Tajima

We've been going to Tajima since we first moved to San Diego back in 2000. I used to enjoy the Menchi Katsu(breaded deep fried ground/minced meat - in this case beef) Curry, now long gone from the menu, the various Ramen, and the Missus had always enjoyed the Okonomiyaki(a savory type of Japanese pancake).

Since an Ownership change a few years back, the menu has been expanded to accommodate a large variety of Izakaya style dishes(think pub grub/tapas style dishes) and Westernized Japanese dishes. Since I've started to make Okonomiyaki at home, the Missus hasn't expressed a desire to eat at Tajima. So most of my visits have been for Ramen at lunch.

On this day, I had my favorite dish at Tajima, the Chashu Ramen($8.95):

The broth for the Chashu Ramen is Tonkotsu style, which is the whitish long boiled pork bone broth. While not as rich and velvety (nor as oily for that matter) as the version from Daikokuya in Little Tokyo(Los Angeles), it is still the best version of Tonkotsu style broth that I've had in San Diego. Though the broth is much darker in color than almost every other version I've had, it is not overly salty, and on the mild side, with a nice amount of oil.

The Char Siu on this visit were 3 slices of mildly flavored pork belly, accompanied by some slices of bamboo shoot, a boiled than marinated egg, bean sprouts, and a piece of nori.

Though thick noodles are available, I usually stick with the thin noodles(you can get more noodles for $1). The noodles have a nice pull and texture, but could stand to be a bit more chewy. I love that boiled egg.....

On some days, I want more of a "blank slate", a very mild broth, so I'll have the "Ramen"($6.95), which in the case of Tajima is a Shoyu Ramen:

The broth is a mild Soy Sauce based broth to which I usually add a nice scoop of garlic paste, and some Shichimi for some zing. Speaking of the garlic paste; on a previous visit a gentleman with some obvious olfactory problems dumped 3 spoons of the garlic paste into his ramen....taking a sip of his soup, his eyes opened wide, exclaiming "Holy crap, this isn't mustard".....he-he-he.

As previously mentioned...I love that boiled egg. A nice hot bowl of Ramen on a rainy day, very few things better than that.

On this day, I needed my fix of Umami, and ordered this:

In case you can't really identify it, let me help you:

It's the Marinated Baby Squid($3.95), a salty-pungent-winey-slightly sweet offering, with a mild Shiokara-like flavor. The julienned basil added a nice clean flavor to this dish.

On a recent visit I managed to drag the Missus along, and being quite hungry we tried a few of the appetizers, along with a main course.

We started with the Tako Wasabi($3.95):

This was pretty good, more on the sweet side, than salty. The Missus enjoyed it, and even thought it was better than the version at Sakura!

The Tuna Tataki($6.95):

Looked fairly nice, but the fish was tough, the ponzu watery, and weak in flavor, and the fried garlic only added a bitterness to the dish.

The Chicken Karaage($3.95):

I love Chicken Karaage, in fact I love Chicken Karaage so much that it only needs to fulfill one of two criteria. Either it's nice and crunchy, with mild flavor, or it can be cold and have a nice salty-soy-slightly-sweet-mildly gingery flavor. This version was on the soggy side, which would be fine if it was loaded with flavor. But as you can tell by the color.........

The Miso Nabeyaki Soba($8.95):

Hardly any miso flavor, and soggy noodles. The shrimp tempura was fine, nice and crisp.

Minchi(Menchi) Katsu($9.95):

Aaaaah, minced meat, breaded, and fried, how can that be bad? Honestly, not a bad version, nice and crisp on the outside, and not oily at all. The patties had a good amount of filler which kept it moist, and the onion flavor came through. The "butter noodles" are not my favorite thing, and the Hijiki(seaweed) had not been cooked long enough and was like eating wood. The Menchi Katsu came with a bowl of miso soup(okay as miso goes), rice, and a combo Demi Glace - Katsu Sauce, that was too sour for my taste.

OH, before I forget...one of the really great things about Tajima is the late night Ramen! Check check the hours:

Yep, open till 3am Thursdays through Saturday(Convoy location only). And it's a good thing; for now, I think I'll stick with the ramen at Tajima. Don't forget to try the Okonomiyaki!

Tajima Japanese Restaurant
4681 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

and now

4411 Mercury St
San Diego, CA 92111

Comments

[Andy 食神]

wow that looks great.. especially the shoyu ramen and tuna tataki. I had the wasabi tako once and it was very salty... quite different from what you describe.

Is there a place in LA that has food like this?

[Kathy]

ooooh, Kirk! You make me crave ramen so badly! Good thing I'll be going home for winter break soon - will get myself a nice big bowl of saimin :)

[Trent]

That late night ramen can be a real lifesaver - especially if anyone has relatives that fly in late tomorrow night!

[Fred]

Have you had a chance to try the new Tajima near Mitsuwa? I tried to go there a couple of weeks ago for lunch, but their sign indicated that they were only open at night. I haven't had a chance to check back and see if they're open during the day yet.

[Jim]

Hey Kirk,

When I was in Japan, I would travel from Yokosuka to Asakusa (quite a train ride) to eat at this tiny ramen shop that specialized in Tonkotsu style ramen. When I retuned to San Diego, I searched the town for a bowl of this. I only found three places and I too believe Tajima has the best Tonkotsu style ramen in town.

One of the ways I tend to judge a place is by the clientele that eat there and on most nights, there are very few Gaijins in the place!

