the ramen tour.

back in march, my friend c and i were having dinner at chin-ma-ya of tokyo in gardena. it was a cool night, the kind of weather that makes you want to eat a big bowl of soup. it was my first time there, and she explained to me that their signature ramen is tan tan men, it's good, and that we'd get to choose how spicy we'd want our broth. at the time i was trying to get over a cold, so i opted for spice level one, since i wasn't sure what to expect and what effect it would have on my nose and throat. it wasn't quite what i had thought it would be, but tasty nonetheless. for those of you that are curious, their spice meter for their tan tan men goes up to three, and their soup is kind of thick. as you can see in the picture below, it's topped off with spinach, soboro (seasoned ground pork), and menma (seasoned bamboo shoots).



this meal actually became the "warm up" for our ramen tour -- we decided that we'd hit the noodle shops close to our home digs. we verbally put together a rough draft list of the shops we wanted to check out. anything new to both of us went to the top of the list, then shops that only one of us had been to after those, and anything we had both tried previously rounded out the list. we both like noodles in salty soups - and we both have our preferences, and to be honest, ramen isn't one of mine. i much prefer udon or pho over ramen. but the idea of going to eat ramen - some in shops that at least i'd never been to, was appealing. i could add them to the list of places i'd been to, and of course, slurp bowls of noodles in a steamy, salty, and sometimes fatty, soup with a very good friend. as she was prepapring for a big milestone in her life, we decided that we'd start our tour after that event was done. and thus, a few weeks ago, we began our project tour.

our first stop was gardena ramen - located on the southwest corner of western avenue and 182nd street. (sorry, we were both so hungry we didn't take any pics!) c had been there many times for lunch before. it was my first time. she had told me beforehand that their menu was very minimal. and it was. they offer up shoyu ramen, miso ramen, gyoza, and hiyashi chuka - which is a cold ramen dish. for a dollar more you can double your noodles. she got the shoyu, i got the miso, and we shared an order of gyoza. it was just a simple bowl of noodles, with a great chewy texture, and the gyoza has been my favorite out of all the stops on our tour thus far as i write this. the filling was flavorful, and the gyoza skin was crisp and chewy.

i don't know how soon i'd go back for the ramen, tho. while good, it isn't great - but they are certainly a good value for the money. $6.50 will buy you a bowl of ramen, a decent portion at that. the yelp reviews are mixed and even my friend said that chashu on top has been off in her past experience. but at $10 for each of us, including tax and tip, it's been the cheapest shop on our list so far. but i'm sure part of the reason is because their menu has also been the most minimal.

chin-ma-ya of tokyo * 18537 western ave. * gardena, ca 90248

gardena ramen * 1840 w. 182nd street * torrance, ca 90504