Fukagawa — Restaurant in Gardena

Entering Fukagawa and looking around the large room, I sense that the original owners were far more ambitious in trying to create a more traditional space with intricate wood work that is no longer found in newer Japanese eateries. Fukagawa has been a long time specialist in native Japanese pasta, namely thinner Soba made mostly from buckwheat & thicker Udon made from wheat.

Ra-men is a relative newcomer to the Japanese culinary scene making its debut sometime in the late 19th century. Fukagawa seems to adhere more to the traditional, more restrained flavours versus Ra-men which can be over the top in its flavour profile as well as being full of unhealthful fats to add to its richness.

Just as the major division is North vs South for the U.S. in terms of culture, food, dialects, politics, Japan is divided between the East/Kanto- region and the West/Kansai region.

Fukagawa offers soup broth that is Kansai in style which is much lighter & clearer in color or the Kanto- style soup broth which has a good addition of Sho-yu/soy sauce. The broth itself seems to be an amalgam of Kombu/kelp & Katsuo Bushi/bonito flake.

I opted for the warm Soba in the lighter Kansai style broth with Kinoko/mushroom which was Enoki or small straw mushrooms w/ a slice of Kamaboko/steamed fish terrine & Ohitashi/blanched green spinach.

There was a small side dish of chopped green onion to add to the soup. I also ordered a side of Tempura which consisted of three shrimp, two Shishito- /Japanese green peppers, one Shi-take mushroom.

The delicate broth worked well w/ the slightly nutty flavoured Soba. Unfortunately for me, the Soba noodles were over-cooked so that it lacked Hagotae/al dente texture. It was slightly mushy which detracted from the dish. I added a bit of Shichimi To-garashi/7 flavour Chile powder to add a bit of piquancy to enliven the nuanced broth.

The Tempura may not have been exemplary, but it was executed well enough for the shrimps & Shishito-. I believe that the Shitake mushroom was dried & was reconstituted by soaking in water. However, the revived Shi-take mushroom was not drained properly so that when I bit into the crispy Tempura crust & into the Shi-take, excess water spurted out. It was a surprise I was not expecting.

Service is prompt & efficient. Our waitress was helpful in figuring out how to accommodate my order since the standard menu couldn't take into account my ordering Kinoko Soba combined w/ the Tempura.

Lunch time service was quick which would make Fukagawa a good place for workers to take their lunch time break. 4- stars for a...

have not been to Fukagawa in ages. In Ages, I mean over 10 years. I remember coming here with my folks having a great bowl of Nabeyaki udon here from back in the days. I always remember the tempura here was nice and crispy and not overly greasy. They haven't lost a step in doing tempura as of today. We got a side of tempura. (more on this later)

However, when I went in the other day with my folks during a weekday lunch not much has changed in terms of what I remembered. The big oversized chairs and tables, the layout, the rooms all indicative of a quintessential Japanese restaurant. I had ordered the tonkatsu donburi lunch special for $12 and it comes with miso soup, rice, and small side cabbage. ( I say cabbage and not tsukemono because it came dry). The donburi came separately from the rice and what shocked me was the rice didn't taste hot nor fresh. We were there early, around 11:30am and I would think they have a fresh batch of rice but it didn't taste like it.

The side soba tasted good as you can get it in cold or hot but I felt the wasabi and the dipping sauce was just too little.

As for the tempura side order it comes with 2 shrimps, 2 sweet potato, 1 fried mushroom. What I had problems was, one of my sweet potato tasted undone, it was a bit hard but it was edible. The other sweet potato was fine.

Part of me wished we didn't come here as my good food experience memories of here has tarnished a little. Maybe I will come here for breakfast one of these days and hope I can regain some of those great...

I've been to Fukagawa quite a few times now. Each time has been a great experience. The location itself can be hard to find since their sign is a bit hidden. If you're facing Marukai market, look to your right and it's at the very end of the row, hidden in the corner. The decor inside is a bit dated and minimal, but I think the restaurant provides a great atmosphere for having a conversation over a meal. It rarely gets noisy and no loud music playing.

Now onto the food... the menu is quite extensive, maybe even overwhelming. However, each page is categorized so if you're in the mood for soba/udon, just turn to that page. I'm a creature of habit and tried a couple of their soba dishes. Totoro is one of them and the special egg was the highlight. The creamy/stretchy texture made eating the soba noodles more fun, the soup base was light, yet flavorful. Another time, I just had hot soba with tempura on the side. Tempura was not dripping with oil and the skin was light and crunchy. I've also had their katsu chicken (comes with rice) and the chicken portion was large! I had 2 of the 5 pieces and was already full.

Overall, I do like eating here, but the prices are a bit high compared to other soba/udon places in the area. The dishes I've tried really reminded me of "home cooking." Lastly, the place rarely gets full and people come and go quickly, some of my meals here have been almost 2 hours, but no one has...