Message: | Funny, you should mention Asahi Ramen on SawtelleDollparts, because Ramen-Ya is only a couple blocks away and is known to have superior ramen and yakisoba to any other place on the westside. Although, I'm not a huge fan of their hot ramen, their cold noodle seasonal dish is wonderful. It's slightly sweet, salty and spicy (due to the interplay between the vinegar, soy based sauce and Japanese mustard you mix in with it) and is topped off with equally sectioned bits area's of tamago, nori, cold shredded chicken, pickled red ginger a wedge of tomato and a few other things. The noodles themselves are pleasingly vibrant with a chewy al dente texture to them.
In response to the original post, although noodle Planet is cheap and has a large variety, it is inevitable that with the huge menu, comes lapses in quality in the end product. Overall, I've had a few pretty good dishes there such as a modestly flavored pho, decent vietnamese spring rolls and a fairly ill conceived version of some thai soup, which I can't exactly recall. The place is decent alternative for a qucik bite if you're in the area, but is nowhere near as good as other highly touted noodle joints across the city.
Yabu, on the other hand is a very good restaurant. In fact, I was there just a few days ago. They have a good version of chirashi sushi, although most of the sashimi on top of the perfectly vinegared rice is standard fare, but nonethless quite fresh. Their udon is nice with a near perfect broth, but I prefer the more al dente udon and soba noodles at Mishima. As for some tasteful recommended dishes, I always order their kinpira (chilled sauteed burdock root). They also have a very good salmon skin salad, broiled giant squid, ankimo sahimi preperations and last time I was there I also enjoyed a special of broiled sardines with some greens and a light viniagarette. The place does almost everything cometently and some things can be extraordinary, but it doesn't come cheap if you want to try a bunch of different dishes. For the Westside, it's the best of its kind, but I prefer Sanuki No Sato in Gardena to indulge in similar fare. |