Shortly after my Noodle Voyage, I went back to Mottainai Ramen with a couple of people that didn't make it to that part of the voyage. Unfortunately, they happened to be closed that day so given that we had already made our way down to Gardena with ramen on our minds we decided to go to Hakata Ramen Shinsengumi, which was not too far away from Mottainai. This place seems to be one of the most rated and most highly rated ramen spots on Yelp, but I'd have to say my experience wasn't quite as great as the 800 or so reviewers on Yelp.

When we arrived I saw a bucket of a disgusting and unidentifiable liquid about 3 feet from the door of this place. I blocked this out of my mind as we entered and despite all the warnings about how crowded this place gets, we were lucky enough to get seated right away at the large common table. Ready to eat, I scanned the menu and then the piece of paper we were given to order from but couldn't understand why this process was so complex. It wasn't just the fact that we had to write it down - the matrix they use to order from wasn't clear and we had to clarify a few times where to write our orders and side orders. Seriously, I sat there quite bewildered at how unnecessarily complicated it was to order. On the bright side they do offer a few options such as how soft you want your noodles.

They forgot about our beer order so we had to remind them. Maybe they work better when it's really busy. The food itself was solid. Fried rice was good but nothing particularly special. Ramen broth was also good and like Mottainai they provide a separate plate with the spicy paste. After trying both though I prefer Mottainai.

Didn't take pictures this time around.

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