SoCal Ramen

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

While this blog is dedicated to ramen, I figured I’d throw in some reviews of other noodle dishes that I love to eat in the area. Kotohira is also in the Tozai plaza and serves, udon, soba and other Japanese dishes. The food is very authentic Japanese and good at very reasonable prices.

My wife loves to order kitsune soba, which is soba with fried tofu (kitsune literally means “fox” in Japanese, and apparently in Japan foxes love to eat fried tofu). She thinks that the fried tofu should be more juicy and not so dry, but that the noodles were pretty good.

I usually order one of their chicken or fish dishes with the kake udon side. The kake udon is delicious, as they hand make their udon noodles. The soup base and the noodle firmness is also perfect.

The prices are really reasonable. The combo meals like the mini katsudon set (which comes with a katsudon bowl and the kake udon) is only about $9. The restaurant usually gets pretty busy in the evening, but I’ve never had to wait more than 10-15 minutes for a table. The service seems kind of hit and miss, but it usually just depends on how busy they are.

Kotohira Restaurant (Tozai Plaza)
1747 W Redondo Beach Blvd
Gardena, CA 90247
(310) 323-3966