**** Kimae Ramen has closed
Are you tired of Ramen yet? Well, I hope you have room for one more....or maybe not.
Kimae Ramen opened up at the end of October by the same owner as Poki (poke...please poke, ok) One N Half. It's located in La Jolla Village Square right next to Daphne's and two doors down from a location of PONH.
I finally made it here at the end of December and really liked the lay-out of the place.
The staff, while not particularly friendly, were quite professional on my two visits.
The menu is printed on what is basically a paper "fan" and hangs on the wall around each table. There are four basic ramen with Spicy versions of the Signature, basically a chicken and pork tonkotsu, the Miso, and also have a Veggie and Spicy Seafood ramen on the menu as well. The other side of the fan has appetizers, rice bowls, and drinks.
So, being the old, boring, fuddy-duddy that I am, I went with the Signature Ramen ($10 - of course).
The presentation was nice, but the broth wasn't as hot as I enjoy. It also lacked depth and richness. No fragrance, no tongue coating texture, sorry to say it was like they used packaged tare, as it was salty and had a "tinny" finish.
The tamago….the egg hadn't been marinade properly and was bland and the yolk was ice cold.
The noodles were over-cooked for my taste and the wood ear was cold and really hard. The chashu looked good, but was rubbery and lacked flavor.
I was starving so ate all the noodles and stuff, but couldn't bring myself to have any more of that broth. You know, I thought we had hit "critical mass" with regards to ramen when Karami and Ryoma opened. I was even more sure after mediocre ramen at Yamachan and Isshido opened. But HiroNori gave me hope. I'm now certain we've hit saturation point....
After this rather sad bowl, I wasn't going to even do a post on the place. I really didn't feel like getting another bowl of ramen from Kimae….at least for a while.
But, about 2 weeks ago; Faye did a post on Kimae. Where she tried the chicken wings and enjoyed them. And since I really enjoy wings; well, I thought I'd give them another try.
But no ramen for me. Looking over the menu; well, I got the Crispy Chicken ($8) and finally also went with the Unagi Rice Bowl ($8), basically Kimae's version of Unadon.
The bowl came with a side of the "signature broth"; which was even more salty this time around. I left it as is. The kabayaki no tare (sauce) seemed water down and rather weak, more salty than sweet, very little savory tones...if it's bottled stuff, it's not a good brand. The four slices of Eel hadn't been broiled long enough and lacked the hint of a crisp exterior, it looked like they'd just opened a package, sliced a couple of pieces, and dumped it in a bowl.
I did enjoy the rice, mixed well with furikake and diced veggies. But that was about it.
Soon enough the chicken wings arrived. This was interesting as it resembled some of the double dipped Southern Fried Chicken I'd had in Atlanta when I worked there during the late 90's.
The first wing I ate had a very nice "crunch" and while slightly crumbly was not nearly as hard, nor dry as Furaido. It was super moist, though sadly was lacking in seasoning. And that mustard sauce, which lacked enough "umph", that would be some distinct flavor....pungent, sweet, salty, spice......was so bland. I actually had to add salt and togarashi to the wings....something I almost never, ever, do.
Next up was the drumette. I bit into it and got some flavor all right...a weird bitter, almost offal like flavor......freezer burn. Look at all that black marrow leakage. I was done.
So, the wings, well, it has potential, but really needs some flavor....or bring your own sauce, or whatever. I'm hopeful that drumette was an aberration. At least I hope it is. I took the other four wings back to the office....after the first bite, Calvin dumped half a bottle of Sriracha on it. At least the other four pieces didn't seem to have any off flavors.....
In the end, the concept and design is nice. The portions and price are right. Service was good and professional. But that's just the lipstick and I actually want the pig and this didn't do it for me. Calvin actually asked me if I'd rather eat here or at Tajima....he was shocked when I told him Tajima. Heck, maybe I'd even go to Ajisen before Kimae (though I might go back here before Yamachan). I think I'm done with new ramen places for a while.
Kimae Ramen
8657 Villa La Jolla Drive
San Diego, CA 92037
Hours:
Sun - Thurs 11am - 10pm
Fri - Sat 11am - 11pm
Meh... sounds like you'd be better off with frozen Sun noodles and one of their little "high class top ramen" flavor packets.
Posted by: Derek R | Tuesday, 26 March 2019 at 09:32 PM
Ah bummer:(
Posted by: Caninecologne | Tuesday, 26 March 2019 at 09:58 PM
That about sums it up Derek.....
I know CC....
Posted by: Kirk | Wednesday, 27 March 2019 at 06:58 AM
That's sad a chicken had to die for a bad meal.
Posted by: Soo | Wednesday, 27 March 2019 at 08:16 AM
Very sad Soo.....the wings here have potential; but they need to take better care of their product and season it.
Posted by: Kirk | Wednesday, 27 March 2019 at 08:22 AM
Looks worse than izakaya ramen. Yikes.
Posted by: Junichi | Wednesday, 27 March 2019 at 10:00 AM
This was pretty mediocre Junichi.
Posted by: Kirk | Wednesday, 27 March 2019 at 10:29 AM
painful :(
Posted by: kat | Wednesday, 27 March 2019 at 04:21 PM
Thanks for the post, sorry for that experience.
Posted by: RedDevil | Wednesday, 27 March 2019 at 07:45 PM
It was Kat!
Yeah, kinda sad RD.
Posted by: Kirk | Thursday, 28 March 2019 at 06:43 AM