Hakata Ikkousha Tonkatsu Ramen In Costa Mesa
The Background
The first Hakata Ikkousha hails from Fukoaka, Japan and first opened in 2004. It now has a number of restaurants thorughout Japan and can also be found in Singapore, Indonesia, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Australia, USA, and Canada. A pretty incredible expansion within a fairly small time frame.
When you break down the name it means one (Ichi) happy (ko) space (sha). A great combination of words to name a ramen restauarant since a nice hot bowl of ramen should indeed make for a “one happy space”.
Fortunately (for me), the three US locations are all located in Southern Calfornia. I went and checked out the Costa Mesa restaurant recently.
The Experience
The restaurant is in very busy center in Costa Mesa. It can become a parking nightmare at dinner time so I went for lunch. I got here about ten minutes after it opened (11:30 am). It’s a pretty small place. It started getting busy during the lunch rush and was filling up quickly.
The menu had quite a few different types of ramen broths to choose from. The Black Tonkotsu, God Fire, Mentai, and Black Devil Ramen all sounded super interesting.
When I go to a new ramen spot I always like trying their signature ramen, what they’re known for. It’s generally the Tonkatsu ($14) so that’s what I went with. They have a solid lunch combo menu where you can add a side dish for a little extra so I went with the 1/2 fried rice. All in all a pretty solid deal ~ $17.50.
Service was very attentive and the food came out within 10 minutes.
The Ramen
Like the best tonkotsu broths, Ikkousha’s broth is extracted from pork bones over 30 hours long. This bowl comes a with a piece of pork chashu, black fungus, and spring onions.
I don’t ever recall seeing Tonkatsu ramen coming out so frothy like this before. The broth is rich, with a light umami taste. This doesn’t have a really deep flavor and isn’t overly rich for a tonkotsu broth though. It’s nice middle of the road flavor.
Only one piece of chashu comes with the ramen. It’s a good sized piece, but it’s disappointing that you need to shell out more money for an additional piece or two. The chashu itself was good. It was tender with good flavor.
The noodles here a very thin but definitely have a freshness to them and are tasty. I got the normal firmness and it was a little too firm for my liking. The next visit I’d definitely get soft, but that’s obviously a personal preference..
The black fungus mushroom shreds add a welcome different kind of texture to the ramen. They didn’t really have any kind of taste to them, purely provided texture to the bowl. Something that’s always welcome.
The Fried Rice
The fried rice had bits of pork in it with egg, onion, and green onion. The pork bits had great flavor and the fried rice had a bit of a charred bbq taste to it. There’s definitely a lot of onion pieces in here. I enjoyed the abundance of onion initially but got a little tired of it the more I ate. Overall an enjoyable fried rice!
The Verdict
There’s many many ramen options in Orange County and it’s hard to standout with so many delicious places to choose. Hakata Ikkousha Tonkatsu Ramen is a solid ramen option.
The tonkatsu broth is on the lighter side yet remains flavorful. It’s a good tonkatsu broth if you’re wanting something that’s not going to put you in a coma after.
I wouldn’t put Ikkousha at the top of my favorite ramen places I’ve visited in Orange County. But it’s certainly a nice change of pace and provides a good ramen option in the Costa Mesa area.
