Tonkasu Ramen @ Izakaya Sozai

I didn't use to like noodle soup/ramen/pho, or simply anything drench in a soup form. Now that whenever I see soup or noodle soup on the menu, regardless where and what I am eatting, I found myself attracted to ordering my daily dose of soup. I blame all this to one of my dearest roommies, Galeen, or Mrs. Wong soon-to-be, or the soup devil! Galeen is an all time soup lover. And if there is one thing she could not live w/o on her food list, it would be SOUP! When we were roomming with her, we made sure soup was always a stable on the dinner table.

So yesterday, after Galeen's UCSF graduation ceremony, we had lunch in Sunset area. We parked our car near Izakaya Sozai and was reminded of their yummy Tonkasu Ramen. As the name entails, Izakaya Sozai is an Izakaya house and not a ramen joint. However, they have got one of the best bowl of Tonkasu Ramen in the bay area. I have had try quite a few ramen joints in the area as well as trying the real ones in Japan, I think this place serves decent ramen. I remember when I first tried out this place when they first opened, I came for the Izakaya (small plates). Since it's Izakaya style, they serve everything small plate and the menu was quite limited, so when we saw filling ramen on the menu we gave it a try. While everything on the menu was mediocre, the ramen was surpringly great. It's nothing fancy, but straight to the point: tasty pork broth, half cooked egg, sheet of seaweed, and springles of union. The noodle was bouncy and chewy too. Now when we return to Izakaya Sozai, we return for the ramen and only complement our meal with the small plates.

btw, their ramen is now on the 2011 SF 100 things to try list
http://www.7x7.com/big-eat-2011-100-things-try-san-francisco-you-die