Ramen ALMOST 2 days in a row

So I almost had ramen 2 days in a row (not a horrible thing if it had happened by any means) at new places- Orenchi Ramen and Dohatsuten.

I went to Orenchi ramen yesterday for lunch with a few coworkers of mine that I hadn't seen in a while- thanks Lucy for introducing us to the place and for organizing! The ramen was really good. I got the house "Orenchi" ramen which is a tonkotsu ramen. What made it unique was the thicker, chewier noodles which I really liked and thought was delicious. I don't like soft, soggy noodles at all, so it was fresh and "al dente" if you can use the same terminology for asian noodles as well. The broth was tasty and had depth in flavor, but was a bit salty... not that it stopped me from sipping almost all of it! I'm also not a big egg person, but this egg was perfectly soft boiled and looked gorgeous when it was bitten into. I still didn't eat all of it, but it was quite delicious. They offer tonkotsu, shio, and shoyu ramen (along with a few appetizers) I believe but that's it- they again prove my point that it takes being good at a few things and doing them well, as opposed to offering a lot of things but being mediocre in them.

Then tonight for dinner, my old roomie Christina and I had an impromptu shopping and dinner outing. We decided to go to Dohatsuten in Palo Alto. They are a izakaya type restaurant which means small plates that usually go well with sake or other types of alcohol. They also offer ramen and clay pots, so Christina got the Dohatsuten ramen with a small shiro maguro don, and I got the chashu and kimchee clay pot. I will definitely have to go back to try the ramen, but my thought was to try the clay pot since I could take it home if I didn't eat it all since I wasn't that hungry... but of course I ate it all! I'm still holding/rubbing my tummy regretting how much I ate, but it was tasty. The soy saucy flavor was a bit too strong, but you have got to love the crispy rice bits which they have a lot of! I also didn't like that there was soy sauce on the rice under the shiro maguro- the customer should be able to adjust the flavor themselves instead of having already soy sauced rice. Other than that, I'm excited to go back and try the ramen!