Restaurant: Tentenyu Ramen
Location: 2012 Sawtelle Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90025.
Date: August 9 & 23, 2016
Cuisine: Japanese Ramen
Rating: Rich!
Sawtelle seems to know no bounds with regard to Ramen! Already there is Tsujita, Tatsu, Daikokuya, and Shin Sen Gumi.
And now there is Kyoto chain Tentenyu! They have a nice patio very close to Tsujita Sushi and Miso 2012.
Tentenyu specializes in super thick chicken ramen. They don’t have a big menu, but offer up the basic version in both thin noodle classic ramen format and Tsukemen (which is my favorite at Tsujita).
There are even instructions on how to eat your Tsukemen (like at Tsujita).
The interior.
The small but steaming kitchen. Notice those crazy pressure cookers to the left for the broth.
Here is the fully loaded (with pork slices) version of the Tsukemen. Note too that this isn’t the super dense pork version at Tsujita, but a (mostly) chicken Tsukemen.
But it’s plenty dense. In fact, somehow, it might even be richer than the Tsujita pork version. The broth, like the densest chicken soup you never even thought existed also felt like about 8 egg yolks had been cracked into this tiny bowl.
The noodles too were thick, with a nice bite, and very very eggy. Good thing the meat wasn’t too fatty because the overall combination was insanely heavy. It did taste great though. Different than the pork type, but really quite good.
The “straight up” noodles in the broth (smaller noodles) version. Same basic chicken broth, same meat. Pickled vegetables on top.
Extra green onions.
There weren’t a lot of condiment options — like none, but there was the usual red pickles I love. And ramen sauce.
Overall I’ve only had these two very similar dishes — but they were good — Just so rich. Not a very big menu either. So I’ll have to come back occasionally. Too much good ramen to try!