I had Orenchi many times and tried all their ramen already. I do think that all ramen items are beyond average. Extremely excited, Came in today and saw they have a TanTan men and only 10 dine in only! Ordered!
Looks very appealing! The powdery yellowish mesh next to the green onion is actually peanuts! My first impression is that this could be a chinese dish with Japanese toppings. Chinese as in from Sichuan area. The numbness in the sauce dazzles in the mouth and it keeps coming! I was a little sad that amount is not that much. I almost asked for another bowl of noodle. Also, this dish is toward the salty end. On the high note, egg is still amazing with sauce!
What beats a good ramen after weekly meeting on Sunday?
Nothing.
Sunday means completely different to me now than a year ago. Not just because we have weekly meeting, but also it is a start of the new week. Sunday sets the tone of the new weeks and I just cant stop thinking about ramen! lol.
Not to lie, originally I was going to Orenchi but there were too many people. Here we come, Misoya! The store is a chain from Japan and it recently open couple month ago. I have been here once before and highly suggest to order the chashu noodle or extra. Their chashu tastes like it just came out of the yakiniku grill, fresh and juicy! It is very hard to resist!! This time, I tried Kome Miso, which matches the little chunk of miso on the top. With a little garlic (にんにく), the taste of the miso stands out more apparent..
It was unfortunate that they do not have egg on the side. I would definitely come here if you are meat and ramen eater. I do recommend to try Kome Miso before the other ones. I will try shiro miso next time I am here! gochisosama!
Thought that today is a good day and want to keep the good habit going. Habit needs time to develop amazingly, which is why bad habits are hard to correct... laziness.. lol.
Beside going around places and eating Santa for lunch, thought I would keep exploring Mountain View area a bit!! Ramen House Ryowa has been around for at least half a decade and the first authentic Japanese Ramen in Mountain View. The shop offers range from tonkotsu, shio, and shoyu (just like every where else). I was extremely hungry at the time and decided to go with something different. Oxtail Ramen.. A little bit more expensive but hey, it is oxtail. (how come I wish it was grill beef tongue ramen! too much craving for yakiniku..)
OK! Soup base is shio base (salt). After the first sip of the soup, I feel like the chicken based soup is not heavily flavored. The bowl is on a very light end without much seasoning. Water boiled the bean sprout and green onion is fresh. The waiter kindly informed me that the sauce on the right side are for the oxtail dipping. I wasn't really paying attention because there was a Japanese comedy show playing with Uehara (current Ranger MLB player) playing air hockey. lol.
Yah. dont suggest to get the egg on the side. It is hard boiled.
Noodle is interesting actually. The egg flavor in the egg noodle is not strong at all. I feel like I am eating the chicken soup dish in the very famous Taiwanese Xiaolongbao store Ding Tai Feng. Same kind of noodles. Easy to chew.
The oxtail is tasty! the meat and the fat in the oxtail is already supreme comparing to other part of the cow. The original taste of the oxtail is gushing out on the first bite. I was wishing the soup has more flavor which will mix with the oxtail flavor even more.
Guess what. At the end I give up on the plain soup and added the ginger and the shoyu with ponzu on the side into my bowl. It amazing taste awesome!! I would suggest to everyone to try it next time, because I will come back and try to dump everything at once first! Such a hands on person. lol.
Just on the side note, 2 more drinks to my FiveStars rewards at Verde.. COMMMMMON
Havent been posting for a while and thought that I should start writing again on my blog! I have eaten at numeral places over these times but just too lazy! NO! CANT BE... SOMEBODY GOING TO GET HURT REAL BAD! lol.
Being around the San Mateo area, Santa Ramen is very hard to miss. This shop has been around for at least 10 years and it did moved once. The old location is current Ramen Dojo, which is also part of the Raman Santa Production.
If you do come to this location, after getting off on 92 offramp, it is quickly on the right side on El Camino. I did turn around twice to find it.
