Restaurant Review:

Whenever I need a question answered about Japanese food, I turn to Miyuki, a friend who is able to translate most Asian dialects, traditions and customs.

She and her husband, Tony, live in San Diego and I have had many enjoyable evenings eating sushi I did not know existed after Miyuki talked to the chefs and they gave her cuts of fish for special customers.

The two were passing through town and were heading over to Shin-Sen-Gumi Hakata Ramen for lunch and graciously invited me along.

Everyone should jump at the chance to visit this restaurant.

Shin Sen Gumi was named by owner Mitsuyasu Shigeta to honor a group of samurai who showed incredible strength despite being outnumbered during a conflict in the 1800s.

That was one of many things I learned this day I joined Tony and Miyuki. The other was the meaning of the traditional greeting “irrashai (mase).” The greeting is yelled by all the staff when you walk into a Japanese restaurant. It is a sign of respect and is intended as one of warmth.

The food at Hakata Ramen is simple, but prepared with spices and herbs that make it an exquisite lunch or dinner.

The preparation of the meal is quite involved. Diners are given a menu but also a card that has questions to be answered by patrons. The first is the firmness of the noodle and you are supposed to select either hard, normal or soft. The second question is the amount of soup, thick, normal or light. The final question is the strength of the soup base, strong, normal or mild.

I like firm noodles so I went hard, picked normal for the amount of soup and wanted a strong-flavored soup base.

The noodles used in ramen are thinner than the egg noodles I have had in Vietnamese Pho noodle houses. I liked the consistency of the noodles and they were not overbearing like I have found other similar dishes to be.

The soup broth is incredible. It is a rich stock filled with pork and spices, one of which is ginger. What goes into the soup is both filled by the chefs and your choosing. Green onion, thin slices of pork and slices of red ginger are part of the ramen.

Toppings that can be added are spicy miso, flavored bamboo, corn and flavored egg.

There is only one type of ramen, but seven different items that can come with it as a side. My ramen was served with a chicken rice ball. The fist-size rice is coated with soy sauce and bits of chicken.

Tony got his with a ground chicken bowl that also has slices of red ginger. Miyuki told me it was like a dish her mother used to make her when she was a girl growing up in Japan.

I liked the spam rice cake, which reminded me of musabi I get at Hawaiian fast food places. Unlike those places, which serve a slice of spam on top of rice and then wrap it in seaweed, the spam is a smaller piece in the middle of the rice. The one I enjoyed the most was the Takana fried rice. The spicy mustard greens mix well with the fried white rice.

The Takana fried rice is part of the appetizer menu, which also has the ground chicken and the gyoza.

The lunch menu is limited, but there is more than enough to find to eat and like me, you will learn something about the culture while eating some of the best ramen in Orange County.

Shin Sen Gumi Hakata Ramen

Address: 18315 Brookhurst St., Fountain Valley

Phone: (714) 962-8971

Website: www.shinsengumiusa.com

Cuisine: Japanese

Specialty dish: Ramen

Alcohol served: Beer, wine and sake

Entrée price range: $3 to $7.50

Family friendly: Yes

Credit cards accepted: MasterCard and Visa

Rating: *** 1/2 out of four stars

JOHN REGER reviews local restaurants and may be contacted at [email protected] or P.O. Box 2984, Seal Beach, CA 90740.