WADAYA - West LA — Restaurant in Los Angeles

Sawtelle continues to be the ramen mecca of all of LA and just as I thought the area couldn’t get better… in comes Mogumogu.

Mogumogu's addition of Mazemen adds a fresh air to Tsujita's tsukemen, Annex's miso ramen, and Killer noodle's numbing tantanmen.

Mazemen is a soup-less ramen akin to tsukemen, but instead of dipping the noodles into a broth, the 'gravy' is sitting on the bottom of the bowl and the components (such as garlic, green onions, katsuobushi powder, ajitama, spicy ground pork, and chasu) are beautifully arranged on top. When you receive the bowl, pop the poached egg and vigorously mix everything for about 30 seconds. Eat until about a third of the noodles are left and add the savory vinegar (like you would a lime with tsukemen). Once the noodles are gone, you’re offered a scoop of white rice to finish off the delicious traces of the bowl.

Now for the food -- The noodles - cooked to perfection, and very similar to Tsujita’s thicker noodles. I suspect they’re both sourced from the local Sun noodles, if not made in-house.

Ajitama - the bowl comes with a half boiled ajitama AND a poached egg. Soft yolk and pickled just right.

Chasu - the deluxe only came with 2 pieces, but they were both tender and melt in your mouth. It was sliced thicker than what I’m used to, almost like a Korean style samgyupsaal

Broth - this is the highlight. Not overly salty and with the spicy ground pork that comes as a base to the Tokyo and the Deluxe, it packs a geat level of about 2 out of 10. One thing to note, if you like spicy, take it easy on the chili oil. It was sesame oil based so it adds TONS of flavor in addition to the heat. The scallions add a nice crunch and contrast to it. The raw minced garlic comes as default, so be sure to opt for more [or less] accordingly. The katsuobushi adds a nice depth without being fishy. I tend to keep the nori separately while mixing and they were a great addition.

Setting - great daytime lighting and the owners are extremely sweet. The music wasn’t on too loud and the 2 TVs were playing Pokemon and the original Neon Genesis Evangelion. There is no bar for solo diners (ramen is the perfect solo lunch for work), but there were plenty of smaller tables to accommodate solo and small party diners. There were also 2 larger tables that could easily seat 6-8 people at a time.

Parking - perhaps the only downside, there’s only a few metered spots in front and the streets adjacent to it are all reserved parking for residents (No parking 8a-6p unless if you have the local parking tag). I parked a little further away and walked there.

I can’t wait to be back, it’s the only place in the area...

Started out entering the place and we were not even "welcomed" with a "Irrashai" or anything at all, we had to signal to the 3 server people at the back counter to see if we could grab the empty table, one of them sort of just pointed at it so we sat down, and then it took them another 5 minutes to bring us the water and utensils while we had already done looking at the Online Menu. Then the server was really not very communicative, barely said anything as we gave her the order. Food came in due time, which was fine. The chicken fry had decent flavor but overly sweet, there was one with a crusty bone, I think or something that was really hard like bone that I couldn't chew, it nearly broke my tooth. The chicken thing is more like a sesame ball type thing with barley any chicken in it, it was so covered in the crust to hide the fact that they use very little chicken, and with extra sweet taste to hide the fact that it's not that good. The noodle, as everybody knows now, is more like pasta, where the noodles and the bits take main stage and there is no soup, but more like a sauce. I got the Deluxe which has everything, but it was overly garlicky, a bit too strong for my taste, it doesn't need to hurt with this much garlic, again after a while you can't really taste anything but the strong almost acid-like sauce that is made worse by the hot spice. This is the kind of flavor that is liked by people who eat too much hot and spicy foods who have lost their taste buds for anything else, who like to stink themselves up with bad garlic breath for days. It's not a good sign when I can still taste the strong acidic garlic and hot spices in my mouth the next day, it can't be good for the body at all. The servers were too busy dealing with their stuff at the counter, they have way too much take-out to deal with as usual in our messed up time paying attention more to the take-out than the customers actually in the place. The servers all looked gloomy and barely said a word, they certainly didn't make the food enjoyable as they didn't say "enjoy the food" or anything like that, I could barely hear the guy mumble something. I won't be going back. I prefer real ramen with soup,...

My girlfriend gets Mogumogu delivered as often as she can, which means I've had it more than I care to admit. But even after bowls on bowls of mazemen, I still really enjoy it.

The original aka tokyo style mazemen is what I recommend most people start with. The core ingredients are spicy mixed pork, green onions, garlic, noodles and a poached egg that you mix together. The result is basically dry ramen or a carbonara that's super addictive.

After you're done, you get a small scoop of rice to mix again with the remaining sauce. It's a really nice way to finish the meal, and feels like you're getting a little bonus on top of what you ordered.

I have tried most of the other bowls here. The Deluxe would theoretically be my favorite, which includes an added soft boil egg and slices of chashu. Unfortunately the chashu tastes old and funky, which is really unfortunate and would elevate the mazemen further. Indtead I suggest adding a soft boiled egg to whatever you order. It's textbook perfect.

The Kyoto style mazemen should also be avoided, since it is the regular bowl but replaces the spicy pork with chashu. It is pretty bad because the chashu is bad, and subtracting the amazing spicy pork is a bummer.

I do like the curry mazemen, which is a really nice choice for regulars who want something different. It's super fragrant and a little spicy. I am not crazy about the little piece of kale added to the top, but I'll allow it.

Mogumogu is a nice break from all the Sawtelle classics, and I've come to really appreciate it as part of the...