Feb 21

Hakata Shinsengumi is a great ramen shop serving Fukuoka style ramen. My wife, who’s from Fukuoka said she felt like she was in a ramen house back home. Here when you order the ramen, they give you lots of choices so that you can have it exactly the way you want. You can choose noodle firmness (soft, medium, firm), broth thickness and the amount of oil. I usually just go for medium on all 3. My wife prefers firm noodles and light oil.

The ramen is delicious, and I ordered the “D-Set” which included a bowl of Hakata ramen (I added pork slices), half an order of gyoza, a side order (i chose kara age (fried chicken)) and a beer.

Again, the ramen was great, and so was the tori kara age which is kinda hard to do wrong unless you over cook it. The ramen noodles are rather thin, to balance the strong broth. The gyoza however, left something to be desired. They were very small, falling apart and otherwise not too delicious. Since it came with the set it didn’t really bother me much, but I wouldn’t recommend ordering them.

The atmosphere seems pretty authentic with the entire staff greeting people as they arrive and leave in unison. There aren’t too many individual tables, most of the seating is either at the bar, or at a large wooden table in the center. We were there kind of early at about 6pm on a Friday night, and by the time we left at about 7p, there were at least 15 people outside waiting to get in, so it seems this place is pretty popular.

2015 W Redondo Beach Blvd
Gardena, CA 90247
(310) 329-1335
www.shinsengumiusa.com

Feb 6

I haven’t been to any new ramen restraunts in a while. I frequently stop by Umemura because it’s so close and so good, but I haven’t been trying out new places like I need to, to keep this blog current.

While it’s not ramen, a noodle house that I’ve been going to a lot is Otafuku. This place has amazing zaru soba and udon, pretty much the best in the Southbay as far as I’m concerned. I’ve usually been ordering the Zaru Udon with Tempura, which is about $13 and the noodles are so fresh! I’ve heard that they make their own noodles, although I’m not sure if they do it there in the restraunt or bring them in from somewhere else. But either way it’s very good.

The restraunt’s facade is very unassuming. It’s on Western Ave in Gardena and from the street it looks like the place is closed or even abandoned. There’s parking and a kitchen entrance in the rear (the front door is locked during the evening). I think this is to keep out people from the local bar next door, or maybe just to keep out Gaijin like me :)

Anyway, if you like soba or udon, you need to check this place out. I’ll also be sure to check out some new local ramen shops and get this ramen blog going.

Otafuku
16525 S Western Ave
Gardena, CA 90247
(310) 532-9348