Baikohken Ramen

Has San Diego hit the saturation point for ramen yet? Well, perhaps not as it seems that Baikohken Ramen created a bit of a buzz upon opening in the former Menya Ultra spot in Hillcrest. Part of it was because the restaurant, which hails from Asahikawa, (which BTW has the record for the coldest temperature ever recorded in Japan, think minus 40) was mentioned in the Michelin Guide to Hokkaido in 2017. What was interesting was that Ramen Adventures wasn't too impressed with the Asahikawa location, calling it yet another chain. And yet, when I think of my favorite ramen shops in San Diego, be it HiroNori, Nagi, Menya, and of course Santouka (I need to make another visit to Ban Nai) are "chains" with multiple locations. Speaking of Santouka, the chain had it's start in Asahikawa, in fact, if you've read our little blog long enough, you'd know we went to Asahikawa just to visit the original location of Santouka! So, when thinking in terms of Asahikawa style ramen, be it ever so humble, I'd be doing a comparison to Santouka.

I'm not a big fan of trying to find parking in the little strip mall where Baikohken is located. Which they share with a couple of fairly busy businesses like Oscar’s Mexican Seafood. And this was before Baikohken started up weekday lunch service, so I thought myself lucky to get parking in the lot right at 5 pm.

The shop is rather tiny, so I can imagine how difficult getting a table during peak hours might be. I'd never been to this location of Menya, so am not sure how that would compare.

During my two visits, it was the same two folks working the front of house; both the older Japanese woman and the always hustling young lady were wonderful. Attentive, efficient, friendly.

Since I had my sights on doing a comparison with Santouka, I figured it had to be a shio ramen to start. I just decided to suck it up and go with the Shio Chashu Ramen......which is $22.95! Yikes. And to add to matters, I also ordered the 3 piece Karaage $6.95. Man, nearly thirty bucks for ramen and karaage without tax and tip! Is this the world we live in now?

First to arrive was the Karaage.

   The pieces of karaage were large, the batter slightly crunchy, the chicken was on the tougher chewier side. It was also fairly bland in terms of seasoning. Not my favorite version of this.

And then my ramen arrived.

    The broth was interesting, a lot lighter than I would expect for Hokkaido style ramen. It did have a good amount of saltiness and based on what I'd read, there's supposed to be a savory-seafood based component to it, like how Santouka is in Japan. I was looking forward to that, but I really couldn't make that out. As a whole, the broth lacked complexity.

The chashu looks like it was made from butt or loin, it had been marinated and seasoned well, but it was quite tough and chewy.

The menma (bamboo shoots) were nicely marinated. The cut was quite thick, which might give some folks problems, but was super crunchy.

The tamago looked great and was marinated well. Though, well, you know my pet peeve, right? The eggs were ice cold.

   The noodles were nice and springy, of the slightly thicker variety, much like what we'd had at Noodle Zero, though it was a bit under cooked and chewy for my taste.

Overall, a kind of mixed bag. Some of this could be attributed to having recently opened. But when you create a certain amount of hype, I would think that expectations would be rather high and I was just looking for a good bowl of ramen.

Well, based on this visit you know that I was going to wait a couple of weeks before visiting again, right? Anyway, I drove on up and this time, even though it was before five on a weeknight, I had to find street parking a couple of blocks away. Still, the place was just opening when I walked on over and I easily got a table.

The same two wonderful women were working the front of house.

This time, I wasn't going to be going for a $23 ramen. I decided to try the shoyu ramen.

Of course, I couldn't let things well enough alone, I wanted to see if the cold egg was the norm so I added that ($1.95) and also some Moyashi (bean sprouts - $1.95). Which brought my bowl to almost $19.

    Man, check out that chashu. It looked different from the version I'd had on my previous visit. It was still the same overly lean cut, but was also super salty. In fact, I wasn't able to finish it!

The tamago was even better in flavor this time around, but was still ice cold.

And salty is indeed the key word here; as the broth was also a sodium bomb. I couldn't really get past the saltiness. The texture is still on the thin side for this version as well.

Wanna see how much bean sprouts you get for two bucks here? At least it soaked up some of the broth and helped to cut the saltiness.

The one bright spot were the perfectly textured, springy noodles, that did a great job picking up the broth. Now it would have been great if it wasn't so salty....and I like salty foods!

Well, I decided that two initial visits would do it for now. I'll wait a while to revisit, hopefully things will improve.

