodles and the soup.

Even though this tonkotsu-shoyu stick ramen ends up tasting like Chinese sesame oil noodles, the flavor does grow on you. If you’re looking for something a bit different, Marutai’s stick ramen is worth a try. It gets a 6.

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 cold that day). We ended up waiting for 45 mins…45 mins!?! (Apparently, my idea of having a nice hot bowl of ramen on a windy cold day wasn’t quite as inspired as I hoped.) My expectations soared as my stomach growled even louder.

When we were finally seated, I was eager to order the special-order paiko ramen. Alas, not only do they not serve paiko ramen any more, but I didn’t even see paiko-don on the menu. Still determined to try something new, I ordered the “new” Koi (“love”) ramen. (Hmm…I dug out an old pre-ownership-change menu from over a year ago and noticed that Koi ramen is still there, under the “new” section.) (more…)

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!).

First of all, you need to know that Asameshi Maeda Honten has taken over Sanuki Udon’s location during this four day event. There are no English signs, so just look for the line of people in front of the banner shown above. Can’t find the menu? Don’t worry, they serve exactly one item: the ramen. One size only. No side dishes. One authentic specialty. That’s all you need. (more…)