Monday, February 5, 2018

Asian Soup

February is the height of cold and flu season, so for me that means it is soup season :) While I love making my own, there are times when soup is just better when someone else makes it for you! Aside from their phenomenal Hainan Chicken, the roasted chicken soup at Side Chick is an excellent alternative; it combines the crispy skin of a roasted chicken with chicken bone broth, noodles, and tender greens all in one hearty, healthy bowl. As with many of the soups in today's post, this is a great take out option for a sick friend or yourself if you are not feeling well.

I've been wanting to try Killer Noodle since they opened, and when a friend on the Westside was running several hours late, I decided to stop in for a 'snack". Tsujita now has THREE storefronts all in the same area, including the original, where I ate right after they first opened in 2011. This latest outpost is radically chic, from the moment you walk in, the black backdrop and colorful containers let you know that this is not your hole in the wall ramen shop.
 For newbies to noodles and soups, every condiment is labeled.
I got the medium spice, which was perfectly hot to be able to finish the entire bowl
 of delicious rich broth with ground pork
 while using about five napkins to blow my nose and dab my eyes :)
For a much less intense soup, but hearty complex flavors, a Vietnamese Oxtail pho is a great choice. Pho Ha Noi (get it?) serves a very large portion for their version. Easily enough to share, I took half of this home and had two more meals with the leftovers! As you can probably tell from the photo, the oxtails were not really warm, but since they were going into the soup, they were fine, especially since they had great flavor and were very tender.
 The broth was very good, with enough flavor to infuse the beef.
 The usual side accompanied the soup.
One of the times I went to HMart hungry I got their kimchee soup which perfectly hit the spot on a rainy gray day, delivering a spicy bubbly tonic to brighten the day.

The last soup in today's post is from Ruiji, the Sichuan place that came highly recommended; I found it worthy of all the recommendations after just one taste of their food. I ordered the Mao Sih Wong, a melange of blood sausage, intestines, and a plethora of vegetables. This immense, intense bowl is definitely not everyone's cup of tea, and although I enjoyed it, I'm not sure I would order it again, but it was so complex, so intense, and so unique, it made me want to go back for more dishes.
This is the bowl after I mixed it a bit....the amount of blood cake was overwhelming to me, especially since I found I love French and Spanish blood sausage, but not Chinese. I loved all the vegetables, and the chewy intestines and tripe :)
Does anyone have any South Bay ramen favorites to recommend?

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