Daikokuya. The end of Ramen Week.

Okay, so unofficially this has been Ramen Week. It's come to a close, for now... The third and final review on Ramen in Lil' Tokyo.

After my fellow ALC nurses Christal, Gina, and I went to a nursing job fair at the LA convention center, we went to this spot Daikokuya a few restaurants down from Mr. Ramen to compare. It was a cold windy day, and my throat was sore, so soup sounded good. Last weekend when we went to Mr. Ramen, Daikokuya was poppin' with at least a 45 min wait. Today we went... It was STILL POPPIN'!!! On an ordinary Wednesday at 2 in the afternoon. We waited for about 15 min to get a table. Not bad.

Their Daikoku Ramen consists of a pork bone broth, with egg noodles, chives, seasoned bamboo shoots, tender pork slices, and last but not least a perfectly soft boiled egg. I'm pretty particular with the way I like my eggs. Christal too. Over medium (instead of over easy) is the best, where the yolk is partially cooked but not too fully cooked. And also soft boiled... soo good. What was cool too was that compared to Mr. Ramen, where they only serve a small slice of boiled egg, Daikokuya serves a whole boiled egg, perfectly soft boiled. The broth is pretty tasty, had more of an egg/pork bone flavor than Orochon. Not spicy at all. The broth is made from soy sauce and pork bones boiled for almost 24 hours. Pork slices are real soft, melt-in-your-mouth tender. And the soft boiled egg is soaked in a special sauce throughout the evening...sooo good.

Gina ordered the ramen too, but with all the ingredients separated... it's called Tsukamen. perfect for dipping ingredients in the broth. 

What i liked best (besides the boiled egg) about Daikokuya is the Shredded Pork Bowl, which consists of the grilled pork, green onions, ginger, a sweet glaze sauce, all harmoniously blended together over a bowl of rice. It is sooo good, I would come back here just for this! 

This place is also super cheap too!!!. Christal and I shared a large bowl of soup, and made it a combo by adding on the pork bowl, for just 11 bucks! And both of us were pretty full. It's always best to make your meal a combo at these ramen places, it's the best deal. for a few bucks more, you can get some kind of rice dish.  Here at Daikokuya you can add on stuff like tempura, chicken bowl, salmon roe, even eel. All combos come with the a side salad as well, which was pretty tasty. 

They've got a pretty wide range of things on the menu. ie. all kinds of rice bowls, such as salmon roe and eel bowls, and bento boxes.  for more info and to view the full menu, click here http://www.daikoku-ten.com/

So which restaurant from Mr. Ramen, Orochon Ramen, and Daikokuya has the best ramen?

drumroll please.... 

In my opinion, if I had to choose, i would choose Mr. Ramen... their broth is just out of this world. Not too spicy. mild, yet so amazingly good. now, if only they would take the boiled egg from daikokuya, the fried rice from Orochon, and the shredded pork bowl from Daikokuya, that would be the shit right there... 

Adrian has yet to make a choice since he didn't check out Daikokuya yet.. I'll keep you posted when he does.

So each restaurant has something to love. try 'em and see for yourself.