314 E. 2nd St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 687-4972
Koraku, Kouraku, or Ko-raku. Is there a purpose for the inconsistent translation of their name throughout the restaurant? All I ask is that it doesn't translate over to their ramen! Today I decided to take a trip downtown since I've pretty much conquered OC (at least for the time being). After finding a place to park and overcoming the initial nostalgia of playing in Little Tokyo as a child, I walked on over to the ramen-ya closest to the parking lot--Ko.u.ra.ku. I'm sure that I've been here before but for what it's worth, I couldn't remember.
Shoyu-ramen: I've had better and I've had worse. The soup base was a bit on the strong side and even left the yellowish noodle stained brown. Could this be an inconsistency? I guess I'll have to go back again to know for sure. Anyway, the noodle texture was good and the toppings (egg, chashu, moyashi, menma, and negi) were simply average. Nothing to cry nor scream about. I think I'll try a different ramen the next time. Perhaps the mabo or the tonkotsu.
Gyoza: I've never found it odd for an order of gyoza to arrive 15 minutes after my ramen (this is usually the case), but to arrive 15 minutes before?...now that is odd! Especially since these arrived just seconds after I ordered. Were they declined by another customer? Do they mass cook gyoza anticipating their orders? Or do they cook them in the morning and just nuke 'em during lunch? I'm not exactly sure how it works and quite frankly, I don't care. Their existence was quick and short lived. I'll have to order the chahan next time!
hey - this was one of my past time places to eat ramen. so-so, there are better downtown, huh?
ReplyDeleteat least they have saporo!
Their sukiyaki is fantastic, and they'll actually serve raw egg with it if you ask! yum.
ReplyDeleteNice. Thx for the rec j!
ReplyDeleteI still think this is the best "greasy spoon" restaurant in J Town. Food is average but atmosphere late at night witha a few bargirls usually popping in for entertainment. Gyoza is alot better than Daikokuya. Good variety of foods like Mom cooked.
ReplyDeleteLOVE their chahan, you really need to go and try that.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kristy! I've had the chahan at the Sherman Oaks location and it was pretty good too.
ReplyDeleteThey open till 3 am in the morning so become my favorite place to chow after 12 am. Many LAPD there after shift there too so its safe to sit in in downtown LA. But one day in Jan 2010 after picking my friends from LAX, we were craving for ramen so went there about 11:30 pm; the ladies told us that they are closed not even without say sorry. I said the sign only says closed at 3 am but they responded that they closed 12am on Sunday. Had to walk back to the restaurant to make a complain and make sure that they were not being rubbed...
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