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Best Japanese Ramen

Many shops will have a house specialty. Ryowa's is the Ryowa Ramen, no the miso, not the shoyu.

BTW it is about as authentic as it gets and is typically well reviewed by Japanese.

However, the best I have found so far is most assuredly Maru Ichi in Mountain View which is not only Japanese owned but also Japanese staffed. Their gyoza and karage suck, california rolls are ok but if you are not going there for the ramen don't bother.

Get the tonkotsu, not the miso, not the shoyu, TONKOTSU.

donoman said:
I tried Ryowa in Berkeley.

It was OK. Not the worst but not the best. Definitely some sort of packaged noodles, and pretty oily tasting. Sort of pasty and powdery too. I guess that's what you guys mean by cloudy?

I tried the Karaage fried chicken, it was (IMO) HORRIBLE. Salty, came served up on lettuce with fuckin mayonnaise (YUCK) and was crispy and just not the same Karaage that I'm used to.

Definitely a Korean run imposter operation, not what I was looking for!
 
Bud --- cool, i'll have to try that place

Today I ate at Sapporo-Ya in Japantown, SF and I must say it is tied for 1st place in my mind with Santa. There are only 2 soup bases: soysauce and miso. But both were delicious. The noodles... were awesome. Totally homemade and soft, chewy... oh man i cannot describe how awesome they were.

It's a tossup right now between SantaRamen and Sapporo because Santa's noodles aren't as fresh-tasting, but they are more supple. And Santa has better appetizers...

Good call, Baptistro
:thumbup
 
Toukishima next to Mitsuwa Market is pretty good actually... Ryowa on the other hand I found to have limp noodles which will turn off most Japanese customers unless they're some kind of bizarre masochists. But you know what... your best bet is to go buy "Chuuka Zanmai" and make the ramen at home. :teeth
 
hahahaha....

best ramen? downstairs. cost? 600 yen (miso). appetizers? completely unnecessary considering the bowl is bigger than your head. pairs nicely with the biggest bottle of Asahi you've ever seen (400 yen).

bwahahahahaha :twofinger

if anyone wants stuff from japan let me know. i'll try to locate it and let you know how much it costs to send to the bay area. i'm in sapporo so dont ask me for anything from kyoto or okinawa or anything :laughing
 
best ramen, shoyu, that i have had since i left japan has been hotei on 9th at irving in SF. excellent ramen!! :nerd

by the way have you ramen fans seen the movie, "tampopo"? if you havent, you should. basically a japanese western based on a ramen house. incredibly fun and it makes you very hungry for ramen :laughing
 
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Tampopo, yes... Kimchee introduced me to that movie, it's totally fun. I'll try Hotei next, I guess!!! Thanks!!!

Is there a crazy line? I hate crazy lines but I guess they're expected at good restaurants. I'm gonna go to Japan this summer. I can't wait.
 
where to in japan? :) i wanna go back just for the ramen/gyoza combos for like 3 bucks :love

hotei is great no real lines to speak of. i usually go for lunch on a sat or sun around noon when they open and its empty. on a fri/sat night you may have to wait like 10 minutes.
 
Has anyone else eaten Ramen at multiple places?

So far I've only been to 4 Places:

Santa - san mateo
Sapporo - japantown
Ryowa - berkeley
Ringer Hut - yuck, not even worth mentioning this shit
 
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