A new ramen shop…in Orange County…that *doesn’t* specialize in tonkotsu ramen?? It doesn’t even serve tonkotsu ramen??? YES! As much as I like tonkotsu ramen, I’m still a shoyu guy. But hmm…Torizo has yuzu shio, which is tough to find around here. And speaking of tough to find, Torizo can be tough to find from inside the parking lot. But just park close to the Subway sandwich shop, then walk past it on the sidewalk and you’ll find it.
You should know that their lunch menu (at least currently) is a lot more limited than their dinner menu. All that’s available for lunch are their ramen (7 style to choose from…a shoyu, a shio, and miso, and variants on those 3 soup bases), plus 3 different rice bowls. But maybe that’s all you need.
I ordered the lunch combo: a bowl of ramen, a half rice bowl, and a salad.
I came for the yuzu shio ramen, and I wasn’t disappointed! The yuzu shio ramen is based on a chicken broth & Himalayan pink salt soup base (and of course, yuzu pepper). The soup was fantastic! I loved its light, clean flavor. It also has a light, tangy kick from the yuzu pepper. I really wished more ramen shops would specialize in this kind of lighter ramen. The egg noodles were al dente and does a great job of soaking up the soup.
The spring onions also adds an additional light spiciness to the ramen, and the menma was tasty. I don’t usually care for corn in my ramen, but in this case, it mixed in well with the ramen. The marinated egg was delicious. The chashu was very, very good. The chashu has a great balance of lean to fat meat and was lightly flavored. Delicious!
The chashu bowl was great. Some nori, green onions, chashu, and sesame seeds mixed with seasoning (I don’t like ginger so I picked that out) over a bowl of steaming rice. What else do you need?
If you like spicier fare, add some of the chanko seasoning into your ramen and rice bowl. It’s just sesame seeds, seaweed, and chili flakes, but it adds a small amount of spiciness to the flavors.
Torizo is an exciting addition to the burgeoning ramen scene in Orange County. I can’t wait to go back and try the other ramen.
Ramen & Chanko Dining Torizo
17900 Magnolia St A, Fountain Valley, CA 92708
Tel: (714) 377-0300
Hours:
Lunch: Mon, Wed, Fri & Sun: 12pm to 2pm
Dinner: Wed to Sat: 5:30pm to 9:30pm
Mon, Sun: 5:30pm to 9pm
Closed Tuesday