Ramen Josui 如水

🇯🇵 JAPAN
📍 2212 Artesia Blvd., Torrance, South Bay
🅿️ Ample parking in plaza
🥤 Beer, sake, and shochu

If you have ever traveled to Nagoya, it is almost a certainty that you sought out the small ramen shop known as Tokugawacho Josui Honten, a chukasoba-style purveyor that specializes in simple shio bowls but dips its toes into many others. It was almost stunning when they decided to open a branch in North Torrance in the spring of 2019, and even more stunning that besides local South Bay communities this opening went fairly unnoticed.

Just over four years from their grand opening, Ramen Josui is still crafting delicious bowls of their signature dish and has other reasons to visit as well. The shop is usually full of a good mixture of patrons from all over Gardena and Torrance, with mixed families, non-Japanese, and always a few solo male diners at the bar coming after work nearby.

The 6 piece order was a "mistake" the first visit.

The 10 piece order is necessary ever since.

 

Even those customers that have never been to Nagoya or heard about this ramen shop will immediately see the connection, which is alluded to in a few spots on the menu. The large city in central Honshu is often passed over as people go between Tokyo and Kyoto/Osaka, but it has culinary treasures all its own and should not be skipped if given the time. Thankfully residents of the South Bay and Greater Los Angeles now have access to good renditions of the famous shop's food.

If you are debating a chicken appetizer, skip the karaage (a much better version is available at nearby Hakata Ikkousha Ramen and other locations) and go straight for the fried chicken wings ($6.75, above). More than other starters, these are a specialty of Nagoya and prepared in the style most popular there: full of white pepper and garlic and dipped in a seasoned, citrus-y soy sauce. These will beat 99% of wings in the area and are the real finger-lickin' good chicken.

The namesake Josui ramen ($10.80, above) has the pork and chicken stock the shop is recognized for, and is almost always the bowl underneath the Japanese men who come to solo slurp. This is a good indication that it should be your starting point on the menu, despite its very simple look and presentation. Plenty of extras are listed on the menu if you desire, but the bowl without additional toppings is just as good as anything.

The menu describes the stock being "finished with fish," but one sip will reveal a well-balanced niboshi depth. This complexity works very well with the shio characteristics, and the noodles are always skillfully cooked. Two pieces of very thin, buttery chashu are layered over the finished product, and are good enough that you might consider an extra order when you come again.

There are other worthy appetizers if you want more on your table besides the fried chicken wings, like the takowasa ($4.50, above), fresh raw octopus covered in zippy wasabi. This izakaya classic is especially good when paired with some of the shop's more rich and creamy bowls of ramen.

The gyoza ($5.50, below) come in an order of five and are quite small, leaving plenty of room in the stomach for the full bowls of ramen to be finished. They will likely not be the show-stopper of any meal, as gyoza never really are, but they do have their place and will not let you down.

When you come enough you might want to venture to other bowls, which other customers seem to be enjoying next to you. A bowl of miso ramen ($11.50, above) is supremely rich and creamy, combining their signature stock with miso and adding ground chicken, bean sprouts, and sweet yellow corn. A chunk of butter is laid on top and can be mixed in for an extra chance of heart attack, but really this can be removed if you feel the broth is rich enough.

The tantan men ($13, below) seemed especially popular with reviewers online, and comes nicely un-spiked with spice as it should. Many random ramen shops load this style with too much heat to cover up the lack of flavor, but this is more along the lines of the much more tame version that first arrived in Japan from China (filtered through notoriously mild Shanghai flavor palates). The bowl is heavy with sesame creaminess and a good depth of flavor, so it could use a touch more spice if you please.

Ventures to these other options unfortunately left a longing for the namesake bowls enjoyed on previous visits. When the shoyu is eventually ordered someday it will be added to this space, but if it were not clear already any first order should be the Josui ramen.

The overcast days and misty mornings of May in Los Angeles are perfect weather for ramen. Before endless summer arrives and other foods are more desired, get in a few trips for Nagoya-style noodles before it gets too hot.

🇯🇵🇯🇵🇯🇵

I COULD USE YOUR HELP

Eat the World Los Angeles is and always has been free. It is a hobby born of passion and never solicits money or free food from restaurants. No advertisements block the content or pop over what you read. If this website has helped you explore your city and its wonderful cultures a little better please tell your friends about us and if you have the means to contribute, please consider doing so. Eat the World Los Angeles is a labor of love, but also takes a lot of money and time everyday to keep running.
Thank you!

VENMO: @JAREDCOHEE

CASH APP: $JaredCohee

PAYPAL: (no account necessary, use link)