Yoshiharu is another ramen shop that specializes in tonkotsu ramen, but interestingly enough, they don’t seem to offer a “straight” tonkotsu ramen. They have tonkotsu shoyu, tonkotsu miso, a tonkotsu spicy miso, tonkotsu black, and a tsukemen. And a vegetable ramen. They also offer a few options on the accoutrements. You can order the chashu fatty or lean, and you can get the gyoza fried or grilled.
We started off with gyoza (grilled) and a fried rice. The gyoza was light and tasty..not too heavy on garlic and not oily. The fried rice was very flavorful and had a slight mustard greens(?) flavor to it.
I decided to go with the tonkotsu-shoyu ramen, with a side of flavored egg (not sure how long this’ll last, but check in on Yelp and get a free ramen topping!). The ramen comes topped with menma, seaweed, bean sprouts, a dash of sesame seeds, and lots of shredded green onions. Oh, and 2 big slices of chashu. The well-balance tonkotsu and shoyu soup was light and smooth. The skinny noodles were on the soft side, but went very well with all the onions. If you want a bit of spice, you can add some shichimi (Japanese spice mix) to it. The menma was perfectly crunchy and not too sweet. The egg was lightly marinated and good.
You can specify chashu with or without fat. I picked fat. The chashu has a thick, chewy caramelized edge with a strong sweetly caramelized pork flavor to it. That, combined with the tender, lightly marinated “core” gives it an interesting contrast in texture. It’s a nice effect.
If you’re looking for a lighter-flavored ramen, Yoshiharu’s tonkotsu-shoyu has you covered. Their ramen is easy to slurp and won’t weigh you down. If you like more al-dente noodles, you might want to request that.
Yoshiharu Ramen
1891 N Tustin St
Orange, CA 92865
Tel: (714) 998-1940
Hours:
Mon-Thur: 11am-3pm, 5pm-10pm
Fri-Sun: 11am-11pm
