Where do you get your ramen?

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1. Shin-Sen-Gumi Hakata Ramen, Fountain Valley

<a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/shin-sen-gumi-hakata-ramen-restaurant-fountain-valley">http://www.yelp.com/biz/shin-sen-gumi-hakata-ramen-restaurant-fountain-valley</a>



2. Foo Foo Tei, Hacienda Heights

http://www.yelp.com/biz/foo-foo-tei-hacienda-heights



3. Kairakutei Inc, Tustin ($5 - good value)

http://www.yelp.com/biz/kairakutei-inc-tustin



4. Santouka Ramen, Costa Mesa

http://www.yelp.com/biz/santouka-ramen-costa-mesa



5. These are the "last resort" places for me in Costa Mesa:

Kohryu: http://www.yelp.com/biz/kohryu-restaurant-costa-mesa

Mentatsu: http://www.yelp.com/biz/mentatsu-ramen-costa-mesa

Oki Doki: http://www.yelp.com/biz/oki-doki-restaurant-costa-mesa





Not recommended:

Daikokuya in Costa Mesa (inside Marukai): If you're stuck here and need to get ramen, go across the street to where the Japanese bookstore is, look for a little Japanese fast food place next to Game Stop that also serves ramen. Don't dine at Daikokuya here, the one in Little Tokyo is better.



Ebisu in Fountain Valley: Don't get ramen here, order the okonomiyaki isntead.



------------------------



Watch this movie to learn how to eat ramen properly:

<img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/126/323232985_f1fdc8f265.jpg?v=0" alt="" />
 
[quote author="EvaLSeraphim" date=1215836836]Sadly, Tampopo is not available through Netflix. I am a sad, SAD Seraphim. :down:</blockquote>


o.O I can just loan you my DVD, or you can order it on Amazon.com for $18.
 
SSG in FV was pretty good but the best ramen I ever had was a Japanese hole in the wall off of Redondo (I think) in Gardena. It is 2 doors down from Marie Calendars.
 
SSG gets my vote for #1 but Santouka Ramen is also pretty good in a different way. Only problem is it closes early since it is in Mitsuwa's food court.
 
[quote author="EvaLSeraphim" date=1215836836]Sadly, Tampopo is not available through Netflix. I am a sad, SAD Seraphim. :down:</blockquote>


I ordered this movie through Netflix! I wonder if someone decided to keep - I mean - someone decided to lose it and Netflix thus lost it's one copy of Tampopo.
 
ROFL, Tampopo was teh win, I remember watching it when I was a kid (the edited version on TV) then the unedited version (EEP) a few years later!



I actually like Honda-ya's Ramen, but then again I'm not Japanese so I don't know what "true" ramen is like.



But yeah, you have to slurp the soup at the end. The louder the better. And don't let the broth boil, that's what makes it opaque.
 
Read the ingredients. Avoid PALM OIL. Its much worse than trans fat. The cheapest ramen are fried in Palm oil and the seasoning packets may also have palm oil.
 
[quote author="Trooper" date=1216729698]I'm partial to Maruchan myself ;-) .19 cents FTW !



</blockquote>


Made in Irvine too! Buy local :)
 
I think we <em>know</em> who eats this ramen.



<img src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_yVddF7Ear2I/Rr6p3Clty-I/AAAAAAAADpE/LJnFHBPmqrM/s400/Panda+and+Puppy+Ramen+7.JPG" alt="" />
 
[quote author="profette" date=1216779393]I think we <em>know</em> who eats this ramen.



<img src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_yVddF7Ear2I/Rr6p3Clty-I/AAAAAAAADpE/LJnFHBPmqrM/s400/Panda+and+Puppy+Ramen+7.JPG" alt="" /></blockquote>


PANDA is hungry. PANDA is dreaming of slurping Ramen at a noodle restaurant in Irvine after signing escrow paper buying a plan 4 resale at Casalon for 1/2 the price.
 
Asa Ramen in Gardenia:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/asa-ramen-gardena



<img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2262/2333902758_0d16e8c5fd.jpg?v=0" alt="" />



Located in the back of a small shopping plaza, next door to a cabaret club by same name. Make sure you don't enter the wrong side. Open 6pm-2am.



I ordered the Kotteri soup base ramen with tamago added. The soup was a bit salty, but rich in flavor. Noodle (non-curly hakata style) was inferior to shinsengumi but acceptable. Bamboo shoots was very tasty, but the pork gets a C. Portions are smaller, so if you're hungry, ask for the extra large servings. Pricing is decent ($7).



If you don't like salty soup, order the Assari soup base, or get the Kotteri soup base and ask the waitress for "less salty".



<img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2334/2333921100_c8011fa29a.jpg?v=0" alt="" />





This places gets a Momo "Peach Blossom" award for decent quality (B) overall rating. Its hours confirm to the hostess bar/club next door so they're open until 2am, you'd find me here when I have ramen craving at 1am.





Restaurant facilities: B

Ramen soup base: B

Ramen noodle: B

Chashu: C

Tamago: A

Bamboo shoots: A

Side dishes: B

Pricing: B





<img src="http://www.50states.com/flower/picts/delaware.jpg" alt="" />





p.s. I've been told that Sanuko no Sato, which is in the same shopping plaza as Asa (in the corner location), has excellent Soba. I have yet to try it however:

http://www.sanukinosato.com





My next ramen run will be to Gardena Ramen:

http://gardenaramen.com

http://www.yelp.com/biz/gardena-ramen-torrance
 
I read up on Palm Oil. It's being done as a substitute to most trans fat. Palm oil is high in saturated fat.

