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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.
You fill out the order sheet and it gets picked up by the server 
The lunch combo menu 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.
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HiroNori Craft Ramen – Irvine, CA | Authentic Broth And Sauce With Fresh Ramen Noodles
The Background
HiroNori opened their first restaurant back in 2017 and have now expanded to 13 locations throughout California, primarily in Southern California. The popular ramen restaurant has received numerous awards from local food critics since its opening. Notable awards include being selected to join the 2019 Michelin Guide and most recently being named a Michelin Guide Bib of the Week in 2023. In other words, this place serves some quality ramen!
HiroNori has three different types of ramen: Tonkotsu Ramen, Shoyu Ramen, and Vegan Ramen. The best known is the Tonkatsu Ramen. The Tonkatsu broth is made in a traditional Japanese manner, prepared with simmered pork bones as its base. The broth takes 24 hours to prepare. The quality and depth of flavor is a positive reflection of this broth preperation.
The Experience
The location I went to was the original restaurant in a small shopping center off Michelson Drive in Irvine. It opens up at 11am so I got there around 11:15am on a Thursday to grab a bowl of Ramen for lunch. One side note here: parking gets really bad in this center during peak hours. It’s a small parking lot for so many restuarants and shops.
On this day, at this time, parking was not too bad. HiroNori itself can get very busy at dinner. It’s a rather small space, so it fills up rapidly. By the time I got to the restaurant, there was no line, but the restaurant was already half full.
There’s no sign above the restaurant. You’ll hvae to find the HiroNori logo on the door. Or just follow the line 
In addition to the ramen HiroNori offers a few rice bowl selections and sides. As mentioned above, there’s three different types of ramen here: Tonkatsu, Shoyu, and Vegan. Tonkatsu ($16.30) was a no-brainer selection for me.
A nice touch here as I waited for my ramen was the water. Yes, I know water is generally an afterthought, but here the water was infused with watermelon, lemon, and mint. Quite refreshing on a summer day!
After sipping on my water, the ramen came out shortly thereafter. Superb service!
Topped with two pieces of pork chashu, green onion, spinach, seaweed, bean sprouts, and a half egg ,this ramen had a lot going on. Just by looking at the hue of the broth, I could tell this was going to be extremely rich.
The broth was indeed very rich and provided quite a unique flavor. Because of its richness, this broth carried more weight than other Tonkatsu broths. With the broth taking 24 hours to prepare there’s a distinct, deep porky flavor, which I haven’t experienced elsewhere. It’s a VERY flavorful Tonkatsu broth.
The pork chashu is very tender and nearly falls apart when picked up. Nicely grilled with fantastic char flavor, this was some good pork chashu. I loved the fat to meat ratio on the two pieces as well!
HiroNori makes fresh noodles daily and it’s readily apparent in both texture and flavor. The noodles are al dente, with great springiness, and are a little thicker than other ramen noodles.
The half egg was great as well. Somewhat between a hard boiled and poached egg. The yolk was very creamy and tasty.
Every bite of the ramen contains multiple layers of textures to enjoy from the noodles, to the pork, the egg, the spinach, seaweed, and green onion. Washing it down with some of that flavor filled broth was truly satisyfying.
The Verdict
HiroNori Craft Ramen offers a unique Tonkatsu Ramen experience. The broth has such a deep, pork infused flavor compared to other Tonkatsu Ramen broths. It’s a real standout. Combined with the freshly made noodles, tender pork chashu, and veggies, it all adds up to one tasty bowl of ramen.
HiroNori stands toe to toe with some of the best ramen locations in Orange County, of which there are many. If you’re in the area of one of their many locations it’s definitely worth a try!
