Kashiwa Ramen - New Shop in the OC from Hideto Kawahara

Heads up, y’all:

There is a new legit-looking ramen shop in the OC called Kashiwa Ramen.
This shop was opened by (either directly or under consult from) ramen big-shot Hideto Kawahara of Totto Ramen and Hide-Chan Ramen in NYC.

Yelp pics look pretty good (some a bit messy).
It seems that they are still in soft opening.
I have not been there yet.

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might have to try this for lunch today.

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Thanks for the heads up. Totto ramen was my favorite in NYC. Better than Ippudo and Ivan. Definitely on my list.

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Plan on making a visit here…any word/thoughts?

I went here once for a later dinner (maybe 8 PMish) a while back. I’ll disqualify this though in that I’m not a ramen fiend and I mainly compared this to the HiroNori ramen in Irvine (which I enjoy on occasion, particularly with the spicy sauce).

I ordered a regular ramen and a side of karaage, both of which I liked. I remember my basic thought on the ramen was that it was a chicken version of tonkotsu. The chicken flavor was lighter but still pretty dense (if that makes sense). Being a later dinner, I think they’d run out of Chashu and I had their chicken. The chicken itself wasn’t anything special and I could’ve gone without. Unfortunately, I think they were also out of egg so I wasn’t able to try that either. The Karaage was pretty good though. Came with two sauces if I remember right, lemon and some kind of sweet chili sauce I think? I remember it being a pretty solid ramen and a nice change from my usual tonkotsu.

The location wasn’t that bad either, always something to be appreciated considering how things are at some ramen places in the area. Plenty of parking in the plaza and enough empty seats at the restaurant when I went but, again, I went later in the evening. Hope that helps!

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