After taking a seat, I have ordered Tonkotsu ramen because it looks more attractive. Thought that sho-yu might be too light for the day. Without a doubt, I did get an egg! who doesnt love eggs.
Soup is extremely hot and my togue almost got burnt. lol. The pork bone flavor is very apparent once it is rolling in your mouth. If you think the flavor is too strong, try to take in some green onions to soften the taste. I do feel the green onion here is fantastic.
Noodle here is the regular thickness with a soft egg taste.
I like the cha-shu here actually. They did not cut the meat too thin and it still preserved the native meat taste. It goes well with the soup which the meat taste would not stand out too much.
Just in case if you think the soup is too dense, you can add fried garlic!! Of course, if you are garlic lover, this is perfect for you. The bad to this is that it cost 50 cent for 2 spoon size.
Here you go, my first ramen blog for Santa. I will come back to try the other ramens soup base - Shoyu and miso. I do not think those will be very different though.
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Santa Ramen
1944 S El Camino Real San Mateo, CA94403 (650) 344-5918
First day on the job is always hectic. Who said the first week of work is easy? please stand up, please stand up. I would just say.. hell no.
After a hectic day, I thought of treating myself to a bowl of ramen for a good job I did today, plus I am soaking hungry. Decided to come to this ramen shop at an unexpected location, uptown of Palo Alto. The store is call Dohatsuten (怒髪天), which in Japanese means crazy hair pointing the sky. Kind of funny.
Came in the store around 7ish and the store is about half full. I seating in the store is a country Japanese style seating where just 4 bar seats with the rest tables. It is decently big place. I ordered the Dohatsuten Ramen and I did not even realize that 4 soup base can be chosen:soy sauce, salt, miso with yuzu, and pork bone base. Very interested what yuzu with miso taste like, but thought that should say safe with the regular salt base..
Soup: salt base but cant really tell if it is chicken or pork or both.
Noodle: straight yellow normal thickness noodle.
I was really confused after I had a sip of the soup. The soup did not strike me as a pork bone soup or chicken soup. Plus, it did not taste watery either. The first smell is the bamboo shoot on the side had a strong flavor. The threaded pork also give the soup a little of its flavor because I dont think they are cooked together. There is also 1 piece of chashu...
I thought it was a ordinary chashu with the meat flavor did not completely come out until couple of chew. I would rather have 3 pieces of these than the chopped pork in the center actually.
The plus about this noodle is the soft-boil egg is above average. After bitting into it, the egg yolk did exploded on my teeth. Good!
After thought, if this bowl is served in an chinese restaurant, I would not have thought that this is a ramen. My imagination of ramen is different than this bowl.
Have to say that if you really starving for ramen or live in the palo alto uptown area, give this place a try. I would come come back to try out the other soups though, they do have 4 different soup bases.
Just for fun! I search what dohatsuten online. Found a rock band name dohatsuten and they look to be pretty popular. here is a clip of No Music No Life! I doubt they are connected. lol.
Labor day is always great weather. I do not know why. Just settle the bed I will be sleeping on for the next year or so. I am happy to get it done.
While hanging around San Jose area, where else would you go for ramen? Saratoga Ave! I do believe that Japanese stores follow very closely with American holidays and my expectation of all the ramen shop to be opened is low. After my first choice, Halu's tan tan noodle, did not fall through, I went to Kahoo ramen right across 280 and next to Mitsuwa mall. The store is hard to spot because it is hiding in the corner.
Got there around 1130 and not many people on a labor day Monday. Ordered Tan Tan Men through the Japanese staff over there. The atmosphere is more izakaya/old but with style type of settings. Sitting at the bar is a pleasure because all the things happened in the kitchen can be seen!
Here is the tan tan men!
Soup - sesame with miso?? Cant really tell
Noodle - yellow curly medium thickness.
Cant really tell from the picture but it did have some spiciness. I do believe that the spiciness does cover some of the other tastes in the soup. The noodle itself is not bad.
