where to buy Ramen noodle for home use

Is there any where in the bay area I can buy fresh ramen noodle used by ramen houses like Halu or Santa?

[peacemeal]

Suruki Supermarket in San Mateo has fresh ramen noodles in generic no-brand shrinkwrapped styrofoam trays in their refrigerated section -- just noodles, no sauce packets. You can buy Yamachan sauce packets (shoyu, miso or tonkotsu flavors) separately in the same section if you need them. I find that this is better (and cheaper!) than the "ramen kits" that you find in all the Japanese grocery stores.

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Suruki Supermarket
71 E 4th Ave, San Mateo, CA

[Dawgmommy]

I went back and bought a package of the ramen noodles made by Fung family at the Richmond Ranch 99. They cooked up quickly, have a nice chewiness and holds up well when I put them into soup after first cooking them.

Not sure how "authentic" they are or they compare to the places mention earlier in the thread. But I would definitely get them and then make up my own fixin's.

[SteveG]

Heresay, I know, but in Japan frozen fresh noodles are making big inroads right now. Unless fresh noodles are super fresh, it's probably better to just use frozen. I assume the japanese markets all have some in their freezers--I'd stick with imported brands, as my understanding in Japan was that they'd had some process innovations that made the frozen noodles acceptable, which may not have jumped the Pacific yet to local producers.

I've seen fresh ramen noodles at Ranch 99 as well. They cost about twice as much as Chinese style fresh noodles. Halu and Santa both say that the noodles they use are made to spec, so they won't be the same. The last time I was at Santa, a trip to the restroom took me through the kitchen. Cartons of fresh noodles were stacked on the counters labelled with the manufacturer's name and address. I don't remember who it was, but you could take a stroll through the kitchen, find out, and check with the manufacturer about retail outlets.

ha ha :) i was hoping that you did look at it and already knew the answer. thanks. i'll check next time i'm there.

ranch 99 - have you tried the ramen noodle there? any good?

Sorry, I'm of so little help! I haven't trid the ramen noodles at Ranch 99. The time I saw them, they didn't look that fresh. Probably don't get as high a turnover as the less expensive varieties.

[Dawgmommy]

I just saw "Japanese Ramen" noodles today at Ranch 99. They were in a 16oz package for @ $2-3. They looked fresh but it is made by a Chinese company. Fung's Village Inc in Commerce, CA.

They look similar to HK style wonton noodles ( a little crinkley) but thicker. Definetely not udon or yakisoba noodle. They are also vegetarian.

[shanghaikid]

one distributor is nippon trends the same one that manufactures "yamachan" ramen for retail.

You can buy fresh ramen at any Japanese grocery. Berkeley Bowl sells good fresh ramen and udon. I don't remember the brand I like.

also, there used to be a chinese noodle place in the middle of oakland c-town.

[shanghaikid]

yuen hop is sill there. it's a retail store now that sells all kinds of asian groceries. the noodles they made themselves are made off site.

i have looked many times at japanese grocery stores but did not see any **fresh** ones. Can you let me which Japanese market has it?

By ramen, i don't mean yaki soba noodle or the chinese style egg noodle. Ramen noodle normally have baking soda in it and is somewhat spring-y.

Both Japanese supermarkets in San Mateo, Suruki and Takahashi, have fresh ramen noodles. Takahashi has it less often, since their selection is more limited than Suruki's. I assume any of the other big Japanese grocery stores like Nijiya in Mountain View or Mitsuwa in San Jose has them as well.

Osakaya in SF J-town had them in their take out section when I was walking about last weekend. They are in the Kintetsu building across the hall from Benihana. Can't vouch for the quality.

[shanghaikid]

hear nijiya in san mateo has them. nijiya in san jose doesn't. 99 ranch in el cerrito has chinese versions of japanese ramen. from southern cal.

[david kaplan]

Wo Chong's small shop in Chinatown, on Ross Alley, has bags of fresh noodles marked "organic, firm" that are the closest fresh noodles I've purchased at retail to Halu's style. They're thicker than standard Chinese egg noodles but thinner than the Shanghai-style packages, and have a good bite when cooked. I've not put them in broth -- I've stir-fried or made cold noodle dishes with them -- but as I ate them I thought they'd hold up well in ramen.

They're not identical to Halu's -- their texture is rougher and less slippery -- so I don't mean to overstate the similarity. But they are delicious.

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Wo Chong
41 Ross Alley, San Francisco, CA

Halu
312 8th Ave, San Francisco, CA 94118

[singjai]

Actually, I'm finding that very much untrue here in the South Bay. All I'm finding are udon and yakisoba. Actually, I can find fresh ramen kits with sauce packets, but I'm just looking for the noodles.