Baikohken Ramen
690 University Ave.
San Diego, CA 92103
Current Hours:
Wed - Mon 12pm - 230pm, 5pm - 930pm
Closed on Tuesdays

Also, is it just me, or does it seem like Hillcrest is ramen central now? Isn't there like 5 ramen shops within a mile? I know UTC has 3 and near Convoy things are more spread out. What do you think?

Comments

[kat]

cold egg = no no

[Kirbie]

Yikes $23 for a bowl of ramen...

[TFD]

I can't get pass the $23 ramen. Big no for me.

[TFD]

I can't get pass the $23 ramen. Big no for me.

[Jason]

That's some expensive ramen.

[Sandy]

I happened to drive by over the weekend, and wondered about Baikohken. Off the top of my head, I can think of 3 ramen shops on Mira Mesa between the 15 and the Target shopping center.

[Soo]

Ramen is expensive. I made a packet of Top Ramen last week with some bok choy and leftover fried chicken.

[Kirk]

Truly a no-no Kat!

Yep, and did you see the one that's $25 Kirbie? Total yikes!

Yes, that's some sticker shock TFD!

Very expensive Jason!

So many ramen places Sandy!

Well, personally, to me Top Ramen isn't really ramen Soo. I can see charging a decent price for stock made over 16 hours, with a tasty tare, and house made alkalinized noodles, with a tasty chashu. But $23 is too much.

[Junichi]

I went shortly after they opened. Wasn't impressed with their ramen. The broth was very flat. In fact I went to Ramen Ryoma down the street to satisfy my ramen craving right afterwards!

[Frank]

You're not wrong about it being ramen center of San Diego.

Nishiki, Ryoma, Hiro Nori, Baikohken Rakitori.

Thanks for trying it out, that parking lot alone wasn't worth the visits to Menya and their prices were already high.

I've been settling for Beshock lately, it does the job.

[Kirk]

Well, having to go to Ryoma to recover says a lot Junichi! ;o)

So many ramen places within less than a mile Frank! And yes, that parking lot!

[Mar]

I find myself always going back to Hiro Nori and Santouka after venturing out to try a new ramen place here. Both are solid and consistent.

I also visited Baikohken recently. I got the shoyu version and overall liked it better than some of the other options in the neighborhood, but I agree that it's not the most craveable bowl in town. If the ramen was spectacular I'd happily brave that terrible parking situation and maybe wouldn't complain about the price, but I don't think it's worth it.

The broth was not overly salty on the day that I went, bummer that it was when you visited! Sounds like they are having issues with consistency.

I had that happen once at a place here that serves tsukemen. I got takeout and was excited to try it because I had read good things, but had to add water to the broth when I got home because it was so salty (and I have a high tolerance for salt, too!). That was the only way I could salvage it, but I still couldn't finish it. Have not gone back and don't plan to.

You bring up an interesting point about San Diego nearing its ramen saturation point. It's interesting that Hillcrest of all places, a neighborhood known for being difficult to find parking, has a concentration of them. Other neighborhoods could use a decent ramen shop. I don't think North Park has one other than CH's place. Nothing over in University/Normal Heights, either.

On another topic, I do see more omakase-only sushi places opening. When I first moved to San Diego, Ota and Hane were the only ones around (and maybe Ken's up north?). I like that we have more options, and never would have imagined back then that this city would have 2 Michelin-starred sushi restaurants. I got the impression from social media feeds and food news sites that several new places have opened recently or will be opening soon.

[Kirk]

Great observation about Omakase and also the areas that probably should have ramen Mar. Though I know that Tajima has an outlet on Adams and there's Nozaru as well.

https://mmm-yoso.typepad.com/mmmyoso/2018/06/nozaru-ramen-bar.html

[Som Tommy]

23bucks for ramen. That’s crazy

[Kirk]

Yes, quite pricey ST!

[Stephanie]

No way am I paying $23 for a bowl of ramen unless it’s perfection! Although untraditional, I quite like Buta Ramen of Morena near USD.

[Kirk]

Hi Stephanie - I haven't had much luck at Buta.....if you don't mind sharing; what are your favorites there?

[KPW]

If ramen isn't at saturation, I'd be surprised to see what saturation would look like!

Thanks for the warning on this joint, but I would have been reluctant to suffer the upstream paddle (parking, crowds) for ramen in Hillcrest even if it were good - part of why I still haven't gone to HiroNori yet.

I'm happy sticking with Menya on the occasions that I get the hankering.

[Kirk]

Interesting thought KPW! We have what we enjoy and should keep things that way!