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Friday, August 10, 2012

Ramen Yamadaya: Is it hot in here or is it just this blanket of bonito flakes?

Took a trip on up to Clairemont area today to try out Ramen Yamadaya. Who knows what possessed me to even want hot soup on a scorching day, but the Wife wasn't feeling so great so I figured this might help.

We entered the little Japanese joint and were immediately sat at a table. There is a small dining room and a nice open kitchen and a pretty big patio area. It was hot inside, but they have a large warehouse fan circulating the hot air so it's tolerable.

We started of by ordering the Takoyaki ( octopus fritters) they were very tasty, but there was way too much Kewpie mayo on them and they were hidden under a blanket of bonito flakes. There was at least one piece of octopus in each fritter, which is more than some places , and I even lucked out and got two pieces in one fritter!

Hidden Takoyaki balls

This is the Croquette bowl we got for the Kid and again it was covered in Kewpie mayo and blanketed under a snow drift of bonito flakes. The croquettes were delicately fried and actually had seasoned potatoes inside them. I snagged more than s few bites of this.

The Wife chose the regular Tonkatsu Ramen with added corn. There is a whole list of add ones you can choose from to make your own unique bowl of ramen. She like it , but said it was very greasy. I tried a spoonful and agreed that it was. The broth was very viscous and oily compared to most other ramen and the bamboo shoots had a tinny kind of chlorine taste like old salt.

My choice was the Tsukemen. Which is basically a bowl of ramen separated into two bowls. One bowl is the cold noddles, pork, boiled egg, and bamboo shoots and the other bowl is the broth or dipping sauce.

I have to say that this broth/dipping sauce was very delicious. It was a little salty, but with the little bit that gets on the noodles it works out well. There was little bits of what looked like beef jerky floating in the broth and were very tender. There was also a little spice to it.

Chowing down

This is literally a plateful of bonito flakes. This is what was left over from the top of the Takoyaki and Croquette bowl. It's probably a half inch of fluffy fish shavings.

The Wife's tummy wasn't feeling so hot when we left, so we grabbed a loaf of this French baguette from Cali Baguette Express on convoy. This is the holy grail of Vietnamese sandwich bread. It is handed to you warm and has a beautiful crust and the inside is probably what angel wings feel like. It's airy, chewy, fluffy and so many other words that wouldn't do it justice. This bread is like a fleeting dream running from the daylight as you wake up though, so it needs to be devoured at once, which shouldn't be a problem

Ramen Yamadaya

4706 Clairemont Mesa Blvd,
San Diego, CA 92117

Cali Baguette Express

4425 Convoy St, Ste 200A,
San Diego, CA 92111

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