Had a kid event right next door to Ramen Dojo during the weekend, so we conveniently lunched at Dojo. Its a small ramen joint in San Mateo that focuses on three types of ramen with different soup base but otherwise the same components: garlic pork (tonkotsu), soy sauce (shoyu), and soy bean (miso).
My personal favorite was the garlic pork ordered mildly spicy. Highly savory with a commanding garlic and meaty taste from broth boiled with bones and other components for hours (see last pic), and it went very well with the heat from red chili as well as the fragrant whole garlics. Noodle texture for all 3 bowls were a bit chewy. Would loved the texture to be more al dente/ bouncy. Wood ear was just cooked so it provided a bit of crunch texture to the bowl (which I didn’t care for). Raw lettuce (a bit puzzling to me), chives, and quail eggs added as seen in picture. Overall, a successful bowl, with the soup being the star and the other components ranging from ok to confounding.
Soy sauce flavor was nice with a pleasing and smooth soy sauce taste with pork fat suspended in the soup. Ordered non-spicy.
I thought the miso broth was ok, but paled compared to the other two. It had a certain sweetness that probably appealed to certain miso fans, and a very modest heat from the miso itself.
30 minute wait on Saturday at 1:15pm. We will happily come back if in the area.
