619355 Tue May 12 15:47:46 -0700 2009 7 1 San Francisco Bay Area 0 4677941 After reading a preview copy of Chowhound Andy Raskin’s “The Ramen King and I: How the Inventor of Instant Noodles Fixed My Love Life”, I naturally had a craving for some GOOD ramen. It brought to mind everything I’d learned from Andy about ramen and Japanese food in our years here on the site. My last couple forays in the local ramen world had been fair-to-middling, too Chinese-y and not that satisfying, as I attempt to rate the newish places that have cropped up. Where to find something quintessentially Japanese and not watered down for Californian tastes? Then I remembered Ajisen Noodle in Fremont, the local branch of a Japanese ramen chain, http://ajisensf.com/ramen.html . It’s been on my list to try for over a year now, and my next trip over the bridge, I popped in for an early dinner. Hearing the Ajisen staff converse with each other in Japanese was reassuring to me. Specialty ramen bowls come in two sizes, starting at $9.95 for “small”, which is on the high side. I was expecting prices more like Ringer Hut, another Japanese chain represented locally. But a small bowl turned out to be more substantial that other places serve, and for the quality, totally worth it. Not knowing that the spare rib ramen is the specialty here, I ordered the “premium pork” ramen because the topping in the photos looked like bacon cut to me. I queried my waitress about it, and she called it, “half fat, half meat.” I added the karaage and rice lunch set option for an extra $2.50, at this unbusy hour the kitchen was happy to honor the request. http://www.flickr.com/photos/melaniewong/3471404339/ For the Premium pork ramen I picked the tonkotsu (pork bone) stock with handmade noodles. The bowl was topped with a daunting pile of thin slices of pork belly, cabbage, green onions, slivered carrots, and no bamboo shoots (yay!). The thin, firm noodles reminded of the housemade ones at Maru Ichi. I loved the roasted then stir-fried pork belly though it was too rich to possibly finish. I’d had this style of pork at Do-Henkotsu before, and wasn’t that inspired by it, but this was a whole different execution. The thin shavings of pork were so tender and delicate, not an adjective often associated with pork belly. But I can’t think of any other way to describe the subtle flavors of pork’s natural sweetness, roasted essence and supporting seasoning combined with a buttery softness that melted in the mouth. The tonkotsu stock had the characteristic Japanese brininess mingled with roasted porcine depth. With some greasy blotches on the surface, this was not the milky elixir of Santa nor the thick, gut-buster of Halu’s version, and I’m sure not as overpowering as the Ramen Jiro (page 57) that wiped out Andy’s gall bladder. Yet, it managed to deliver good intensity of flavor while being restrained and easy to sip. My one ding of this bowl would be that the cabbage and carrots were raw, and would have been better with some singe of the wok. http://www.flickr.com/photos/melaniewong/3471404337/ The karaage was delicious too with a crunchy crust, juicy marinated dark thigh meat, and deeply resonant with garlic and ginger. The style is similar to the chicken that Do-Henkotsu used to make. With this performance Ajisen Noodle weighs in at #7 in the ramen rankings. I’ll be back to try the spare rib ramen. PERSONAL RAMEN RANKING 1. Ramen Halu, 375 Saratoga Ave Ste M, San Jose 2. Santouka @ Mitsuwa Hokkaido Festival, 675 Saratoga Ave, San Jose 3. Santa, 805 S B St, San Mateo (pre-move) 4. Himawari, 202 2nd Ave, San Mateo 5. Maru Ichi, 368 Castro St, Mountain View 6. Izakaya Mai, 212 2nd Avenue, San Mateo 7. Ajisen Noodle, 47890 Warm Springs Blvd, Fremont 8. Ryowa, 859 Villa St, Mountain View 9. Tanto, 1063 E El Camino Real, Sunnyvale 10. Do-Henkotsu House of Tokushima Ramen, 4330 Moorpark Ave, San Jose (closed) 11.Gen Ramen, 47890 Warm Springs Blvd, Fremont (closed) 12.Izakaya Restaurant, 1335 N 1st St, San Jose 13.BY Grill, 3226 Geary Blvd, San Francisco (closed) 14.Norikonoko, 2556 Telegraph Ave, Berkeley 15.Hana, 4320 Moorpark, San Jose 16.Katanaya, 430 Geary Blvd., San Francisco 17.Masa's Sushi, 400 San Antonio Road, Mountain View 18.Gochi, 19980 Homestead Rd, Cupertino 19.Oyaji, 3123 Clement St, San Francisco 20.Sanmi, 3226 Geary Blvd, San Francisco 21.Maru Ichi, 530 Barber Lane, Milpitas 22.Halu Restaurant, 312 8th Ave, San Francisco 23.Hatcho, 1271 Franklin Mall, Santa Clara 24.Kahoo, 4330 Moorpark Ave, San Jose 25.Tomoe, 810 3rd St, San Rafael (closed) 26.Ringer Hut, 1072 Saratoga Ave, San Jose 27.Watami Shabu Shabu and Ramen, 5344 Geary Blvd, San Francisco 28.Kumako, 211 E. Jackson Street, San Jose 29.Japanese Restaurant Hoshi, 246 Saratoga Avenue, Santa Clara 30.Ramen Club, 723 California Dr, Burlingame 