Yep, well the cold weather (it's all relative) has settled in. If there's one thing I enjoy about winter here is that it is cool enough for me to head out and get ramen. Heck, even the Missus was wanting some ramen.
And of course She chose…..
Santouka:
Man, can you believe that Santouka has been open for over 16 years already? And even with the influx of all the ramen shops over the years, the Shio Toroniku from Santoua is the the Missus's favorite.
Which is now $16.95. It was $15.95 on our last visit in February of last year. Still, the Missus and I will split one bowl and also get a rice bowl. On this day, the Missus chose the Chashu Gohan ($6). Guess She was feeling in a "porky" kinda mood.
The ramen was as usual; that bowl keeps the broth hot for the entire meal.
Santouka has been fairly consistent over the years. Of course that consistency is a two way street. Santouka has probably the worse tamago. And yes, it's always been terribly overcooked. But hey, if you want consistency, that egg was just as bad at Santouka's original location in Asahikawa!
The broth was rich and tongue coating, savory with just enough saltiness for us.
The pork cheek (toroniku) was a bit tougher this time around and didn't start melting away in the hot broth like we enjoy. Still, it was delightfully porky.
Speaking of porky, we both enjoyed the Chashu Gohan.
Nicely flavored, fairly tender pork, over hot rice. Since we're not big eaters, this was enough for both of us.
Santouka Ramen
4240 Kearny Mesa Rd(In the Mitsuwa Marketplace)
San Diego, CA 92111
A few days later, I was craving some ramen, and decided to head on over to another favorite; HiroNori. After all, the last time I visited was almost exactly a year ago. To be perfectly honest, these days I prefer the ramen at HiroNori to Menya, which has been somewhat inconsistent and much too busy these days. And let's not even go into the crazy prices at Baikohken. I also had thoughts of heading to UTC….perhaps I need to do a ramen rumination of all ramen places in Westfield UTC? But that'll have to wait until after the holidays.
So, it was off to try and find parking in Hillcrest. Which I magically found a few blocks away on Robinson and Third.
HiroNori Craft Ramen:
My timing worked out pretty well. The clock struck 1130 just as I crossed Fifth Avenue and I sauntered in; the first customer of the day.
I ordered my usual here; the Shoyu Ramen, now priced at $16.45, it was $15.10 at this time last year. I also got some moyashi ($.50).
I prefer the savory, somewhat salty, barrel aged shoyu broth to the tonkotsu here. It has nice soy-savory complexity and the broth has a decent velvety tongue feel.
The tamago had been nicely marinated and the yolk was warm. An ice cold egg is a pet peeve of mine.
The chashu was porky, with a nice shoyu flavor. It was so soft and buttery; the best I've had here to date! I decided to get the noodles katame; firm, and the woman working nodded in approval. The noodles were indeed firm, slippery, but also did a great job "picking up" the broth.
This might be the best bowl I've had here to date!
For me, this is a great option to the typical tonkotsu broth that is everywhere. Which leads me to something interesting I noticed during my meal. There were three parties of folks who came in during my meal. They all ordered "tonkatsu" ramen. The Japanese woman working didn't blink an eye….I guess this is the norm here in Hillcrest. "Tonkatsu" ramen…..
HiroNori Craft Ramen
3803 5th Ave
San Diego, CA 92103
So, two bowls, both of them winnah's. It's a nice start to "ramen season" for me!
Hope everyone has a wonderful week!