Last night my sister introduced me to Iki Ramen near her apartment in Los Angeles. It’s a small Japanese restaurant that serves ramen and sushi. Ramen includes a variety of soup and dry ramen called mazemen.
To start off, the restaurant is located on a plaza with its own parking lot that’s free! Now that is rare in my book when it comes to eating in LA, especially so close to Koreatown. The parking lot was super crowded and I got insanely lucky that someone decided to leave right in front of me!!
I wanted to get the soup tonkotsu ramen and my sister decided to try the dry ramen. We wanted to share some sushi. They have what they call it “grab hand roll” where they present the nigiri separately from the seaweed and you basically grab your sushi and put onto your piece of seaweed so that when you do decide to eat it your seaweed is still fresh..
Premium grab hand rolls. Grab hand roll served with special nori from saga prefecture located on the island of Kyushu, Japan. 2 pieces each of Bluefin Toro, Hokkaido Scallop and Sea Urchin, Creamy Salmon Truffle, A5 Miyazaki Wagyu. Although all were good, my favorite was the creamy salmon truffle. It might be because I’m biased with truffle and creamy textures. The toro was very fresh. The scallop and had a strong sense of the sea with light citrus from the yuzu. Wagyu was also very tender and light.
Burnt Garlic Tonkotsu Ramen. Rich shoyu seasoned pork bone broth, pork belly, egg, kikurage, sweet corn, scallions, nori. Delicious rich and creamy broth! The pork belly was very fatty and tender. I loved the crunchy texture the mushrooms bring in contract. Very garlicky!
Uni Mazemen. Temomi ramen noodle , sea urchin sauce, dashi ikura, truffle oil, ao-nori. A dry noodle concept with thick ramen noodles designed for the sauce to cling into. The uni taste was very mild. Noodles are al dente. The salmon eggs add a light saltiness to it.
Shio Koji Ice Cream. I didn’t know what this was so I wanted to order it. It’s basically a common ingredient in Japan that enhances an umami flavor. Also topped with some crunchy rice grains. The taste is similar to salted caramel. Very yummy!
This restaurant is also vegan friendly because they have some vegan ramen options with impossible proteins for those with friends who are vegan! Definitely a must try if you’re craving ramen!
