Hakata Ramen

We love the ramen at Santouka Ramen at Mitsuwa Market.  Recently, I had the pleasure of meeting and conversing with my husband's nurse, Maris. She is a fellow foodie. We talked about our favorite subject: Restaurants. She asked me if I had ever been to Hakata Ramen.  The answer was "no".  She raved about the ramen. The first question I asked was; "is it better than Santouka Ramen and her answer was YES!  The nice part of this conversation was finding out  that the restaurant was close to the hospital at 2015 W. Redondo Beach Blvd. #C in Gardena, California.

I looked for this restaurant on my way home from the hospital last week. I spotted it so I decided to investigate. It was too early and they were still closed. Two days later, I went back with my friend Sandi. It's a little place and the first thing we noticed was the loud noise. Everyone seemed to be screaming. I finally figured out that it was the "normal" greeting from the staff. They all shout a welcoming "hello" when you come in and they all yell "thank you" in Japanese when you leave. People were coming and going so you can imagine the repetitive hellos and goodbyes.

I remember Maris telling me to order the soft noodles. You pick the firmness of the noodle: soft, normal or hard. Then you pick the amount of soup oil: thick, normal or light. I could not remember what she suggested so I picked thick. You then have to pick the strength of the soup base: strong, normal or mild. I picked strong.  They had extra toppings: cha shu pork, flavored egg, flavored bamboo, corn or wontan. I had pork, corn and wontan.  Sandi had a similar one except she had the normal oil and soup base. In our excitement, we didn't see the special side toppings: spicy miso, garlic chips, fried onion, crispy bacon, green chili butter bomb (spicy) garlic miso butter and garlic oil.

The bowl was BIG! We both loved the ramen and as we looked at each other, we read each other's mind. This was more delicious than Santouka Ramen. We can't wait to go back and try the garlic chips and crispy bacon toppings. On our next visit we will try to remember to take some ear plugs along. The staff is very nice and courteous and willing to explain the menu. FYI, we both could not finish our ramen; it's a lot of food!