ramblings of a Seattle travel, food and photography hound
While I was getting my Hawaiian meal at Island Grill (see below), my wife was ordering tonkotsu ramen from Ai Sushi, also located in the Crossroads Mall food court. Let me first start off by saying that I'm always wary when a restaurant that does not specialize in it offers tonkotsu, a ramen that requires... Continue Reading →
Before the crush of food preparation for osechi ryori, five of us headed over to Ton-Chan for lunch. A previous review of it is here. Instead of the usual Sapporo miso tonkotsu ramen that others ordered, I went for one appropriately called The Bomb, basically a miso tonkotsu ramen with spicy ground pork. As noted before,... Continue Reading →
Recently, after completing our shopping at Marukai Market for osechi ryori ingredients, we'd typically have lunch at Rutt's, a restaurant inside the market near the southern entrance. This was the branch of Rutt's doing business in Culver City. For some reason, it shut down operation since I was here last December and has been replaced by... Continue Reading →
When foodies talk about Japanese soup noodles, they usually think of ramen, arguably the most popular kind found all over Japan. Not as well known outside Japan is a different type of soup noodle, also of Chinese origin, that is widely popular, called udon. The wheat noodle is thick-cut and the very best freshly-made versions have... Continue Reading →
The September 2010 earthquake forced the closure of many businesses in Christchurch, many of them for good. This is one of the unfortunate consequences of natural disasters. Imagine how much more magnified the problem was for businesses in Fukushima. Samurai Bowl was a Japanese restaurant with a popular following, especially among Japanese students studying here.... Continue Reading →
Tonight, we were in the mood for Asian food, so I came across a Yelp review of Shibumi Ramenya in Santa Fe. There wasn't anything revealing about the reviews, but we went anyway. As soon as we walked in, the interior exuded a minimalism that is classic Japanese. Although the name ramenya means a ramen... Continue Reading →
For lunch in the Granville Market area, we wanted to eat at Go Fish, but (being Monday) it was closed. A highly regarded Afghan restaurant, just on the outskirts of Granville Island, was also closed. A sushi shop next door was too humid inside, so we went up the street and came across Sawa Tea... Continue Reading →
After taking care of some personal business, we stopped at Golden Deli to have pho. As usual, the place was packed and there was a waiting list (15-20 minutes, the lady said). Then, we noticed right next door a Japanese restaurant, called Ton-Chan, that specializes in Tokyo tonkotsu ramen. So rather than wait, we decided... Continue Reading →
Samurai Noodle is regarded as one of the best ramen houses in Seattle. Rather than the tonkotsu ramen, we thought we'd try the so-called "Shouyu" instead, which is a combination of pork/chicken. Our initial tasting of the broth was good, but we both noticed that it seemed to somehow become more bland as we continued... Continue Reading →
Honolulu has several excellent Japanese noodle shops. Ramen and saimin garner the lion’s share of devotion. But udon deserves as much attention, especially those served at Jimbo. Made in the Hokkaido style (according to the waiter), the broth is rich, luscious, slightly smoky from specially imported katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes). We were told that one... Continue Reading →
zoomeboshi 