The bounce is there, and the chewiness is not bad. Cant go wrong with this and the spicy soup.
Back in Tokyo, I always have an impression if the ramen shop is brave enough to put the half boiled egg on top of their noodle, it must be at least above average. For example Hayashi (shibuya), afuri(ebisu). But, it all changes here. this theory did not apply to places outside of Japan, sadly.
Although it is a popular place,
there are other ramen shop as good or better around the area. Will try the other ramens from this store next time!
It is already a good start. Labor day weekend and I am not laboring. Instead, spend a lovely afternoon sitting in Goupa Cafe in Palo Alto working on my Ramen blog! Nothing beats that. Want to promote Goupa a little bit more. The store has a typical Palo Alto Ol' town style setting, which is less contemporary but more antique-ish than Starbucks. I got the latte today where the coffee itself is strong in aroma, bolder taste. If you like stronger coffee, give this shop a shot. It also features various rewards programs such as Fivestars and rewardMe. Wifi is definitely a bonus here.
Thought that on the way over to Palo Alto, I stopped by at Mountain View Castro's Maruichi Ramen. This shop is the 2nd oldest out of the 3 shops on Castro. From the outside it doesnt look very appealing.
The shops can be described as an old chinese restaurant setting with ripped couches on the left, bar seating in the middle and table seating on the right. Their fame is that they make their noodle in house, which can been seen on the left of the entrence. Decided to go with the famous kuro ramen with the kakuni (. Found it interesting that 2 Russian looking guy seating next to me eating dry ramen..
Soup - Pork bone soup with grind black sesame sauce on top.
Noodle - Store made straight thin noodle
The ramen reminded me of Nankotsuten Ramen (なんこつ亭) in tokyo where they also have the black sesame on the top. The difference is that Maru ichi's noodle did not go as well with the soup itself. The soup itself has a funny smell (dont want to categorize) after a couple bits. The fame for maruichi is that they make the noodle in house.
Comparing to other shops, the noodle the texture of the noodle is smooth, and easy to swallow, which means on the contrary, the bounce of the noodle is less. This reminded me of buckwheat noodle or soba in Japanese.
The good is that the taste of kakuni is fatastic. the taste is completely soak into the juicy pork itself. The fat part is fantastic but I think that the meat part is a little dry.
The other plus is that the store serves free kimchi.
And panfried garlic,
I would say if you like kimchi and ramen, this is your place to enjoy the combination of both! There is usually a line for lunch and better to come here earlier.
I just found it amazing that I have more raman in the bay area than my cousin who live in the bay area all her life. Go Me!
Because all of them are eager to try Shalala ramen, we have decided to go! Both my cousins ordered the shio ramen with soft egg topping, and I ordered the niku moyashi ramen (chopped beef with bean sprout ramen).
Soup - Miso based
Noodle - curly yellow noodle.
Although I do not eat miso ramen that much in Tokyo, I found that Shalala miso ramen is not as dense, and not as salty comparing to the one in Japan. The grounded pork is marinated with soy sause and can definitely eat it with rice! I would say that the grounded pork tasted great with the miso soup. It is nice to eat already without the spiciness, it would be even better with the spice.
My cousins also left Shalala with good impression. Should we start counting the likes for shalala??
Just like a tourist, I opened up Yelp (USA version of 食べログ) and started searching for the highest ranking of ramen store. I ended up in....
山頭火！ Santoka Raman. It is located inside the Mitsuwa supermarket in San Jose. If you take high way 280, get off at Saratoga avenue, and it is a blog away from the freeway. I did got lost the first time because I thought the raman ya has a stand along shop (still Japanese Mindset!!). Eating here reminded me of eating in a Raman stadium but not as detailed or high class.
This store serves multiple different base soup, salt-based, soy sause based, pork bone based, everything! Have to admit I was a little bit scared of the quality. lol. Ordered a salt based ramen with a egg.