Which is commonly used in...



* cookies

* crackers

* graham cracker pie crust

* microwave popcorn



[quote author="bkshopr" date=1216774357]Read the ingredients. Avoid PALM OIL. Its much worse than trans fat. The cheapest ramen are fried in Palm oil and the seasoning packets may also have palm oil.</blockquote>
 
A brief on noodles in Japan



The world's oldest noodle was found in Lajia dig site in Gansu, China. The noodle was made from millet and carbon dated to approx. 4,000 years old, during the Qijia civilization period:

<img src="http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/05/sci_nat_enl_1129126327/img/1.jpg" alt="" />



However, local civilizations in Gansu that pre-dates Qijia, such as the Dadiwan (5850 BC), Majiayao, Yangshao, Banpo, etc. were all known to have cultivated millet and vegetables. These neolithic to bronze age civilizations had developed beyond hunter gatherers to agricultural civilizations with irrigation canals and fields. It's possible that they made noodles from millet at an earlier date, but no surviving evidence have been found.



As an interesting trivia, the Qijia civilization was centered around Lanzhou area in Gansu. Today, 4,000 years later, Lanzhou is still the capital of Gansu, and "Lanzhou Lamian", or Lanzhou pulled noodles, is popular across China, made by Hui Muslim chefs by hand. The soup base is usually beef bones and never pork, because pork isn't <em>halal</em> to Muslims.



Chinese Hui Muslim chef making Lanzhou lamian by hand, & beef lamian:

<img src="http://68.142.232.116/22/27801906_010ee3a1bc_m.jpg" alt="" />

<img src="http://nanamoose.typepad.com/a_day_in_the_life_of_the_/images/2007/05/10/dsc04946.jpg" alt="" />



There's a popular misconception that noodles were only introduced to Japan during the Meiji era (1868-1912) via Chinatowns in port cities. Udon, which is a wheat based thick noodle, was introduced to Japan as early as 9th century during the Heian period, most likely a Tang-Dynasty import. The Kanji for "udon" is used for wonton-style dumpligns in Chinese today. We're not sure if it was a mis-translation by the Japanese, or the usage in Chinese had changed over the past 1100 years.



Japanese "nabeyaki" Udon:

<img src="http://www.masuya.com.au/images/menu_07/musashi/NabeyakiUdon.jpg" alt="" />



During the 1500's, Chinese noodles were introduced to the Ryukyu Kingdom, now known as Okinawa. The Chinese noodles were flour based, and to this day the Okinawan soba noodles are still made of flour, unlike those in Japanese mainland, which are made with buckwheat.



Okinawa Soba:

<img src="http://www.okinawaindex.com/widgets/index/culture/culinary/okinawa_soba.jpg" alt="" />



During the Edo period (1603-1868) the Japanese were making soba noodles with buckwheat flour. Soba noodles are thin and served chilled with dipping sauce, or hot in soup. "Soba" is also a Japanese word for "buckwheat", and Japanese Soba is supposed to contain at least 30% buckwheat, except for Okinawan Soba which contains none (as mentioned above).



Japanese buckwheat soba with dipping sauce:

<img src="http://importfood.com/media/soba_m.jpg" alt="" />



After the Meiji reformation, the Meiji era (1868-1912) saw an influx of foreigners. Chinatowns popped up in port cities like Kobe, Yokohama, Nagasaki, etc. Chinese immigrants brought lamian, or "pulled noodles" to Japan during this period. These noodles were made of flour and not buckwheat, so the Japanese referred to them as "Chinese soba". In Nagasaki, Chinese restaurant owners served "Champon" noodles, which is very different in style from the lamian/ramen that we know today.



Chanpon noodles:

<img src="http://images.inmagine.com/img/mixa/mmps239/mmps239004.jpg" alt="" />



After WW2, many Japanese soldiers and colonists were expelled from China and went home to Japan. The post-WW2 period offered few economic opportunities, so some of the Japanese who lived in China for many years opened Chinese restaurants in Japan to make a living. It was around this time (late 1940s-early 1950s) that lamian/ramen became very popular across Japan as an inexpensive, but filling dish.



Ramen (lamian) as we know today:

<img src="http://www.ramenramenramen.net/wp-images/DSC02620.JPG" alt="" />



In 1958, a Taiwanese immigrant to Japan named Wu Pai Fu, aka Momofuku Ando, invented the first instant noodle. He became chairman of Nissen Food products and exported his chicken-flavored instant noodle world-wide as "instant ramen". Note that although the noodle is written as "ramen", in Chinese and Japanese they say it like "lamian" and not with "R".





The creator of instant noodle, Mr. Wu Pai-Fu aka Momofuku Ando, Noodles Papa:

<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/Ando_papa.JPG" alt="" />



Nissin Food's original "Chikin Ramen", the world's first instant noodle:

<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/Chikin_Ramen.JPG" alt="" />



Different regions of Japan has their unique lamian/ramen flavors and toppings, which I'll get to in later post. There are also other types of noodles popular in Japan, such as somen, a thin, white-colored wheat noodle. It's commonly served during summers chilled with dipping sauce, or in hot soup during winters as "nyumen".



Somen:

<img src="http://www.c4vct.com/kym/bento/photos/somen.jpg" alt="" />



Eating chilled somen by sliding it along bamboo pipe with cold water:

<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/44/Nagashi_somen_by_tasteful_tn.jpg/800px-Nagashi_somen_by_tasteful_tn.jpg" alt="" />
 
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