Back in October of last year; I noticed that the long standing China Quick Wok was gone and was being replaced by Fujiyame Ramen. Well, I guess we hadn’t hit ramen saturation yet here in San Diego? In November, I read that they had opened. I headed on over at the beginning of December to find them closed. I returned a few more times…and each time they were closed, even though I had arrived during stated hours. So, I just waited a bit….well, more like three months! I finally took a chance and drove into that strip mall which houses El Pollo Loco and Mike’s Red Tacos. And yes, they were open!
Ample parking in the lot was available on this day, so I parked and walked on in.
The menu was small…though on an interesting note, I knew someone who visited initially and told me they had stuff like orange chicken and popcorn chicken on the menu which he thought was strange. They must have straightened out their menu, because other than the braised beef rice, the menu looked like thoose of a typical fusion ramen shop.
Ordering seems to be done by kiosk here. As I was checking things out, a very nice gentleman came out and recommended one of the “combos” as a good value. Well, being that the Tonkotsu Ramen here was $12.99…..which is right now really well priced. Getting a combo for $15.99 is even better, right?
I got the Tonkotsu Ramen, some chicken wings, and a drink for $15.99.
The Tonkotsu Ramen looked quite different from what was pictured.
No corn, but the addition of what seemed like chicken katsu? It was salty and fairly dry, breaded white meat chicken. I did find the addition of carrots a bit strange.
The chashu was quite chewy and fiberous.
The noodles were interesting, on the softer side, but not mushy, lacking the chewiness of ramen noodles. Things started clicking in my head. These noodles seemed more suited to Niu Rou Mian, than ramen…but perhaps I was imagining things?
The tamago was nice and warm, the yolk nicely cooked for my taste.
The broth was quite thin for tonkotsu, very salty, lacking in savory tones and the nice tongue coating texture.
Not my favorite bowl of ramen. This was kind of interesting, as I got to thinking the folks running this shop were not Japanese? And then my Chicken Wings sealed the deal so to say.
These were actually pretty good. Though not evenly coated, the batter was nicely seasoned and crisp. What sealed the deal in thinking the owners were not Japanese was the generous amount of dried chili on the wings. Don’t get me wrong, I did really enjoy this, but I don’t think your typical ramen shop would put all this chili-salt-white pepper on wings. The wings were nice and moist. I enjoyed this the most of what I’d tried at Fujiyame.
And then there was something I kept seeing; on the menu board, on the napkin dispenser.
Just then, the really nice gentleman came out of the kitchen. This was a one man show; he did everything! He introduced himself as “Chen”! A-ha, I knew it! We had a nice chat and he mentioned how the menu had changed since opening as folks didn’t care much for the ramen, they’ve made many changes. They redid the kitchen and menu, thus shutting down for a few months. Ok, so now I got it! As they made major changes, they started calling their ramen “858 style” – as in the area code for this part of San Diego (Northern), to indicate it isn’t traditional ramen. Interesting, huh?
I did see something “interesting” on the menu, so I decided to return. When I did, I noticed the 858 Ramen menu in the window.
I walked on in and now knowing the drill proceeded to order from the kiosk.
I ordered the Braised Beef Rice ($12.99) which was indicated as being “spicy”. Soon enough, my bowl arrived. And like the ramen, looked nothing like the photo on the menu. The menu says this has “potatoes”, but what arrived did not. And this had corn, pickled onions, and seaweed salad, which is not on the menu photo, nor indicated on the menu as well!
The rice had apparently just been cooked as it was steaming hot. Not very fragrant, a bit on the drier side but ok.
The corn, tart and sour pickled onions, and seaweed salad was just basically window dressing for me as I was interested in that beef.
The beef was toothsome, but not overly tough. And it did have that anise-soy flavor with hints of ginger, but I did not pick up any spiciness.
To me, this was more like Hong Shao Niu Rou than a typical Japanese braised beef which would be sweeter, usually with onions. Perhaps when the photo was taken, they were trying for something like Nikujaga…thus the potatoes in the photo, but in the end, it seems like one’s heritage always comes to play.
It’s going to be interesting to see what happens over the next few months. Will they officially change their name to 858 Ramen? Or perhaps totally change concept. Based on the braised beef, I’d be glad to try the Niu Rou Mian here. As for the fusiony mashup? Well, you gotta remember, I’m from the home of Saimin….. and after all, there’s Underbelly, right?
Who knows what I might find then?
Fujiyame Ramen
4310 Genesee Avenue Suite 108A
San Diego, CA 92117
Current Hours:
Thurs – Tues 11am – 830pm
Closed on Wednesday