31.Ryowa, 2068 University Ave, Berkeley (after ownership change) 32.King Won Ton, 1936 Irving St, San Francisco 33.Tazaki Sushi, 3420 Judah St, San Francisco 34.Ramen Rama, 19774 Stevens Creek Blvd, Cupertino (closed) 35.Ogi-San Ramen, 10789 Blaney Ave, Cupertino (closed) 36.Kaimuki Grill, 104 S El Camino Real, San Mateo 37.Tanto, 1306 Saratoga Ave, San Jose 38.Okazu Ya SF (Noriega), 2445 Noriega St, San Francisco 39.King's Garden Ramen, 39055 Cedar Blvd, Newark (closed) 40.Sushi Bistro, 445 Balboa St, San Francisco 41.Genki Ramen, 3944 Geary Blvd, San Francisco 42.Mitsuwa Hokkaido festival booth, 675 Saratoga Ave, San Jose 43.Lakuni, 325 E 4th Ave, San Mateo 44.100% Healthy Desserts, 1155 Taraval St., San Francisco 45.Mifune, 1737 Post St, San Francisco 46.H2A Noodle, 42318 Fremont Blvd., Fremont (closed) 47.Iroha, 1728 Buchanan St, San Francisco 48.Miraku Noodles, 2131 N Broadway, Walnut Creek 49.Manpuku, 2977 College Ave, Berkeley 50.Tanpopo, 1740 Buchanan Street, San Francisco 51.Sushi Yoshi, 39261 Cedar Blvd, Newark 52.La Shang Niang Ramen (OEC), 42 Dixon Rd, Milpitas 53.Oidon, 71 E. 4th Avenue, San Mateo 54.Taraval Okazu Ya, 1735 Taraval St., San Francisco 55.Suzu Noodle House, 1581 Webster Street, San Francisco 56.Fresh Taste, 2107 El Camino Real, Palo Alto 57.Sapporo-ya, 1581 Webster St, San Francisco 58.Tokyo Ramen, 678 Barber Lane, Milpitas (closed) 59.Kamakura, 2549 Santa Clara Ave, Alameda 60.Mama-san!, 312 8th Ave, San Francisco (closed) 61.Katana-ya Ramen, 10546 San Pablo Ave, El Cerrito 62.Hotei, 1290 9th Ave, San Francisco 63.Bear's Ramen House, 2521 Durant, Berkeley http://www.andyraskin.com/appearances.html Tue May 12 15:47:46 -0700 2009 10039 Melanie Wong 1 4678454 Thanks for the report Melanie. I didn't know about the homemade noodles, otherwise I would've made it there as well! Tue May 12 18:46:12 -0700 2009 4677941 11940 DezzerSF 2 4686984 The syntax on the menu was unclear, so I asked my waitress if the noodles were handmade. She said "yes", but I'm not certain that she understood my drift. Worth asking again when you go. Ajisen has been around longer than I thought, two years now. I looked up our chowpal tanspace's reports, and found this from his second visit a year ago. Based on the pork rib ramen, he places Ajisen in the #2 slot, second only to Ramen Halu. http://eat.tanspace.com/2008/03/24/paiku-%E6%8E%92%E9%AA%A8-pork-ribs-ramen-at-ajisen-ramen/ Fri May 15 10:58:08 -0700 2009 4678454 10039 Melanie Wong 3 4687190 Surprised you liked it as much as you did. I went to the Freemont branch a while back and found everything a bit too salty the premium pork was dry and the soup was too cold. My wife and I had such a bad experience there that we never went back. The LA branch in the SGV was much better even though it's run by Chinese staff. Reading your review though, I'm willing to give Freemont Ajisen another chance next time we're over there. Fri May 15 11:55:25 -0700 2009 4686984 44121 bab4 4 4687212 Sorry to hear that. There's so much bad, dry pork, belly or otherwise, served on ramen, this was so different and special. Hope my experience wasn't a one-off. I was there about 5:30pm on a Sunday and there were hardly any other customers, if that makes a difference. Fri May 15 12:02:25 -0700 2009 4687190 10039 Melanie Wong 4 4773090 They changed owners, so the quality is really good from what it used to be. Melanie tried Ajisen at a very good time. That tender rib ramen really is something else, with huge chunks of soft tendon and collagen and great meat. Sun Jun 14 21:45:04 -0700 2009 4687190 109355 cerealpancakes 5 4774581 Thanks for the background info. Guess I'm lucky I didn't go right away. Can't wait to try the rib ramen. Mon Jun 15 11:33:20 -0700 2009 4773090 10039 Melanie Wong 1 4932043 Second time to Ajisen Ramen. We went for dinner on Sat 8/8/09. It was a hot day but we still went. They have A/C but when you're eating ramen it still make you HOT & sweaty. We got: pickled veggies $2.98 - 3 different pickled veggies, tasted ok. cold tofu $2.98 - 4 small cubes of tofu w/ some ginger & fish flakes. Fine. hand made tender ribs noodle S 9.95/ L 11.45. I got large and it was very filling. 4 huge chunks of meat (some too dry & tough) w/ noodles, soup, cabbage, & some carrots. No sprouts or bamboo shoots - yay. hand made premium pork noodle S 9.95/ L 11.45. Hubby got this and I liked the pork better. He liked this broth better than mine. He got extra side of bamboo shoots $1.5 more. They have a Cold Noodle special for the summer. S 8.45/ L 9.95 CASH ONLY One unisex bathroom in the back. Hrs: Closed Mon Tu-Sun 11:30-2pm; 5:30-9p In the back of the Galleria strip mall. My pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/hiketoomuch/AjisenNoodleFremont?feat=email# Sun Aug 09 21:05:31 -0700 2009 4677941 10677 hhc