Asameshi Maeda Honten Ramen

Another belated post! This is from back when the Ramen tours were going on in Mitsuwas across California. Unfortunately, I came across news of the tour a bit late and was only able to catch the last shop--Asameshi Maeda Honten Ramen--as they finished their tour in San Diego.

Mitsuwa, San Diego

This was a tonkotsu-shoyu ramen, which is my favorite type by far! I love the meaty broth of a good shoyu ramen. Dadami Ramen from 688 Baker St, Costa Mesa is the best shoyu ramen I've had in the States, so I'll be using their noodles as comparison.

Here's what Asameshi Maeda Honten served up:

Okay, so it ain't the prettiest picture of ramen. Sorry! It was 2pm and I was famished, so I dug in before realizing HEY! I BROUGHT MY SLR.

As you can see this bowl is topped with the usual boiled egg, bamboo, green onions, and slices of pork. Okay I paid a little over $7 for this bowl of ramen, and all I get for toppings are a meager paper thin serving of meat and a QUARTER of a boiled (AND unseasoned) egg? Come on now... Dadami charged the same price and was quite generous with the pork and also served a great seasoned egg(whole).... Regardless, I enjoyed what little meat there was. For such thin and lean slices, I was pretty impressed at how tender they were. Probably goes without saying that the slices of pork were pretty damn flavorful.

Noodles here weren't quite al dente (they were on the soft side), but that's partly my fault...I guess? Maybe I should have specified how I wanted my noodles done when I ordered--much like how you order at Shin Sen Gumi. Despite these shortcomings, the broth totally blew me away. This was by far the richest broth/soup base I have ever tasted...such intense pork flavor! Overall, a good bowl of ramen...it would have been a great bowl if more meat was given and that quarter of an ordinary boiled egg was replaced with Dadami's.

What a damn shame I missed the other ramen shops' tours... You guys can read about them here.



Asameshi Maeda Honten Ramen @ Mitsuwa Marketplace
4240 Kearny Mesa Rd. #119,
San Diego, CA 92111
(858) 569-6699