42684 Mon Jan 09 12:23:31 -0800 2006 10 1 San Francisco Bay Area 0 207272 So I saw an ad in Tri-City Voice (free paper you can pick up many places) which included at 15% off coupon for this place. This looks brand new, sparkeling clean, and really nice inside - more like an upscale restaurant than ramen. They have nice designer paper napkins and the prettiest menus. They have appetizers, many types of ramen with all different meats and ribs, and a few rice dishes such as crispy chicken and crispy oysters. So for appetizers we got gyoza and grilled shitake mushrooms. The gyoza were great! Very light and crispy but not one bit greasy. There was juicy meat inside. The mushrooms were moist large mushrooms, there was just a very slight something about the flavor I didn't like, but otherwise good. The ramen had a great presentation. They were garnished on top with crispy noodles(yum) and green sprouts. I had the Chef's Special that included crispy chicken, pork, and beef. There was lots of meat, that I could barely finish it all. I liked the pork the best, there were just chunks of fat attached that I didn't eat. The other meats were average. The noodles were great, slightly chewy and very fresh. The broth was fine, they say no MSG which I prefer. I would definitely love to go again, the only complaint is the price is on the high side but is understandable for the great ambiance and presentation. The ramen were about $7 - $9 each. I would like to go back to try some of the ramen with ribs. There was only one other party when we came in and no one else came, so we were alone after they left. I think people will need to start going so they can stay in business. The problem is the location, there are no other restaurants around and it is not a busy street. HA Noodle 42318 Fremont Blvd (next to Big-O-Tires) Fremont, CA 94538 (510)668-0676 Mon Jan 09 12:23:31 -0800 2006 0 Hungry Girl 1 207278 thanks for the post. I'll look for the coupon from the Tri-City Voice, hopefully I can find it at the library then I'll check it out. Yup, the location is bad, it seems the cross street is Blacow Rd and Fremont Blvd, Irvington district, is that correct? Do they take credit card? Mon Jan 09 12:43:57 -0800 2006 207272 0 hhc 2 207283 Yes, they take credit cards which was great! No, I don't think Blacow - it near the intersection of Washington (past the Sunday Farmer's Market) and across from Smart and Final. I got my Tri-City just from Safeway but I've seen them at all kinds of places. Mon Jan 09 13:12:30 -0800 2006 207278 0 Hungry Girl 3 207285 Oops, you're right - it is near Blacow, I just came from the other direction! Mon Jan 09 13:14:36 -0800 2006 207283 0 Hungry Girl 1 207690 Here's a photo of the interior from our pals at jatbar. Image: http://www.jatbar.com/images/545-02.jpg Tue Jan 10 21:25:16 -0800 2006 207272 0 Melanie Wong 1 208085 Yesterday I tried H2Noodle for lunch. I was the first lunch customer at noon, and about four other parties came in before I left. The interior is quite nice and on a wintry day, it felt good to have natural light through the wide windows. The owners are from Hong Kong. I asked what "special pork" might be and was told that it was pork braised and not fried in oil. I thought this might be dongpo rou, so gave that a try for my ramen topping. I also asked for the noodles cooked "firm". The presentation was disappointing. The chunks of pork were submerged under the stock. The sprouts on top turned out to be pea sprouts, rather than peppery daikon sprouts that Santa Ramen uses to add an extra spice to the dish. The pork was identical to carnitas, in fact, it wouldn't surprise me if these came from a nearby carniceria. They were okay, rather stringy and undersalted. The soft-cooked fried egg on top was a nice touch to add the richness of the yolk to the mix. The bowl also had Napa cabbage and a half piece of dried black mushroom. This may be the first time I've ever been served ramen that had NO allium at all - no garlic, scallions, or onion. The stock was inoffensive but had little character or richness. The whole effect was a beige-gray blandness and far more Chinese-y than Japanese. The one saving grace was the quality of the noodles. These were fresh and chewy. While not made with alkaline (I asked), they did stay firm. And, they were real ramen ingredients unlike the rest of the combination. Priced at $8.58, this