Ugh damn it, should’ve walked over from my apartment before everyone else found out…
Not all Tsukmen joints serve lime/lemon with their noodles. But yeah, I thought I had gone on a REALLY bad day or something… but honestly it looks like they have no PLAN or organization in the front or back of the house.
–Dommy!
Nice find JL.
Slightly off topic - where to go for non-tonaktsu ramen these days?
Since the whole world went nuts over the thick pork broth, I wonder who is doing the best shio, shoyu broths.
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The clear broth tonkotsu (think pork bone consomme) at Kitakata is my go to.
Tired of that heavy tonkotsu stuff years ago.
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is it possible for a chicken broth to be tonkatsu rather than shoyu etc ???
thanks guys.
I will say that, having grown up in Japan, I am picky as hell when it comes to ramen.
Honestly? Best tsukemen that I’ve had in LA thus far. (Was not impressed by Tsujita.)
I’ll be back to try the standard ramen here as well.
Lunch at 1pm (Fri) was busy but not crowded, no service issues.
any chicken broth ramen on site ???
thanks.
No, tonkotsu (when talking about ramen we’re not talking about “tonkatsu” or breaded pork) specifically means pork bone broth. “ton-” meaning pork. Unless there was a chicken-pork hybrid broth, you won’t get chicken tonkotsu broth. But by definition you can’t have tonkotsu broth sans pork.
I consider tonkotsu pretty much de facto “kotteri” style, i.e. heavy taste and unctuous mouthfeel. Chicken yuzu negi broth sounds more up my alley, but I’m not in much of a ramen mood since ramen KO’d me on too many afternoons. I’m more in a pho phase, but ramen could be great late on a cold night
Thanks Mark. It’s much appreciated.
What makes it stand out above Tsujita? Not attacking, just really curious given your extenisve experience with it in Japan.
Straight chicken ramen is done well so seldom that I don’t even look for it. The offering at Yamadaya in Culver City comes to mind. Blegh.
Honestly, the service at Tsujita really tainted things for me. They spilled my soup before serving and proceed to dump new soup into the same bowl, clearly splattered to the rim with the remnants of the older soup – unacceptable in my book. That said, the noodles were overcooked and I found the tsukedare to be far too thick and salty.
The tsukedare at Yumeya was much lighter (you could actually sip it straight without recoiling from fat/sodium shock) while still packed with umami. I imagine that this is accomplished via a relatively higher concentration of fish stock. The noodles were also fantastic – plenty of chewy texture and cooked perfectly for a menkata (al dente) guy like me. I’ve had better chashu, but it was still warm/crisp from a gentle torching and was certainly not a weak point. My only gripe was the nickel and diming via the toppings which can add up quickly, but that’s not a practice limited to Yumeya.
I should clarify that my favorite style of ramen in general is the bone standard Tokyo-style shoyu ramen, usually based on a mixed chicken/fish or pork/fish stock. I am not a huge tonkotsu fan at all, so those who are into the fatty stuff may prefer tsujita’s varietal.
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@Piglet what are some of your favorites in Tokyo?
Can you respond in the thread below so it’s all in one place? Thanks!
I went today around 2 and the place was a third empty. OMG! they are completely clueless. I usually don’t have high standards for service, you have to be incompetent AND clueless to have it register on my radar. Otherwise, I’ll be chatting with my companions or entertaining myself on my phone. I put my name on the list, only 2 people ahead of me. I was asked 3 times in 10 minutes who I was and how many people. Even though it’s all marked. Then a family of three comes in and I was asked if it was okay for our party of four to share a small table if we didn’t order much. They acted shocked and surprised when I pointed out I was a single and I could be seated at the bar, communal table or the small by myself.
Things got marginally better once I was seated and it’s not worth detailing the other minor issues that just piled up into making this an overall bad service situation. Anyway. I got the spicy tonkatsu. It was good but not mind blowing. Definitely liked the chasu. I probably should have gotten the Tsukemen. But between the service and the parking lot, I don’t know if I’m going to be coming here any time soon.
One final minor note. I really hate that they don’t have enough proper asian soup spoons. I was given a metal round soup soon that barely held a tablespoon of broth at a time. Hard to take a proper sip to go with the noodles. I noticed many of the tables had the same spoon and only a few people had the regular soup spoons.
Same here. I’m okay with casual service at a casual place like this. I’ll even be sympathetic to a slightly overwhelmed staff (That happens often at Maple Block). But this one is so obvious clueless. Sad that they aren’t even trying to fix it.
NOPE. Not minor… It’s like a Vietnamese place that serves italian basil instead of thai. DEAL BREAKER. It shows how the BOH is really just not paying attention if they can’t keep enough CLEAN. ugh.
–Dommy!
LOL! Well, I was trying to be somewhat nice at the end of my post. But felt it was important enough to point out.
Oh my gosh…look what I found!
Well, put it back, dammit!
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You can’t get more instant than that. I don’t feel well.
hahaha. "can’t get more instant than that’ reminds of the fucking halcyon days of fucking yore;