During my visit to Zen Modern Asian Bistro at the Sky Deck, I came across a place that I’d had on my “list” but had totally forgotten about. Marufuku Ramen. I recall reading how popular Marufuku was when it opened in San Francisco’s Japantown in 2017. And since it was “ramen season” for me; I decided to return to try the place out.
Marufuku is located in the rear of the Sky Deck. The place was kinda dark at 11am, so pardon my photos.
I was seated by the very friendly and efficient Sugui, who told me he also works at Glass Box next door.
The prices, as anticipated were on the higher end of the scale, especially for what I consider to be a Food Hall.
I went with the Hakata Tonkotsu – regular size ($18.00). What arrived was about the same size as the small bowl I had at Santouka recently. Of course it didn’t have the toroniku and other stuffs.
The broth was fairly light, in spite of the dots of oil floating on the top. It was pretty straight forward, mild in flavor, though not salty.
It was rich enough to coat the thin, straight Hakata style noodles. Which were unfortunately a bit overcooked and too soft for my taste.
At least the tamago, which was edging on being overcooked for my taste was still warm. I’d say that’s a definite plus these days.
There were two bacon-thin slices chashu that were nicely flavored, with a nice toothsome texture.
And was probably my favorite thing in this bowl. The ginger would have helped to cut the richness if the broth were a bit thicker, but really wasn’t necessary in this case.
Overall, not a bad bowl of ramen, perhaps below what I last had a Menya…maybe what I’d consider level B+ ramen. Though priced like level A+ ramen. I’m not going to be in a rush to return.
Marufuku Ramen (In the Sky Deck at Del Mar Highlands Town Center)
12841 El Camino Real Suite 204
San Diego, CA 92130
Current Hours:
Sun – Thurs 11am – 9pm
Fri – Sat 11am – 10pm
First thing I noticed was how foamy the broth was, like it was kept at a rolling boil instead of a simmer. It was also on the thin side and seemed more like a thickened, slightly bitter, shoyu based broth. Like the tonkotsu I had here before, it also had a slight "metallic" tinge to it.
The chashu was a bit on the chewy side and lightly flavored, but not bad. The noodles were actually cooked decently and had a nice "springy pull" to them.
The pseudo tonkotsu bowl arrived seaming hot. There were some…well, interesting things about this bowl. My least favorite was the "impossible chicken karaage". It seemed to be sort of soybean based; but the texture was not to my liking; it was spongy and super chewy…think thick nylon sponge and had no flavor.
Not quite sure what to do with the slice of tomato? How much acidity, sweetness, will one slice of tomato provide for a bowl of ramen? The cabbage added a slight sweet-bitterness and was blanched. The corn also added some nice textural contrast and sweetness to the bowl.
You could make out the scent of truffle. If you took a look at the broth, you'd notice little flecks of black. The more flecks, the stronger the truffle flavor. The broth was very light and in my mind could have used a bit more richness. The savory flavor of shoyu was barely evident. More of a mushroom broth to me. 
The chashu had been grilled before serving; which totally changed the texture and taste. I like a nice "buttery" chashu and the grilling had made it rather tough and stringy. The flavor was on the lighter side as well.
I must say; this was fairly good, at least in terms of how moist, tender, and for the basic marinade/seasoning. The coating could have been a bit more crisp or crunchy as it deteriorated quite fast. Much of that was probably due to the overly sweet and sticky glaze used.
There were some definite improvements on this visit. The noodles were firmer, the menma and tamago were not iced cold.
Overall, the service was unobtrusive, the young lady working the front was very sweet.