Ramen Santouka

San Diego, CA (The Joy of Food) — Japanese cuisine may be known the world over for its finesse and subtly, the way a drop of soy sauce transforms a plate of nigiri, or how a single unassuming piece of fish can taste of the vast Pacific Ocean. 

In today’s food landscape, where the trendy and the photogenic beat the tasty almost every time, Santouka is known just as much for its consistency as it is for its depth of flavor, a popular Japanese chain famous for its tonkotsu (pork bone) broth, silky, rich, and mellow, one that’s been boiled and simmered halfway to eternity to extract maximum flavor.

San Diego’s outpost of Santouka occupies a prime entryway spot in the bustling Mitsuwa Marketplace, a space I’ve often heard referred to as a food court, though there’s just one other eatery there (Musashiya) and not ample seating for both. You stand in line to order and pick up your tray when your number is called. 

If you’re undecided, your choices may be influenced by the display case of plastic three-dimensional foods, but fortunately for us all, the menu at Santouka is short, at least by today’s Cheesecake Factory standards: a few kinds of ramen, optional toppings including a marinated egg that’s way overdone, a handful of appetizers, mainly fried, and some rice bowls finished with meat or fish. 

The shio is the salt-based broth, widely considered to be one of the best of its kind. It is mild, yet intense and flavorful at the same time, a marriage of creamy pork, oil, and a hint of fish. To seal the deal, it is garnished with a Japanese pickled plum the size of a large pea.

But it is the soy sauce ramen that you may enjoy even more, a beautiful pork bone and soy sauce-based broth that is slightly more robust than the shio ramen with deeper umami tones. For me, the mix of porky soup and soy sauce is a perfect match for the soy-simmered chashu.

Also on my rotation is the miso ramen, a bowl that is super full and rich, a blend of the grainy, warm miso base with a fatty and slightly sweet tonkotsu broth. On a day when the heat-richness balance is just right, the end result is glorious.

The noodles here are dependable and consistent, not hard, not soft, just right, almost springy under your teeth. There are also the thicker, chewier tsukemen, or dip noodles which, unlike the ramen, are available as a to-go order.

There will be combos to tempt you, modest up-charges to add gyoza or chashu-topped rice to your main dish. For as perfect as the ramen will be, the little rice bowls are pretty awful, though the ingredients on their own sound good: bamboo shoots, wood ear mushrooms, fish cake, sesame seeds, scallions, and pieces of the soft chashu pork. There is also a version with ikura that can be slightly fishy.

Then come the bowl sizes — small, medium, and large — which may not look all that different from their shiny ceramic outsides, but the noodle and broth volume is actually pretty substantial from one to the next. I have made the mistake of getting the medium, only to surrender in defeat about halfway through. Fortunately for me and everyone else, ramen makes for excellent leftovers.

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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