いらっしゃいませ!

Welcome to my ramen dream... Currently being interpreted in Ramen Burger Land... Looking for a good slurp? Email me ! - Keizo

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Orochon Ramen - Los Angeles, CA

123 Astronaut E. S. Onizuka St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 617-1766

Whenever I hear someone talk about Orochon ramen, it's almost always about the "Special 2" ramen and the "wall of bravery" or the nine levels of spiciness. Rarely do I hear anything about the actual quality of ramen. Although I still plan to take the challenge one day, this day was just meant for unveiling the truth behind all the gimmicks.

Shoyu-ramen (Level 4 - Orochon): Level 4 is the signature Orochon ramen. It's your average shoyu-ramen with a little (or lot depending on your taste) spiciness added. To get straight to the point, I do not understand this ramen nor its concept. And I don't understand what all the hype is about and why this place is usually packed. Maybe I'm just old school. I like spicy foods, but I also like it when spicy foods have character. The soup was so bland that it was almost like drinking spicy salt water. The noodles were even worse. They had a tough undercooked feel that tasted pasty. The toppings (pork, menma, negi, konbu, and bellpeppers) were sparse and just odd. I've never seen bellpeppers in a shoyu-ramen before. Now I'm not sure if I even want to try the "Special 2" ramen. Not because I don't think I can survive the spiciness, but because I don't think I can survive the bland ugliness. I wonder if they'll let me try the challenge with ramen from Daikokuya!


Gyoza: These oddly-shaped shumai-like gyoza were juicy and full of flavor. A good way to extinguish any minor flare-ups.

5 comments:

  1. Hi Keizo,

    I would have to agree with you about Orochon. Everyone absolutely raves about this place so I gave it a try the other day. I tried Level 4 and I thought it was pretty ordinary, at best. The gyozas were pretty good but certainly didn’t live up to the hype. I’ll give it another try someday but for now, Daikokuya will do : - P

    Hirono

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  2. hmm...I had completely different opinion..I also had the level 4, and I think the soup had a lot of interesting flavors, and the noodle was well cooked, not too soft and not too hard.
    Maybe it was different when I tried it?

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  3. Maybe I just went on a bad day...I'll try it again some day.

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  4. You have to get miso ramen with chashu here. Shoyu is not their thing.
    Miso 4 with chashu is great.

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  5. Thanks brybry! I'll give it a try the next time I get back to LA!

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