Himawari Ramen

San Mateo (just south of SFO on da 101) is the Bay Area’s epicentre of ramen. Most, if not all of the shops with “good ramen” are all here.
The old standard bearer is Santa Ramen. And with visiting Santa, the old rules still apply. “Leave San Francisco at 1600 for dinner of stewed pork ramen at 1800.”
Sometimes that’s impractical, even for good ramen (unless you are in Shinjuku waiting at Men-ya Musashi). We (me and my flatmate and his fren) got to Santa at 1845 and saw the 60 minute long queue. We (collectively) said “screw it” and drove back to downtown San Mateo and Himawari Ramen on 2nd Avenue.
Himawari is a newer player on the ramen block and both Santa and Himawari have their detractors and defenders. They are a younger group of people running the restaurant and it shows in the decor and menu choices. Santa is in an old store of some sort and the menu has the basic ramen dishes, appetizers and beer, Himawari has a modern Japanese design and has shochu cocktails in addition to a long sake list and different appetizers. Think Shitamachi versus Daikanyama and you’ll get the idea.
I had a Calpico-hi, a thirst quenching beverage made from Calpico and shochu. Yum. Hic. This got me thinking. I have shochu at home. I also have Pocari Sweat. Put the two together….!
WAHAHAHAH! Ahem…time for appetiser.

It’s pork that’s fried. I forgot the name and those aren’t my hashi in the pic!
The meal of the evening all around was tonkotsu ramen (AKA Kyushu-men).

It’s art, I tell ya! ART!
Himawari uses thinner ramen than Santa so the ramen has a satisfying “snap” when you bite into them. The broth isn’t quite as rich as Santa’s but is still flavorful. It could have been a bit hotter when it got to the table, but there were three orders and I was busy taking pictures…
All in all, a worthy competitior to Santa and now I’ve got two places I can go to for my ramen fix!
Himawari
202 2nd Avenue
San Mateo CA 94401
650-375-1005