Waited for 15 min, here it is...
The soup is pork bone based. The complete morrow of the bone did not completely soak into the soup wherefore, it feels a little run down. The noodle is curly yellow egg noodle imported from Japan. It is not he usual Japanese chewiness but it is not completely soft. The cha-syu（チャーシュー）did have the taste of the soup, and I think it is the best part of the raman.
To my surprise, the egg is actually cooked separately and tasted like a pork-stew egg. Something different than in Japan.
After this experience, I believe that the taste of people here and the people in Japan are different!! I know you are laughing. haha. alright. see you next time!!
Why is the weather way better in the bay area than the rest of the world? I wondered. It has been nothing but amazing after I came back from Tokyo. Say bye-bye to moist, say bye-bye to heat and of course special for this year, say bye-bye to 28 degree Starbucks. It is more like an oven than Coffee.
Talking my friend, Nick who has been living around this area for 4-5 years now, he mentioned that there are many ramen-ya along the Saratoga Ave area. I was like, hey hey! lets begin our exploration, shall we?
We went to Ramen HALU (ラーメン 春) on Saratoga. The store is located on the other side of Mitsuwa supermarket and right across the road from Harker high school in a small mall. Around 3 minute driving from the exit of Highway 280. This place is receiving a very decent 3.5 out of 5 on around 700 reviews. Since we both are a bit hungry, we ordered a plate of 5 koroke, with the 2 bowls of raman.
The korokes are hiding! lol. (under the cut lettuce). The taste of pork and potato can be clearly recognized, which go along perfectly with the teriyaki sauce in the middle. I thought it was perfect for a very hungry stomach!!
I ordered the original Haru ramen with the original noodles. The soup is pork bone soy sauce based. The taste is more on the dense side, the soup taste more authentic instead of a packaged of instant noodle from a famous ramen-store. The denseness of the soup rated from 1 to 5 is around 3 or so. Just right.
From their store website, the noodle is made everyday in San Jose and shipped to the store daily. The chewiness of this noodle is closer to a Japanese preferred (弾力）. Might be too hard for some people to chew. The egg taste inject to the noodle can be tasted. It might be weird at first because the noodle has not completely soak in with the soup yet.
Granted that I only tasted 2 out of all the ramen places in bay area, ramen haru fits the bill of good to top grade ramen in the bay area. They also have seasonal ramen dishes. A definite recommendation.
Hi! My name is Benny. Im Taiwanese living in the States. Same as all the rest of Asians, I love Japanese Drama, Movies, Music, and of course food, especially Ramen! I actually started my passion eating beef noodle all the way back when I was growing up in Taiwan. I love the smell of the beef noodle gushing out of the noodle shops!! Cant just wait to sit down and destroy that food.
For some odd reason, instant noodle was very popular back in high school. We used to have a cup a noodle for dinner which is highly unhealthy!! I guess with limited money, that is the best of the poor world.
After graduating and started working, the search for good ramen/noodle places becomes more intense. I was in Tokyo studying Japanese for a year and started my previous blog of ramen, which is written in Japanese and some Chinese. Because of job reasons, I have moved back to the states and would like to start exploring ramen shops here. I do believe that more and more shops will be opening up in the next 5 to 10 years!
To make the long story short, I heard that there is good ramen in this 4 star steakhouse in Cupertino. The place is right next to Valco mall after exiting Wolfe on 280. Thought that it is close and at least give it a shot!
Unlike dinner, the lounge of Alexander steakhouse has a side lounge for serving lunch. The atmosphere is high scale lounge withe redwood and sofa chairs. Of course, there is a full bar in the lounge. Steak would be nice at the moment. lol.
4 different ramens are available and each containing different kind of meat. Got the short rib ramen and was quite expensive 13 bucks. Not many in for lunch which gives me a chill...
Ramen - Alexander special base soup. leaning toward chicken soup or pork bone soup??