doesn't compete in value with the offerings from the better ramen houses. H2A Noodle shakes out at #33 in the ramen rankings. PERSONAL RAMEN RANKINGS 1. Ramen Halu, 375 Saratoga Ave Ste M, San Jose 2. Santa, 805 S B St, San Mateo 3. Ryowa, 2068 University Ave, Berkeley 4. Himawari, 202 2nd Ave, San Mateo 5. Ryowa, 859 Villa St, Mountain View 6. Tanto, 1063 E El Camino Real, Sunnyvale 7. Maru Ichi, 368 Castro St, Mountain View 8. Do-Henkotsu House of Tokushima Ramen, 4330 Moorpark Ave, San Jose 9. Gen Ramen, 47890 Warm Springs Blvd, Fremont 10.BY Grill, 3226 Geary Blvd, San Francisco 11.Norikonoko, 2556 Telegraph Ave, Berkeley 12.Hana, 4320 Moorpark, San Jose 13.Masa's Sushi, 400 San Antonio Road, Mountain View 14.Oyaji, 3123 Clement St, San Francisco 15.Maru Ichi, 530 Barber Lane, Milpitas 16.Niko Niko Sushi/Katanaya, 336 O'Farrell St, San Francisco 17.Hatcho, 1271 Franklin Mall, Santa Clara 18.Tomoe, 810 3rd St, San Rafael (closed) 19.Ringer Hut, 1072 Saratoga Ave, San Jose 20.Izakaya Mai, 212 2nd Avenue, San Mateo 21.Ramen Club, 723 California Dr, Burlingame 22.Tazaki Sushi, 3420 Judah St, San Francisco 23.Ramen Rama, 19774 Stevens Creek Blvd, Cupertino 24.Ogi-San Ramen, 10789 Blaney Ave, Cupertino 25.Kaimuki Grill, 104 S El Camino Real, San Mateo 26.Tanto, 1306 Saratoga Ave, San Jose 27.Okazu Ya SF (Noriega), 2445 Noriega St, San Francisco 28.King's Garden Ramen, 39055 Cedar Blvd, Newark 29.Sushi Bistro, 445 Balboa St, San Francisco 30.Mitsuwa Hokkaido festival booth, 675 Saratoga Ave, San Jose 31.Lakuni, 325 E 4th Ave, San Mateo 32.Mifune, 1737 Post St, San Francisco 33.H2A Noodle, 42318 Fremont Blvd., Fremont 34.Iroha, 1728 Buchanan St, San Francisco 35.Miraku Noodles, 2131 N Broadway, Walnut Creek 36.Manpuku, 2977 College Ave, Berkeley 37.Tanpopo, 1740 Buchanan Street, San Francisco 38.Sushi Yoshi, 39261 Cedar Blvd, Newark 39.La Shang Niang Ramen (OEC), 42 Dixon Rd, Milpitas 40.Oidon, 71 E. 4th Avenue, San Mateo 41.Suzu Noodle House, 1581 Webster Street, San Francisco 42.Sapporo-ya, 1581 Webster St, San Francisco 43.Tokyo Ramen, 678 Barber Lane, Milpitas 44.Kamakura, 2549 Santa Clara Ave, Alameda 45.Mama-san!, 312 8th Ave, San Francisco 46.Katana-ya Ramen, 10546 San Pablo Ave, El Cerrito 47.Hotei, 1290 9th Ave, San Francisco 48.Bear's Ramen House, 2521 Durant, Berkeley Image: http://static.flickr.com/6/85765251_44e03b4d39_o.jpg Thu Jan 12 23:36:57 -0800 2006 207272 0 Melanie Wong 2 208086 I also ordered an appetizer of fried chicken, $4.38. It was served after the ramen. This was underseasoned too. Maybe this place is not only no-MSG but low sodium in general. Be that as it may, the boneless thigh meat was fried beautifully with a crispy pank crust and was very juicy. If it had been salted before frying, it would have been good. With some garlic, it could be great. The photo below shows the blonde wood table, nice place mat, and fun napkin. Image: http://static.flickr.com/41/85765255_e46b888242_o.jpg Thu Jan 12 23:42:06 -0800 2006 208085 0 Melanie Wong 3 208088 With my bill I rec'd a VIP card for a 10% off EVERY TIME. I have a feeling these guys may know how to cook, they just don't know how to make proper ramen. There are daily lunch specials that seemed to be popular at the other tables that might be worth checking out as well as the non-ramen dishes on the menu. Image: http://static.flickr.com/39/85765253_7b6c41992d_o.jpg Thu Jan 12 23:47:11 -0800 2006 208086 0 Melanie Wong 2 208092 I forgot to mention that part of the higher pricing is due to the larger size bowl and bigger than usual portion of stock. Too bad it wasn't tastier, as it was, I didn't drink very much of it. Thu Jan 12 23:51:26 -0800 2006 208085 0 Melanie Wong 2 208132 Wow, mine had a much better presentation - must have a been a different chef that day. Yours also didn't have the crispy noodles on top:( Fri Jan 13 10:32:19 -0800 2006 208085 0 Hungry Girl 3 208148 Crispy noodles or not, one of the beauties of ramen culture is the care and precision that goes into arranging the toppings. It is an art in itself. From the photo below from jatbar.com, it seems that the underwater presentation might be the norm, which is just wrong. Presentation aside, the broth is too weak here to make a good bowl of ramen. Link: http://www.jatbar.com/detail.asp?num=545 Image: http://www.jatbar.com/images/545-04.jpg Fri Jan 13 12:10:35 -0800 2006 208132 0 Melanie Wong