Another trip to Wagaya Ramen, another post. I’ve been coming to Wagaya basically since they opened and it was a nice little ramen shop run by a couple. The wife would work front of the house and it was just a nice friendly restaurant. I can’t quite put my finger on it now, the food is still good but it’s lost a bit of it’s charm? They are quite popular so they have a lot of hired help and the waitress I had during this visit, felt like she couldn’t be bothered that we were dining there. No smile, no enthusiasm, rushing us to order. Never checking on us. It was a bit sad to see, they’ve lost the comfort feeling I used to love. I will say their ramen is still one of my favorites but the service has much left to be desired.

Chili Cucumbers | $4.75
chili spiced japanese cucumbers

I always love chili cucumbers! Nicely seasoned, not too spicy.

Gyoza | $6.50
japanese style pork, cabbage and chive gyoza. prepared pan-fried.

Can’t go wrong with gyoza.

Calamari | $8.75
tender japanese squid in aonori tempura served with shoyu aioli

One of my favorite appetizers, nicely breaded, seasoned and fried. I like the aioli too!

Potato Mochi | $6.25
potato with mochiko, tossed in a sweet shoyu butter glaze and wrapped in nori

My brothers love this so this was all them. Gobbled up!

Tan Tan Men | $15.95
rich sesame broth is perfectly balanced with mild spice and miso ground pork. topped with ground pork miso, 2pc char siu, half a soft-boiled egg, choi sum, sesame, nori and shredded chili.

Garlic Wagaya Ramen (Kuro) | $14.95
our classic tonkotsu ramen is kicked up a notch with garlic. our most popular ramen! topped with 2pc char siu, a soft-boiled egg, choi sum, kikurage mushroom, sesame seeds, nori, green onion, and fried garlic bits.

This is the ramen I always get. I think I neeed to stop getting the black garlic oil on ramen, too rich for me. Very tasty though. I order it level 3 spicy, I can’t handle that much spice and also they start charging past level 3 (lol).

Okay, I tried Noods Ramen Bar back in March so please forgive my memory. Their play on words in their title is funny, a little crass but I don’t mind it. They have shirts that read send noods (haha). We gave this place a try for an early dinner one day, they weren’t that busy but it was definitely a rough start for service. When we were finally serviced, the food came out pretty quick and they were around enough for us not to be mad.

Truffle Shoyu Ramen | $16.00
shoyu based broth, green onion, chashu pork, aji tamago, menma, nori, truffle oil and truffle powder

Not my dish but I remember being told it wasn’t truffle-y enough.

Black Garlic Tonkotsu Ramen | $14.00
pork bone based broth, green onion, chashu pork, aji tamago, menma, nori, sesame seeds, garlic chips, and black garlic oil

I ordered this as level 3 spicy, I wanted extra choy sum or should I say just choy sum in general so I coughed up an extra $1.00. I think the ramen was good, nothing great again. I guess I am just biased with Wagaya huh?

Garlic Fried Rice | $4.00
house made garlic fried rice (vegan)

This was the dish I wanted to try the most. Crazy yeah? But any dish with choke garlic and rice is for me. This did not disappoint. I could just eat this and be satisfied. CAN’T GO WRONG WITH GARLIC AND RICE.

I was scrolling through Instagram and one of the folks I follow talked about Kamukura Ramen, a new ramen joint that opened up in Ala Moana at the Lanai Food Court. This user is a Japanese chef and mentioned that the fried rice they serve is the closest to the fried rice he has had in Japan ramen shops so you know that got me thinking, wanting, and GETTING it. I came this past weekend at about 11, no long line but definitely had orders already. A good sign was a table next to me had three guys from Japan going for it. I wonder if they liked it.

This blog entry may turn into a…I tried it so you don’t have to because their dishes are kind of pricey. Let’s just say I paid nearly $35 for a ramen combo. It’s hard to feel good about this purchase especially since it is located in a food court, does that sound snobby? I am not used to spending this much for ramen. Well how was it?

Ramen * Gyoza * Drink * Fried Rice Combo | $29.99 + $2.99
white cabbage, pork, roasted pork

Now, this combo is with the most basic ramen they have. If you want to get an upgraded ramen (for example, I wanted the egg – you have to pay the difference). I have to say, all the pictures include nice greens in the bowls but my bowl did not come with chives or green onions and if you wanted to add, you have to pay more. $3.49 to add scallions as a topping? Why I no just go Foodland Farms and buy a bunch and cut it into the ramen myself? Okay sorry for being snippy.

I had to eat this at home and no worries, the integrity was not lost in the dish. They pack the soup separate so I reheated the soup a bit before adding it to the noodles. Here it is in final form. The char siu is very thinly sliced – there is an egg in there!

Here are the noodles, char siu and egg before I added the soup in. The noodles were perfectly cooked. No complaints on that.

The broth before I added it to the noodles. They like their chinese cabbage. I like it too.

Ugh, I thought I got a clear picture of the egg. I didn’t. But you get the idea. It’s perfectly cooked and has the perfect gummy yolk inside, no complaints.

Fried Rice! Okay, I was super excited to try this. It was good, not great. Nothing I would yearn to go back for you know?

Gyoza! To me this was the best part of the meal. They were pretty nicely packed in with filling, tasted like it was made by the restaurant. It comes with a packet of the gyoza dipping sauce. I really enjoyed this!

Final verdict? Well it was good. $35 good? I don’t know. I paid by credit card and of course when they turn the machine around, they ask for tip. I don’t know man, I am doing take out in a food court and I am being charged $35 for this – I wasn’t inclined to tip (sorry!). The upcharges to add just bean sprouts or green onions is crazy to me. I get that costs are high right now but…that high?? It was all good, not great. I feel I can go Wagaya and pay less and get the same if not better food.