Shio and Shoyu Ramen Santouka in Santa Monica

Sankouka started in the early 80’s with their shio ramen.  The owner is once quoted in the beginning as saying “I’m going to make delicious ramen”.  And to this day, you can tell they put love and respect into their ramen.  This early attitude can be attributed to their ramen dominance. Santouka has locations all over the states. I believe all of their locations are inside of Japanese market chain Mitsuwa

The shio (salt based) ramen is pretty mild and light. In fact, so mild and light that I think you could probably eat this daily and not feel bad about your health. They top off their signature bowls with a red plum on top and comes in a thick walled bowl that has a deep blue coloring it. The bowl is thicker than most and helps keep the ramen warm while you eat it. The unique blue outside sticks out from most bowl designs.

This is the shio. Light and mild flavor in the broth. Medium hard and round noodles. Chashu melts in your mouth. The plum on top is purely cosmetic. It’s pretty sour so just put that aside when you get you bowl. Egg is extra with their bowls. They have hard style eggs, so I omit from my order.

Shio ramen

This is the shoyu. Notice that the broth is a little darker than above? That’s the soy sauce (shoyu) that gives it the darker look and richer flavor when compared to the shio counterpart.

shoyu ramen

I’m wearing a Sankouta shirt that I purchased a long time ago from a local store that was doing a ramen promotion.

Noodle pull with my Santouka branded t-shrt

You can find out more about Santouka on their site https://www.santouka.co.jp/en/story