The Snowlady Chronicles: LA Ramen

December 12, 2010

LA Ramen

Sunday December 12, 2010

Malibu, California

Glorious Beach Weather with Views of Catalina Island

I've had a stressful few weeks since I've been back from my biz trip to Japan and for some reason developed a major craving for ramen. Ramen (pronounced raamen) is Japanese style Chinese noodles. It's noodles in a pork based broth. The secret to Ramen is the broth and the noodles. It seems Ramen fever has arrived in Los Angeles and I have found many more Ramen places now, than 3 years ago before I left LA for my assignment in Tokyo. Ramen is very popular in Japan and a ramen shop can be found in almost all every block in Tokyo. It is also a staple "hangover" food or comfort food. I don't know why but when in Japan, I've had no desire to eat it but since I've been back from the trip, had to have it not once, twice but THREE times.

My first stop was my usual cheap Ramen spot on Sawtelle avenue called Kinchan's. It's located in the small shopping mall just off Olympic. That place has been my "regular" Ramen place in LA for several years. So went there first during Thanksgiving week and had the gyoza (dumplings) with Cha Sui (barbequed pork) ramen. It hit the spot and was good. I also noticed that they had many different kinds of spicy sauce to add to the ramen so the meal can be adapted to satisfy different Asian palates. A Vietnamese couple was sitting next to me and enjoyed the ramen with Vietnamese hot sauce. Pretty cool. After all, LA is a melting pot of Asian cultures. The gyoza was pretty disappointing though as it was short on meat and filled with nira (chinese chives). I love nira but it was too overwelming. However, the portions were huge and for 11$ with change, it was a good deal.

Kinchan's Ramen

Kinchan's Gyoza

I thought my craving was over but no. So the following Friday, I went to the "gourmet" Ramen place called Chabuya. Chabuya is a famous ramen restaurant in Tokyo. I used to go to the one in Ometesando where the ambience was very chi-chi. The ramen was protected and stored in fancy wooden boxes before it was cooked before your eyes. Chabuya is also located on Sawtelle. (Sawtelle, by the way, between Olympic and Santa Monica is dotted with cool Japanese stores and restaurants) I had the Cha Siu ramen again and with their gyoza. Now their ramen was quite good and so was the gyoza. It is a delicate ramen but I have to say the Chabuya ramen in Ometesando is better but this comes close. But again, reasonably priced (15$) for the filling meal.

Chabuya

Chabuya Gyoza which is filled with meat and comes with a shredded spicy pork sauce

Chabuya Cha Siu Ramen: The pork is a special pork barbecued with their special sauce - YUM

And then just last Friday after an exhausting week, at the last minute, I decided to go to Mitsuwa Marketplace in Torrance to buy some Japanese food. I had a meeting in El Segundo which finished early so decided to take advantage of being in the South Bay and go there for some shopping. Well, mistake I made was walking through the restaurant row and found Santouku Ramen which is another famous Ramen shop from Japan. I had their special Shio(salt) Ramen with special Cha Siu. The pork is high quality pork and is served separately from the noodles. Now, this ramen was FABULOUS! It was really really good and cheap (9$!) for a big meal. Gave me the energy to go shopping and drive home in LA traffic. I will definitely go back there again, but it is an hour or so drive from Malibu, so won't be soon!

Santouku Special Pork Shio Ramen

Well, hopefully my craving for ramen is over as it is fattening, I hear. Having ramen 3 times in 2 weeks is a record for me. Never have done that in Japan!

Now, there are more ramen shops opening in LA and supposedly another famous one on Sawtelle. So Sawtelle will have at least 3 Ramen shops over 2-3 blocks! I guess that is proof that Ramen is taking off in LA!

Posted at 05:37 PM in Life in Malibu, The Snowlady's Favorite SoCal Restaurants | Permalink