Food for Friday: Ramen Mottainai

Recently I had a hankering for some ramen. When you start eating good ramen it happens.



One of the nice things about where I live right now is the fact that there are some decent ramen shops here. Can't say that about a lot of places outside of Japan but can say that about here and Ramen Mottainai.



So come in and have a taste or two with me. And don't mind the samurai.





Some how I don't think it's normally this empty. Going in the middle of the afternoon on the weekend does have it's pluses.



Even with all those seats sitting at the counter feels like the best place to be.



Except you have to watch out for death there.



I was tempted to taste the homemade fruit vinegar even though I had nothing to try it on.



My cohart had to get the curry bowl. Some day he should start a curry blog. Seriously, when we were in Japan a few years ago every day he had curry. A country with so many good and curious things to eat and he has curry. That's dedication. As for Ramen Mottainai's curry, it reminded me of Curry House with a slight fruit flavor.



With his curry set he chose a nice bowl of shoyu ramen. He enjoyed it.



While I went for the Sapporo Miso Ramen. Because I love miso ramen.



This was a big bowl. It was pretty refreshing and definitely filling. I wished it was a different bit of pork in there since I don't normally eat pork except in ramen. When I do I like something a bit more than these little strips. There was also a lot of ground pork the further I got down in the bowl. Which left me desiring a bit of rice to mix in there. Now that would have been great to eat later on. Oh well.



This was a pretty good bowl of ramen. It leaves me wanting to try more different ones. Which is a good thing.



If I make it back here again I will have to catch a photo of the chef burning up the miso and such when they make the Sapporo Miso Ramen. It was unexpected and a nice bit of theater.


Here is Ramen Mottainai's web page. Ramen Mottainai in Gardena
I'd say if you want to get some shopping done at Marukai and are there when Ramen Mottainai is open it makes for a nice afternoon. They are in the same parking lot and Ramen Mottainai is just to the right of Marukai in the corner. There are a few other stores there like Book Off and a nice Sanrio shop.