I’ve been craving some good ramen, especially after watching a certain ramen western movie. I always relied on Daikokuya in Little Tokyo as it’s the closest for me (seems like words have spread and it’s getting insanely overcrowded and you have to tolerate table-hogging people who would order bento set there). But inspired by the Japanese queueing spirit, sometimes you just have to make the effort to drive far for some outstanding ramen. This ramen joint Santouka is located in the food court of Torrance’s Mitsuwa Market. I passed by it many times and always tempted by their display. 
I got the regular Shio (Salt) Soup set, which comes with a Ikura bowl. The soup is so rich and deeply flavored with pork bone (? guess, it has several flavor). For the first time I want to empty the bowl. The noodle is not as chewy as I liked, but pretty good. It came with 2 slices of meat: one regular salted slice and another darken ham-like slice. Melt-in-your-mouth good~
I went back to try the Shoyu (Soy Sauce) Soup. It’s just as good but I prefer the Salt soup more. I got the natto (fermented soy bean) bowl side this time and I absolutely LOVE it! Not only I’ve found my favorite ramen in LA but I’m also officially a natto-convert. ^^;;;
Basically they have 3 soup: salt, soy sauce and miso. There’s also a ‘premium pork’ set that I haven’t tried (it comes with 6-7 slices of pork).
Rumor: the West LA Mitsuwa on Centinela is currently under remodeling now, and I heard that someone said that Tampopo is going to be replaced by a branch of Santouka! If it’s true, woohoo!!!
山頭火 Santouka (inside Mitsuwa Marketplace)
21515 S Western Ave. Torrance, CA 90501
Hey, now I’m one of those idiots. They make a great pork katsu, hubby shares his ramen. But in deference to the waiting we try to keep it quick.
never knew the ramen there in Mitsuwa was so good!
btw how did you make the natto convert!?
quite an amazing feat!!
The original shop of Santouka is in Ebisu, I remember I used to queue in the cold for ages for the Shio ramen(yes the soup is tonkotsu – pork bone). The premium pork is probably the ultimately soft, melt-in-your-mouth pork I used to be crazy about, you have got to try! But not by yourself, it is a lot!
Though now there are quite a few branches even in Japan so you don’t really need to queue anymore.
Seat: wow I didn’t know this was a famous ramen shop in Japan! Even have the same menu~ Were the queueing days for you way before you started the blog?
Tomoko, it opened in Mitsuwa Torrance after you’ve left LA~
Awww sorry Tinitime, the idiot comment were target at tables of people I saw all the time who seem to be oblivious that it is a ramen joint and only ordered bento, while a growing desperate ramen-crazed crowd was queueing to get to their bowls of ramen…^^;; (fire in my eyes).
(geez this entry got link at Eater LA and I started to get nameless rude comments…DELETE action take care of that).
do you know if they are remodeling the whole entire Mitsuwa supermarket at that location in WLA?
I think everyone who likes ramen knows Santouka. It is made into cup noodles too(^^;;). Yeah the queuing days were quite a few years ago. I tried the whole menu by myself(including the little rice bowls, the premium pork that used to get sold out very quickly), then whenever some foreigner friends visit Tokyo, I will bring them there, so I have eaten so many times that I actually got tired of it. ^^;;;
The Mitsuwa in West LA on Centinela and Venice is remodeling the whole store and Santoka is replacing Tampopo. They expect it to be finish by Dec 12 because according to some poster I saw, there will be a buy one get one free deal for the ramen for the grand opening on Dec 13-15. The Mitsuwa looks so much bigger now.
The Mitsuwa in West LA on Centinela and Venice is remodeling the whole store and Santoka is replacing Tampopo. They expect it to be finish by Dec 12 because according to some poster I saw, there will be a buy one get one free deal for the ramen for the grand opening on Dec 13-15. The Mitsuwa looks so much bigger now.
That’s great news! thanks Susy~ I can’t wait to try the Santouka there!