Around Alhambra Newspaper
November, 2009
Naga Naga Ramen packs authenticity, new flavors into each tasty bowl
BY MARK NIU
Naga naga in Japanese slang means “long, long.” In Chinese, having noodles on your birthday is important because it symbolizes long life. Mix the ideas together, and the result is an auspicious name that reflects Naga Naga’s philosophy in more ways than one.
“We’re doing something a little different here. We’re trying to broaden the audience,” said owner John Mekpongsatorn.“What we try to do here is offer diversity.” Mr. Mekpongsatorn opened Naga Naga Ramen, 46 W. Valley Blvd., in September. The restaurant provides some authentic ramen noodles that live up to their motto of being “slurpin’ good.”
Mr. Mekpongsatorn said his chef studied with a famous ramen master in Japan. But a key difference, I soon discovered, was that Naga Naga serves several kinds of broths and two types of ramen, as opposed to most ramen houses that serve just one type of broth and one type of noodle.
I began by trying the signature Naga Naga ramen, which also happened to be the restaurant’s most popular. It was served with sliced, barbecued pork, seaweed, bamboo, cabbage, and a boiled egg. I chose to have it served with the straight, softer texture ramen, which just like in Japan, is often paired with the Tonkatsu broth. And oh, what a delicious Tonkatsu broth it was. It was extremely full-flavored and hearty. In fact, Mekpongsatorn said cooking a single batch of their Tonkatsu broth is a labor
intensive process that takes 10 hours.
Naga Naga also serves Shoyu “clear style” broth with curly ramen noodles, which are thicker with a little more bite to them. According to Mr. Mekpongsatorn, the curly ramen is the type most area residents are familiar with. Continuing with traditional Japanese fare, Naga Naga also serves miso ramen and udon broth, which is made from dried fish and seaweed. But Naga Naga also breaks from tradition with what it calls revolutionary ramen. There’s the Korean influenced Kimchee ramen and the Chinese influenced and spicy Tan Tan ramen. I decided to try one I’ve definitely never seen anywhere before: the Thai influenced Tomyum ramen. One slurp and I knew this was something truly special. For those of you not familiar with Tomyu, it’s a spicy and sour broth that really wakes up both you and your taste buds. The delicious and inventive bowl of ramen came with sliced barbecued pork, ground pork, mushrooms, cabbage, and a boiled egg.
While there are more than 30 noodle dishes on the menu, Naga Naga also has a variety of side dishes. I tried the Naga Naga tofu because it truly caught my eye. Tofu was served on an iron skillet with eggs, green onions, and bonito flakes, which flickered in the wind, so much so that it created an illusion that was nearly alive. The taste was very light and delicate, making it the perfect complement for the next side dish, the sizzling squid. A salty, soy sauce made a perfectly sautčed calamari pleasantly flavorful.
For rice lovers, there’s also a wide range of traditional and fusion style dishes. I tried the beef bowl with egg, which turned out to be one of my favorites. The thin slices of beef were cooked with onions and eggs and served with a special sauce. It had a nice, sweet taste which once again perfectly complemented the next rice dish: the kimchee fried rice. This devilishly spicy rice dish comes with either beef, pork or chicken and is wok fried with kimchee, onions, and eggs.
Overall, Naga Naga ramen combines traditional and non-traditional Japanese dishes in a spacious, clean, and colorfully decorated restaurant that is welcoming to customers of all ages and most importantly — tastes.
“If you are a connoisseur of ramen, you’ll come here and have a great experience,” said Mr. Mekpongsatorn. “If you’ve never had ramen, this is also a great place to start.”
