Ramen rampage: Yakyudori Ramen

I know, ramen again. I've been eating it a lot recently. It doesn't help that we woke up Fourth of July morning starving, lazing, and craving noodles and it's apparently the only store open. It's one of the three ramen shops we have in San Diego, on Convoy street. Its mother store is a yakitori (grilled chicken/meats) store located in Hillcrest. The yakitori version was excellent but expensive like all Japanese foods. We go there for special occasion or when we have some money to blow (which is never). Anyway, Yakyudori ramen shop opened around the beginning of this year. The menu, shown above is a one-pager. They only sell ramen and a few appetizers. Normally, they wouldn't be my first choice when it comes to ramen, but they do have the lowest price and fastest service, an exceptional advantage for busy students.


Although our normal ramen preferences lies on the side of creamy and thick broths (miso or our favorite tonkotsu), we were in the mood for something lighter.

The Hungry Engineering Student ordered a shoyu (soy sauce) ramen for $6.50.

Extra noodles for the growing boy at $1.50 more.

My shio (salt) ramen for $7.00.

I must say, it tasted better than I remembered. I'm not sure if we were just so hungry or if the taste actually got better than the last time we were there. Yakyudori's soup base is different from Tajima and Santouka in that it is clear and unadulterated. It's simple yet flavorful. Compared to the creamy, oily Santouka soup, it's definitely healthier and more refreshing. It brought out the flavor of the toppings without interfering with it. I loved the chashu. It was not very fatty at all like the other stores, and the meat was perfectly juicy, tender yet firm... and don't even get me started on the egg. I usually don't like soft-boiled eggs because of the raw egg taste/smell and uneven runny-ness, but the ones here were so velvety and silky and not a bit raw tasting. I don't know how they got the yolk to be so evenly textured without hard-boiling it. Definitely a treat. I also loved the corn in my ramen, the perfect sweetness to balance out the salt.

Yakyudori ramen is your average, down to earth, comfort ramen. It's satisfying without being overwhelming. Its charm lies in its simplicity, and the homeyness makes up for it lack of spectacular wow-factors.