Ryo Takamoto serves up a fresh meal at Shin-Sen-Gumi, a small Japanese ramen house in Fountain Valley. • Sean Orfila / Daily Forty-Niner

This sweet potato with butter is only one of the tasty creations available at Shin-Sen-Gumi. • Sean Orfila / Daily Forty-Niner

 

Fountain Valley's Shin-Sen-Gumi is fueled by ramen

The Japanese know how to eat! And when you're the only white guy in a Japanese restaurant, you know you've found a good spot for grubbing.

Shin-Sen-Gumi is a tiny ramen house tucked into a bustling strip mall in Fountain Valley. With restaurants all around the surrounding area, the competition is fierce, but Shin-Sen-Gumi almost always remains packed-solid with people slurping-up noodles. Shin-Sen-Gumi has a big-city vibe to it. It's busy and fast but despite the rush, the staff remains helpful and friendly.

The restaurant is split into two sides. One side is a tiny ramen house, with giant pots of boiling water and woks for stir frying noodles. The other side, with a more expensive menu, is devoted to yakatori (Japanese barbeque).

The ramen side seats an intimate 25 people. The cooks are young but skilled, and most patrons sit at a bar where chefs prepare their food in front of them. In the typical Japanese style, the chefs and waiters yell at any chance they get. People walking through the door get a welcome yell, while the people finishing eating receive a thank you yell. The people walking out get a goodbye yell, and the people ordering beer get a beer yell. All the yells, of course, are in Japanese.

While eating the food, it's easy to understand why Shin-Sen-Gumi is constantly packed. The Hakata-Ramen is tasty, especially on cold days. Ramen is something of a fast-food in Japan, and I don't mean the 25-cent instant noodle-ramen for the microwave. Real ramen can be made quickly in a ramen restaurant, so it makes for a quick lunch for people who don't have much time to eat. The price is cheap too.

Shin-Sen-Gumi recently changed its menu. They now allow people to choose any topping and select how they want their noodles, from hard to soft, and how much oil they like. If you don't know, just experiment. Extra noodles may be ordered during the meal for 95-cents.

Shin-Sen-Gumi has a taste that keeps people coming back. The mix of Japanese students, businesspeople and the random regulars will swear by the place. It's a bit far from CSULB, but it's worth the 20-minute drive down the freeway. It's also a good spot for meeting friends before a night of bar hoping in Costa Mesa or Huntington Beach. The restaurant is situated nicely between the two cities and it's a short drive from Main Street and the hipster bars scattered about Costa Mesa.

Why drink on an empty stomach? It's nice to warm up with a bowl of noodles and some sake and beer. And it's likely you won't leave Shin-Sen-Gumi with anything but a warm belly and a smile. But be sure to keep it in your stomach during your night out!

Shin-Sen-Gumi ——18315 Brookhurst St., #1, Fountain Valley, CA 92708 — (714) 962-8971 — food from $1.50 - $7.00.

Sean Orfila is a journalism major at CSU Long Beach. He writes about food and culture on his Web log at www.goeatrice.blogspot.com.