Andrew Zimmern may actually be right about Menya Ultra serving the best ramen in the country! I mean, not that I ever doubt such a reputable food travel host and chef, but it’s another experience to taste it for yourself and suddenly realize that this IS the best ramen I have ever tasted. Would you have ever guessed that it would be San Diego to house the best ramen ever?? Time to make a trip! 🙂
Mental note: I was warned about the 2-3 hour wait for ramen and this fact alone may reinforce just how good it is. The best way to avoid such a long wait time (especially on weekends) is to come at least 30 minutes before it opens because at the 30min mark, someone will leave out a sign in sheet for you to make your name and how many. At this point, I was #1 and walked over to Daiso to browse around until 11am. People quickly crowded around the restaurant and a large line already formed. 🙂 Glad I went early! So I would like to say I waited approximately 40min for ramen.
At each table and bar seat, they supply a hand fan for you to personally fan yourself. Awesome little detail.
The ramen here is made by Master Takashi Endo who is a Japanese ramen chef from Japan with already 9 operating eateries in Japan and 2 in Taiwan. His first ramen shop was opened in Akita in 1994. He opened a location in San Diego with with the hopes of introducing the American tongue to authentic Japanese ramen. This means MSG-free pork tonkotsu broth simmered for hours on end, freshly made bouncy ramen noodles from a special wheat in Hokkaido and the most tender yet thinly sliced cuts of chasu pork. The special care and attention into these three only elements of ramen make this ramen the BEST ramen.
A small taster of gyoza. Freshly pan fried to crispy on one side. Juicy meats on the inside.
Tonkotsu Ajitama Ramen – pork broth, extra seasoned boiled egg, 1 slice of pork chasu, stir-fried bean sprouts, green onions (without), Chinese wood-ear mushrooms, and roasted sesame seeds. This is the egg-y version of their basic tonkotsu ramen. The only difference is the added egg, which is extremely soft. The cooked egg whites are very soft, velvety, smooth and delicate. The egg yolk is very runny. The pork broth, noodles and chasu pork is another story on a different level..
Tonkotsu Chasu Ramen – pork broth, 6 slices of pork chasu, stir-fried bean sprouts, green onions, Chinese wood-ear mushrooms, and roasted sesame seeds. This is just another variation of the simple tonkotsu ramen, but it looks and tastes more epic because of the amount of chasu pork added in. The pork broth is out of this world. The insane amount of light and savory buttery taste in the broth appears itself as a soft and silky and smooth milky consistency. There are no words to describe how pork broth can melt even further in my mouth. You just got to try it for yourself too!! The noodles are made fresh daily on site out of Hokkaido wheat to give it the bouncy texture when you slurp them up. And the chasu pork is definitely the most tender and soft thinly slices of chasu I have ever tried.
You just need to deliver good broth, noodles and pork to give a decent bowl of ramen, but Master Endo mastered each element to perfection.
I would drive back down to San Diego in a heartbeat to just eat this ramen again. It is worth the drive and the wait. I luckily didn’t have to wait that long, but I can imagine that the long wait would just add onto the unthinkable experience of a simple bowl of ramen.
