Ramen Dojo

In my lifetime I have tried three ramen places: Ajisen Ramen, Isshin Ramen, and Ramen Yamadaya. Ajisen was a nice introduction to ramen; super plentiful in noodles but a little lacking on soup taste. Isshin was a freakin disaster! It was so bad I thought I blogged about how bad it was and now realizing I didn't because I was that disappointed. Then there was Yamadaya with the starchy broth, soft noodles, and killer karaage (that was soooooo umami!!!)

Now, Ramen Dojo. Dojo was recommended by a friend of mine. As I looked up information about the place I was completely sold. Looked a little run down but had huge personality. It took a few months to plan this trip and I was a little nervous. My friend also told me there was a wait to get inside. . . like up to an hour wait. A wait that long tells me it must be the bee's knees.

Located in near the outskirts of Downtown San Mateo, it's a place which can almost be easily missed. I say "almost" because there was a simplistic sign. Nothing colorful or gigantic to draw eyes to the establishment.

Anthony and I got there about 20 minutes before it opened for lunch and there was already a line!! There was about 15 people ahead of us and I was ubber worried I was not going to make the cut. 10 minutes before the doors opened someone came out and took party numbers and handed out menus. 5 minutes before opening they took orders and as they opened up they were already seating people left and right flawlessly. A little like Tetris, knocking out one party at a time.

The place was small and I counted 30 people when it became full; that is including Anthony and I. Small restaurant but was it everything I read and heard about?  The anticipating was eating at me. We ordered garlic pork ramen (one mild-spicy, one non-spicy) and boiled gyoza. I added extra chashu, a boiled egg, and extra noodles to my non-spicy ramen. The couple next to us received their ramen and then the party on the other side. Ahh! My mouth was drooling, so hungry. Then our gyoza arrived; it was a tease! So delicious in the ponzu sauce and the picked radish gave it a clean-finish taste. It tasted as though I was in Japan; I've never been to Japan. I did watch and finished about 25 different animes; I would consider it some understanding of the environment and culture of Japan. One of the real staples of Japan is ramen; moment of truth.

I had this vision of the perfect bowl of ramen and it was sitting 4 inches away from me. First thing I noticed, it was HOT! Yes! Fresh broth, nothing lying in a pot cooling down. The broth was a tsunami hitting my taste buds, it almost made me shudder. The noodles were EVERYTHING I imagined it would be. It was firm, it was elastic, it had a bite of flavor to it. OH MY GOODNESS these noodles cuddled with my mouth and told it sweet nothings. The chashu fell a part and with the noodles it was a perfect combination. There was also a quail egg which I should have tore apart instead of eating it in one go, roasted garlic cloves which went great with the noodles, the mushrooms were incorporated evenly throughout the noodles, and the greens were icing on the cake.

I DEVOURED THAT BOWL! I felt I was in an anime. This bowl of ramen was how I pictured what the characters of animes eat; I was transformed into an anime character. Hands down this was THE BEST ramen ever. Ever, ever! Anthony even stated after we left, "I felt like Naruto." Apparently Naruto eats a lot of ramen.

For a small place, it packs a punch in flavor and supreme quality of ramen noodles. Ramen Dojo is a restaurant which perfectly represents ramen in all its finest qualities. Ramen is so simplistic yet it's a huge process. I deem this place everything I want in ramen and more. The price of all this foodgasm was about $42 dollars  (two bowls with extra toppings, gyoza, and a soda).

With Dojo right in the backyard of San Francisco you don't have to travel half-way around the world to enjoy authentic ramen.