Ryowa, Mountain View, CA

Continue the March!!

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

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Ramen House Ryowa

859 Villa St
Mountain View, CA 94041

(650) 965-8829

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Santa Ramen, San Mateo, CA

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, CA 94403
(650) 344-5918



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