Katana-Ya, Ramen - San Francisco [Pictures]

LTH,

Tucked away amidst the bustle of tourist hotels Katana-Ya is a pocket size oasis specializing in inexpensive bowls of ramen. There's sushi, tempura and the ubiquitous Dragon Roll on offer, but judging from the ordering habits of locals and tables of Japanese businessmen, and women, ramen is the draw.

Katana-Ya


Shoyu with chashu was my ramen of choice, rich slightly oily, not a bad thing from my perspective, fair amount of thin, but not transparent, slices of roast pork nicely accented with scallions, bamboo shoots and seaweed. Though the pork was encircled with a bit of fat the overall effect was slightly dry, noodles were toothsome and, with, each passing bite, soaked in flavor from the broth without loosing texture. A solid bowl of ramen, if not the one of my Tampopo fueled dreams.

Shoyu Ramen w/Chashu


Three types of broth, soy, salt, miso and, in addition to ramen, udon and soba are available in a dizzying array of combinations, light, rich, cold, spicy, with the various flesh, veg and tofu offerings I estimate one has (approximately) 73,567 choices available.

While I did not avail myself of Monster, Spider, Creaky Crab Rolls or the like, I did have a couple of nicely done Saba (mackerel) and Hamachi (yellowtail). Katana-Ya goes old school Japanese ordering, with each nigiri order consisting of two pieces.

Saba, Hamachi


King of Thai Noodles is but a door or two down from Katana-Ya. I did not eat there, though on the surface it looks promising, particularly as it's open late, as is Katana-Ya.

King of Thai Noodles



Speaking of Ramen and the Bay area, next time I'm in Berkeley Amata's pick of Ramen House Roywa will be high on my list of must try.

Enjoy,
Gary

Katana-Ya
430 Geary St
San Francisco, CA 94102
415-771-1280

King of Thai Noodles
420 Geary St
San Francisco, CA 94102
415-346-3121

I ate at the Union Square location of King of Thai Noodle when I was in San Francisco and thought it was good. When I walked in, almost every customer in the place was Asian so I thought that was a good sign. The pad Thai and Thai tea did not disappoint.

I stayed in a hostel near here when I first came to SF. (Hostel Adelaide was cheap and clean with friendly staff and some really cool guests if your looking for a hostel in SF) I walked by 3 nights in a row and the place was packed with a line out the door so I had to try it. Got the miso ramen with fried chicken, I don't know if it was authentic or not but it was delicious.