San Diego, CA (The Joy of Food) — San Diego is blessed with formidable ramen options, even outside traditionally Asian neighborhoods. The king of ramen in San Diego is probably Tajima, long considered a bastion of porky goodness for the masses. Then there’s HiroNori, recently arrived to town and bringing with it even more noodle nirvana.
Co-owners Hiromichi Igarashi (Hiro) and Tadanori Akasako (Nori) worked at ramen joints in Japan and in the U.S. before opening their own little shop in Irvine in 2017. Locations north and south followed. This Hillcrest outpost is San Diego’s first and only. Like many places, it sits next to a corner Starbucks and an ever-growing homeless encampment.
The tonkotsu broth here manifests a porky flavor that reverberates after every bite. It’s creamy and rich without being dense, however they achieve that trick, and not too heavy on the sodium, either. It’s indulgently flavorful thanks to pork bones that are steeped for 24 hours, breaking down the collagen, marrow, and fat to unctuous success. It’s served hot enough to thoroughly scald your esophagus if you’re not careful.
The shoyu ramen is arguably lighter and even better. This option has a clear-ish broth that consists of chicken, pork bone, and soy sauce. The distinctive flavor of this dish comes from shoyu, or Japanese soy sauce. Also swimming in the bowl is spinach, bamboo, green onions, kaiware sprouts, a half egg, and exquisitely prepared pork chashu.
Special-recipe artisan noodles are crafted and cut at the home base factory in L.A. and come available in thin or house original thick styles. In your bowl, the oodles of noodles are chewy, almost bouncy, within your teeth.
The pork chasu is wonderfully moist and tender with crisp edges, draped over fresh spinach, bean sprouts, green onions, and seaweed. Not to be outdone, a half egg simmers in the broth nearby, robustly flavored with soy sauce and creamy like velvet. A yolk, pretty and bright, does this ramen bowl good.
There is no mention of spice level when ordering, but HiroNori offers a spicy house-made sauce on the side, a thick, fresh puree that tastes of habaneros. Some like it hot, and my bowl, once a light yellowish hue, is a fierce fluorescent orange color not found in nature by the time I’m done dressing it.
Not that you should come here for anything but the ramen, but if you do, the rice bowls, including a salmon-topped one, are an acceptable detour. HiroNori also has appetizers like edamame, crispy chicken (karange), and pork buns for nibbling.
We’re fortunate to have a lot of people from someplace else living in this country, looking for food that tastes like home, so I think there’s hope for all of us. People are hungry for something good, and this qualifies.
Written by Joy
Thanks for reading. The Joy of Food blog celebrates eating well, traveling often, and living la dolce vita. San Diego, California is home base, but thoughts are from all over. Reviews and photos help to highlight wonderful (or not) food experiences from around the world.
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Looks like you found some awesome ramen!
Yes I’d say with have the trifecta in San Diego now: Tajima, HiroNori, and Silverlake.
The tonkotsu ramen looks wonderful! I’ll have to try it out sometime.
Highly recommend when the weather cools down a bit!
Hi Joy – Actually, my and others folks I know think that the Shoyu Ramen is among the best that HiroNori does – they use shoyu that has been aged for over 2 years for the broth which gives it a wonderful complexity.
Thanks so much for the tip – I’ll give the shoyu a try next time and update my thoughts!