There be a restaurant in olde London’s Soho that doth bear a suspicious resemblance to another, one just down the road and around a corner. If imitation is a sincere form of flattery, what do you call it when a noodle shop gets even its *ahem* homage slightly wrong? Ramen Seto is all washed out in orange paint, or maybe that’s the blush of embarrassment.

Rameniac emerges from hiatus on the far side of the Atlantic, ready to tackle a crop of noodle shops in the UK and beyond! First up, Taro, a venerable old joint that is about as authentically Japanese as you can get - in the heart of London’s Soho! Take the tube to Piccadilly Circus, round the bend at Uniqlo (really?) You’ll find it. Cheers!

Cheese in ramen may seem like a half-baked gimmick, but it’s more sensible than one would think at first. Proper noodling is all about the umami, and good cheese, like the “tomme tomme” served at Tukumo in Ebisu, Tokyo, injects a mighty amount of sensation into an ordinary bowl of miso ramen. It’s no wonder this limited quantity specialty sells out daily. Ramen chefs take note. The curd is calling.

Sapporo Rai Rai rounds out rameniac’s latest trip to the fiftieth state. With stiff competition from a number of famed local eateries just down the road, can this nominal noodler survive on a sun-drenched stretch of paradise? It’s locals only when you’re this far off the beach…

What’s this? It looks like a weed has grown out of rameniac’s shoyu ramen! Its true he often takes a while in between posts, but… oh wait, it’s just spicy mustard greens from a bowl of “ao ramen” at Kiwami in Waikiki, arguably the most Japanese of Japanese noodle shops between Ala Moana and Diamond Head. Now what does that even mean?

Ramen Ezogiku is a Honolulu institution, a miso ramen joint from Tokyo that made its way to the islands some thirty years ago. If you’re looking for something down home and familiar, this could be the place, with noodles like mom might have made them or the stuff you had in your high school cafeteria growing up. But nostalgia can only get you so far…

Waikiki’s Ramen Nakamura is home to something you don’t see every slurp, ox-tail ramen! How do those gnarly, gristly chunks of bovine fare in a bowl of otherwise familiar shio-based noodles? Stop in for a bite on your way to the surf and the snorkel, and be glad Honolulu has got it goin’ on.

Sapporo Restaurant is as old as Times Square itself, a noodle shop from the days when the Dutch purchased New Amsterdam for trinkets and a few slabs of chashu. Ok, so I lie. But this veritable New York landmark has indeed been around for years, and has even been featured on the big screen! How’s that for coming to America in style?

A multi-meal afternoon at Yokohama’s famed Raumen Museum yields a bounty of noodle-slurping treasures, beginning with Asahikawa’s Hachiya. Sixty years strong and what do you have to show for it? Burnt oil, saltwater, and a whole lot of flavor to be sure…

Rameniac is kickin’ it old school with Umemura, the ramen shop he grew up with. Well, that might be stretching the truth a bit, as he’s one of those guys that hasn’t really grown up all that much. But has one of Southern California’s oldest and most venerated ramen shops matured any over the years? That’s a good question…

You know things are foo-bar’d when a cheap knock off can sully the reputation of a perfectly fine ramen shop. Tucked into the middle of nowhere, the original Foo Foo Tei serves up a menu of David Lynchian weirdness that sounds worse than it really is. Like Twin Peaks, nanchatte paitan ramen isn’t for everyone!

Intrigue plagues the existence of dual Foo Foo Tei in the San Gabriel Valley. Spite and litigation apparently abound, and rumor has it that the Monterey Park branch is merely a cheap knock-off of the Hacienda Heights original. All theatrics aside, are its noodles even worth fussing over? 

Sandwiched in a strip mall in West L.A.‘s Little Osaka, Kinchans’s svelte location on Sawtelle is within proximity of boba shops, giant robots, and Asian hipsters galore. The place has been around forever, but does anyone actually eat there? If so, excellent. But if not, there has gots to be a reason why!

It’s that time of year again! This year’s Hokkaido Fair at the Torrance Mitsuwa Marketplace featured Sumire, all the way from Sapporo! The great buttery north of Japan is home to miso ramen and one of the most popular noodle styles on the planet. How does it play in LA?

In the shadow of the Giant Robot empire stands Asahi Ramen, a neighborhood institution on West L.A.‘s Sawtelle Blvd. But the times they are a-changin’. How does a once popular ramen shop stack up in the new era of specialized soups and regional styles?

Rameniac takes his first, tentative steps behind the Orange Curtain to uncover the treasure trove of ramen shops in Los Angeles’ neighbor to the south. Does Chinese Restaurant Kohryu yield a pot of gold at the end of the 405 freeway?

Finding Eastern Hiroshima-style onomichi ramen on a menu in Los Angeles is like finding a gatefold pressing of Scott Walker’s Scott 4 in the dollar bin at your local record store. It just doesn’t happen. Or does it? All things are possible with love and Shin Mama…

Finally! Rameniac takes a seventh-inning stretch from his San Francisco chronicles to revel in the glory of quite possibly the best, most authentic example of regional ramen outside of Japan, certainly in Southern California at least. Presenting the food court phenomenon that is Santouka!

Santa Ramen inspires a cult-like following in and around the environs of San Mateo, California. There’s a perpetual wait to get in the door, but is this temple of Bay Area noodling worth it’s weight in m. glutamate? Check in with rameniac as he checks it out!

Why is this kid smiling? Could it be because he makes the best shoyu ramen in the Bay Area? Kahoo Ramen is the sudden heir to the Do Henkotsu throne in San Jose’s Mitsuwa Marketplace, and Sou Nakano is filling some mighty big shoes. I’m jealous, wunderkinds like him get all the girls!