SHIN-SEN-GUMI HAKATA RAMEN - LOS ANGELES, CA

I am a big fan of ramen, I don't have a favorite restaurant but my favorite type would be Hakata ramen. Speaking of Hakata, the two big representative are Ichiran and Ippudo. I ate the original Ippudo and Ichiran when I visited Fukuoka a few years ago and they were AMAZING! (But tbh, a lot of random ramen joints in Japan are BOMB!) After arriving in LA and realizing they don't have neither of those chains, you must know I am disappointed. I tried a few ramen place and some were not bad, Shin-sen-gumi is one of the better ones for sure.

Maybe I am bias because I am just a big fan of Hakata ramen in general. We went on a Saturday afternoon around 12pm and waited around 20 minutes and we go to sit by the bar! It was fun to watch them prepare for the ramen in the open kitchen. However, I was quite surprised that actually there was only ONE chef to prepare the ramen, everyone else was just preparing the other side dishes. The interior was very nice, they used a ramen strainer for the lights which was very creative!

The ramen was delicious! I hate it when my ramen soup base is oily, so I was glad I was able to choose the level of oiliness in the soup base. I can drink the whole soup without feeling heavy! The noodle was just the right texture and my favorite bamboo shoots on the side was great. The only thing disappointing about the ramen is the egg. I am very critical of my ramen egg, they should be soft-boiled Japanese-style. I want them to be hard and marinated on the outside, with a soft middle and molten center. Unfortunately, this was not the egg I hoped for. Nevertheless, I would still go back there and have their ramen! Maybe next time, I will not order an egg though.

Address:

132 S Central Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90012