Gardena Ramen (Gardena, CA)/Foo-Foo Tei (Hacienda Hgts, CA)

Gardena Ramen (Gardena, CA)



Gardena Ramen only serves 3 items: shoyu and miso ramen along with gyoza. Owner Nakamura-san clearly believes in perfecting his craft. I remember cracking up as I ate my ramen, along with the only other two solo patrons there, recreating our own little version of the noisy, ramen-slurplin’ scene in Tampopo!
His unctuous broth, made from a hybrid of chicken, pork, and seafood, is the highlight of their shoyu ramen. Its ever-so-slight viscosity created a nice “silky-lip” and had small oil beads or seabura on the surface. I believe MSG is used here. The bowl is chocked full of toothsome egg noodles. The Tamago was slightly cool when served and definitely overcooked and the Chashu was more brisket-like than anything. Even though it was dark pork, it still was a tad dry. The other toppings included menma (bamboo) and negi (scallion).
Overall, the broth stole the show. Although I prefer a thicker, richer tonkotsu-style soup, this shoyu ramen was elegant but has guts and complexity, being both subtly sweet and porky. Unfortunately, the other elements to this bowl didn’t match up to the level of this stellar broth.

Much like a tonkotsu-based broth in its cooking time, Nakamura-san boils his soup for up to 2 days.

Gardena Ramen
1840 W 182nd St
Torrance, CA
(310) 324-6993

***

Foo-Foo Tei Ramen (Hacienda Heights, CA)





Foo-Foo Tei has 31 frat paddles on their wall denoting the various types of ramen they offer such as menudo, nanchatte (curry), and the #17 “Just kidding” ramen, a tofu and honey-based soup that mimics in appearance a tonkotsu broth.
I opted for the conservative shio ramen. This was unlike any other “ramen” I had which I would describe this way: if you’re flu-ish and need some good chicken noodle soup, head to Foo-Foo Tei. This is the most steely-clean broth imaginable with nondescript undercooked, clumpy noodles and a “chashu” that looked and tasted more like a French galantine than a standard chashu. Yet, all components of this soup were high-quality and quite tasty.
Many patrons seemed motivated to get the Midori Calpico (green tea, calpico, and ice).

If you’re looking for a more traditional Japanese ramen experience, chances are you’ll be judging this place fairly negatively. Be prepared to wait in line; even on off-hours.

Foo-Foo Tei is not my type of place but I can easily see how it could be for others. Not enough grit.

Foo-Foo Tei
15018 Clark Ave
Hacienda Heights, CA
(626) 937-6585

Other Los Angeles ramen noodle shops:•

Hakata Shin Sen Gumi Ramen
Umemura Ramen & Shisen Ramen
Shin Mama Ramen
Daikokuya Ramen
Chin-ma-ya Ramen
Santouka Ramen
Asa Ramen

Man, that looks good.

I just had dinner at Foo Foo Tei this evening. Funny, my friends actually live right down the road on the other side of Seventh Ave!

I prefer shoyu ramen to judge a ramen-ya. Some places tend to produce a very salty broth. Foo Foo Tei has a lighter hand with the shoyu broth, which I prefer. We were sharing the ramen so I added an extra egg and extra menma (bamboo shoots)



Perfect soft yolks on the eggs, cha-su was meltingly soft... The noodles were obviously not hand-made, but were still silky smooth and did not clump at all. No overpowering baking soda-y taste either.

Not the best ramen I've had. But not too bad at all. We also ordered 2 side dishes:

Clams steamed with sake


Meh... The clams tasted a little wierd. Katsu's is waaay better!

Grilled squid


Perfectly grilled. With little bits of charred squid-y goodness! The sauce was a sweet tangy soy-based sauce. I will return just for this squid...

Return visits are definitely in order to try the other stuff on the menu. Especially the small dishes section of the menu. I noticed a plate of tempura being served to another table and it looked perfect!