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It’s been tough finding good eats on the Peninsula. The mom and pop shops are few and far between and you’re far more likely to bump into a Quiznos or a Subway than a bonafide sandwich shop. But today, we found a real gem — Ramen Club in Burlingame. It’s a hole in the wall in the best sense — it couldn’t seat more than 25 people, and it’s tucked away on California Avenue, situated next to a hair salon and another diner/cafe that doesn’t seem to be open weekends.
We got there around 1 p.m. and it was busy, but managed to snag a table for two. The people didn’t stop coming the entire time we were there. And you can see why – a simple menu of ramen, udon and yakisoba as well as a few sushi selections, this place focuses on a few things and seems to do them all well.
We started with an order of gyoza — whose wrappers seemed to be stuffed with a mix of green onion and perhaps tofu. We didn’t ask and I couldn’t quite see what the special board said might be in them, but there were darn tasty with a shoyu/sesame dipping sauce.
I had the original udon and added char siu – which ended up being odd little boiled pork shoulder medallions that tasted faintly like char siu, but lacked the roasted exterior and red dye #4 coloring. The broth was just right — not too salty and the noodles were accompanied generously with seaweed, which tasted fresh rather than dried and some green onions. Wolf had the shoyu ramen which also included some char siu and had a rich soy sauce broth, but again it wasn’t too salty.
I’d hoped they’d have the Kitsune Udon, which I tried to order, but I guess they didn’t have the fried tofu today. Next time!