candid lunch conversations over ramen soup noodles

Met up with Elijah Fan today over lunch, and had some great conversations. He’s a great hang out kind of guy, and loves the business operations side of things. He’d make a great XP (executive pastor) to compliment a visionary church planting leader type. Since I can’t blog about our conversations that was sworn to confidentiality, I’ll talk about where we ate.

We tapped into his foodie instincts and he took me to nearby Shin-Sen-Gumi Hakata Ramen Restaurant (right down the street from 2 places my extended family often frequents: Lucky Chinese Food and Mimi’s Cafe, in Fountain Valley). Finally a ramen bar that’s won me over! Delicious! And next time I’ll have to sit on their (pseudo) tatami mat area — in all my 40+ years, I’ve never done that. Here’s their official description of Hakata Ramen:

Hakata ramen originated in Hakata city located north west of Kyushu . The main characteristic of Hakata ramen is the white, thick soup that is made from pork bones, also called Tonkotsu (pork bone) soup/ramen. Some of the other differences in character it has from other types of ramen are thinner noodles, and the simple decorative toppings of cha-shu , chopped scallions, red colored ginger, and sesame seeds.

In our restaurants we use carefully selected Berkshire pork and filtered water. It is cooked for more than 15 hours with a strong flame from a commercial grade jet burner to make our unique Tonkotsu soup.

Some of you may think, Tonkotsu soup is just a soup, it can’t be difficult to make. soup is like a living thing that must be carefully monitored. The water level, temperature, and strength of the flame must be maintained in order to create the best consistency of coloring as well as taste. Otherwise we wouldn’t be able to open our restaurants, as it has happened a few times in the past. We take great pride in our work and food that we serve. We will not be second best!

The cha-shu we serve as one of our toppings, is also prepared and cooked using our secret sauce to bring out the taste.

The noodles are specially made to order from an outside source using our Shin-Sen-Gumi recipe. The noodles are thinner than the noodles that other restaurants use. Our noodles have a wholesome taste of true Hakata ramen noodles that no other noodle restaurants serve.

In our Hakata Ramen restaurants , you are asked to make some choices. Such as the hardeness of the noodles, thickness and richness of the soup to better suit your tastes. Since we do not offer extra large servings, we offer extra noodles for those who are not satisfied with one serving. It is best to ask for extra noodles before you finish your soup.