Ryowa – 09.05.2009

Ryowa Ramen House
859 Villa St
Mountain View, CA

Mountain View may be known for HQ’ing Google but I’ll always remember it for Ryowa Ramen.  An hour was about all the time we had before the start of a friend’s wedding and craving ramen as we were, nothing was going to stop us from getting our fix.  DD and I hurriedly found the store and rushed in after parking.  Thankfully there was no line that Saturday afternoon and we wasted no time in seating ourselves at the “bar”.  Simple japanese style efficiency was the layout, typical of many ramen houses; with few tables with bar & stool seating snaking through the dining area, we were seated by a very cute waitress.

Oh the textures and layers…

While I am partial to Miso Ramen, I felt I had to try the Sesame ramen named after the restaurant with a side of pork gyoza.  The fried dumplings came out first.  They looked and smelled great but after the first bite we both realized, SALTY!  It was overpowering, even for this asian tongue.  The dumplings were homemade, but they were saltier than salt.  Dump these dumplings.

The ramen came out and it smelled and looked glorious.   Check out the gargantuan ladle of a spoon.  After savoring the rich aroma and snapping quick pictures with my trembling hand, I dove in.  Sugoiiiii.  Man this was good.  It was savory and salty and smooth, reminiscent of miso ramen.  Maybe I was really hungry but I devoured the ramen without tasting much sesame.  Eating salty noodle soup with salty pickled cabbage sounds ludicrous but the ramen and kimchi work together.  What else can contrast the fatty broth but spicy acidic cabbage?  Surprisingly, they offered two kinds of kimchi and they were both darn good.  This ramen rawked and I would definitely go back, to not only gawk at the waitresses but also to slurp some noodles and grab a cool Ryowa t-shirt.

Ryowa Sesame Ramen (Point of view from my eyeballs to yours)

(Leaning in close, heat rises from the bowl and hits the face)

(uncovering the delicious noodles; sniff the steaming broth)

Good
The Ryowa sesame ramen, and it’s only $7.50!
Not one but two kinds of killa kimchi

Bad
One bite of the pork gyoza will give you a weeks worth of sodium
The egg in the soup was overcooked and dry, I like runny ramen eggs.

Ugly
Sweating through my dress shirt from the hot ramen and spicy kimchi

- Ramen club CEO

Kimich should always look this good.