There are other Japanese soup and noodle houses around town, some of them are quite good, but Santouka is in a class all it’s own.  If you haven’t been there, GO!

I am hooked on their salt ramen.  Which is just sliced pork in their fairly plain, unspiced, soup base.  Recently I learned about the shio ramen.  That is a special cut of the pork from the cheeks.  Super tender, melt in your mouth, pork that approaches butter in richness.  It is also considered a salt ramen.

I’ve heard others rave about their spicy ramen but I just can’t bring myself to try it because their broth is just so beautifully balanced and the pork is so tender that it seems to me that spiciness could only detract.  I love spicy but am thinking perhaps, not in this case.

Also, everything comes in three sizes.  The medium is really big and I could hardly imagine ever ordering the large, unless you were going to share.

This is located within Mitsuwa Market, a really great shop on it’s own.  Just southwest of the Balboa and Highway 163.