Noodle - curly yellow regular thin noodle.
I really cannot pin down what it is after having a sip. This might be the first time I have seen shiitake mushroom put in a ramen. The soup did suck up the taste of the mushroom. The positives are the ribs.
With the steak sauce still on the rib, the taste of the ribs are fantastic, soft inside with good fat meat ratio. To be frank, this ramen with out the rib tastes just like instant noodle, plus no comparison on the price. lol. Even if you put the best steak in the ramen, with the overall taste not integrated, the product is a bad product.
I heard that they are stopping serving ramen after the 20th. They found out that most customers would come to the steakhouse for steaks! I totally agree with the management's decision. It does get me pump up for trying the steaks here! lol.
Another wonderful day in the bay, amazing. I wish I can live here forever. lol.
It is a good day today so far. I was hyped and had a good chat with the 5stars guy today. 5stars is a program to help small and medium size business to understand their customer base better. Few example is that they are setting up rewards program for the small size shop and helping them to gather information and analyze. I was fortunate to have a chance through a clever way and had a wonderful chat. Thank you 5stars!
The funny phenomenon of thinking drains all the energy is completely true. Good thing that the chat is in Mountain View! YAH! RAMEN! Thought to visit a new place Shalala, which is not on Castro street but the one parallel to it. Amazingly I used to get haircut next door (different owner now).
Arrived at the store around 1130 and the place is almost packed. The waitress politely sit me down in the back of the shop. I would say the shop is a modern type seating with a little more design feel than the other ramen shops around. A lot more lighting coming into the shop.
Here it is, my shio Ramen! Soup - Shio (% high on the pork bone). Noodle - curly egg injected yellow noodle.
From the first sip of the soup, the owner did put lot of time cooking it by looking at how dense it is. I think the best part was that the taste of the noodle matched the soup. The chashiu (piece of pork in the noodle) is chewy and juicy, but at the same time still preserve its texture.
When the waitress put down the check on the table, she started asking me if I am Japanese! I was completely in joy because it means my Jap improved! lol. Her name is Chiyono and Ill most likely recommend her in Opez. lol. Extra brownie points b/c she is cute.
I would say this store rank up there with the Orenchi and Haru. For Shio ramen, all three of them are indeed similar with slight differences. If you are looking for atmosphere and good taste at the same time, Shalala is your place!
First blog on a new site. yoroshiku onegaishimas! which means please throw a chair at me when you see anything wrong or retarded.
Working in the morning in a Starbucks is great if you are not right behind a person with a computer next to the window. When the reflection just hits, it is amazingly uncomfortable! Of course being in the silicon valley there are always the “lets talk outside strategy” where they are talking company trash talk. haha. I loved it.
Got hungry at lunch time and went to Ramen Tenma! This is my third time in the store. Thought process is of course third time the charm!
The atmosphere in the store is very nice. I would say it is a izakaya atmosphere, kind of reminded me of an expended street vendor. The owner comes out to greet everyone and he is a very typical caring polite Japanese who treats everyone very well.
Ordered kotteri Ramen which means (heavy ramen), with a soft boil egg. There are also different options like tsukemen and spicy miso ramen.
Soup base - pork bone soup (豚骨）
Noodle - mid-thick straight noodle
I love the corn in the ramen! Corn has an magic to sweeten the soup a little bit. I was a bit surprise on the saltiness. Actually, Japanese saltiness acceptance is higher than many other cultures, which means most of the Japanese ramen in Tokyo is on the salty side. The Noodle is very easy to take in and it did suck up the soup flavor!
It is a good bowl of ramen if you want to have a quick bite for lunch. If you are like me cannot take much salt, I would say give the regular Tenma ramen a try.
I love this store. In here, there is a picture of a a guy sitting on the beach in Okinawa with a quote of “guys dont work hard in Okinawa, only girls do”. Should be my model...
Of course come here to practice Japanese. lol. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