[Candice]

Hi Kirk! How are you? I did a article about Tajima a while back for San Diego Citybeat. It's the only place to get a good chashu ramen fix! http://www.sdcitybeat.com/article.php?id=4909&atype= Hope all is well - just got back from Shanghai. Lots of good eating!

[nhbilly]

i'm glad there is a shinsegumi around the corner from me ;-)
those appetizer looks to scary for me...

[The Guilty Carnivore]

Thx Kirk - next time I'm in San Diego, I now know where I'm going to get my ramen fix on.

[elmomonster]

Late night ramen! Now that's what we are missing in OC.

[Jean]

We might head down south for the winter. We just might try some of them awesome looking dishes you and Cathy posts. :)

[Chris]

Funny, we (my significant other person and I) went to the new Tajima last night (Tuesday 11/21/06). It seems to have a lot of the menu items from the old Tajima plus sushi and sashimi. The specials from the old Tajima have made it officially on the new Tajima menu (for example the chicken liver yakitori and the fried chicken gristle, both are really tasty). The space is huge and open, but has screens to make the back tables more private. It seems fancier than the old place. We recognized some of the waitresses from the old Tajima and the chef, as well. It made us wonder who was at the old Tajima. Oh, and the only sushi we happened to order last night was the pressed mackeral nigiri from the specials menu, which was excellent--- very sweet, slight hint of shiso. I don't remember seeing any ramen on the menu. They aren't open for lunch yet, just dinner, but the exciting thing is that their hours are posted as open from 5:30pm until closing! That means they could be open very, very late--- or not. We had a very tasty meal. The scallop croquettes were quite tasty, almost like chowder in a crispy panko shell. The grilled squid was good, but they were out of geso karaage and geso tempura (the waitress just said, "no geso tonight"). It was about 9pm when we showed up, so perhaps that had something to do with it. Sorry this is so long... there is always so much to say about food.

[cathy]

Oh, wow, Chris, so they *didn't* close early last night...:)

[Passionate Eater]

I agree that the soft-boiled egg is the best part of the ramen noodle soup! I saw a feature on the Japanese cooking show, "Cooking Showdown" where the cooks added an egg, and all the men and women of the audience started squealing like crazy!

[Pam]

mmmmm, menchi katsu...

damn, haven't had that in awhile--gotta go get me some. i've always compared it to fried meatloaf--and who wouldn't like that? =)

also, you hit it right on the nose about the two criteria for chicken karaage likeability! my thoughts exactly!

[Kirk]

Hi Andy - I'm sure most Izakaya's and sushi bars would have Tako Wasabi...most of it is premade and purchased by the restaurants.

Hi Kathy - Mmmmm good ramen!

Hi Trent - Yes, that is a great late night option.

Hi Candice - Back from Shanghai, just in time for Thanksgiving! Talk about great planning.

Hi Billy - SSG right around the corner! Now that is lucky.

Hi GC - I'm hoping that we'll be getting another good ramen shop in San Diego soon.

Hi Elmo - Nothing like a good bowl of ramen to end a night of....well, whatever, right? ;o)

Hi Jean - I hope you do have the chance to visit SD.

Hi Chris - I'm guessing you got enough to eat? There is alot to say about food.

Hi Cathy - They moust've stayed open pretty late....

Hi PE - That boiled egg is enough to drive us crazy. Talk about battles over half a boiled egg.....

Hi Pam - Chicken Karaage...when done well....is delici-yoso!!!

[SK]

I really like the pork and vegetable ramen at Tajima. The stirfried veggies retain a pleasant crispness even in the broth (and I agree, the soft-boiled egg is a really nice touch).

One of my favorite things there is also one of the simplest, the miso broiled black cod. The fish is always /so/ nice and tender. Yum.

We thing the okonomiyaki have not been as good the last couple of times, very heavy and lumpen in texture.

[Kirk]

Hi SK - Really? The Okonomiyaki used to be the best in San Diego....

[porta rickin rick]

Went to Tajima with my wife this evening after reading these reviews and hearing a ringing endorsement from a usually reliable friend. I will start by saying, we were not impressed.

We ordered the baby squids, but thought that the marinade was way too strong! It completely overpowered all other flavors. I guess it was the sour, winey flavor.

My wife ordered a bowl of Ramen, called the Tajima special broth and thought that the noodles were somewhat soggy and there was a tiny piece of meat in the bowl. Not worth the $8.95.

I ordered what I know as Katsudon, but they called a Tonkatsu bowl. The pork was tender, but I had a much better version nearby at Chopstix and better ramen too. I was thoroughly unimpressed.

And to think, I passed up what would have been my first experience at mien trang for that!

[Kirk]

Hi PRR - Which Tajima did you go to....the new one, or the one on Convoy? The Tonkotsu style ramen is the item they make the best....it is nowhere near as good as say, SSG or Santouka. The squid is very salty and winey....as it is at most oher places I've had them...it is almost Shiokara like. Chopstix has okay ramen....when the broth is not too salty. I'm still hoping for a Santouka ramen here in San Diego. Make sure you get the Bun Bo Hue or Bun Rieu at Mien Trang.

[porta rickin rick]

We went to the one on convoy. The ramen broth was not bad, but was not exciting. My wife is more the ramen fan. Given that there are such a variety of restaurants in SD I doubt we'll make it back there, but maybe we'll check out the other one.