My cousins and I were trying to find a place to eat in Fountain Valley and we decided to get ramen at Shin-Sen-Gumi. I have tried their special event edition ramen at the Ramen Yokocho Festival in Los Angeles but had never been to one of their restaurants. I was pretty excited as their ramen was one of my favorites that day!
We arrived at the restaurant late into the afternoon and found other groups ahead of us. The restaurant was going to close in half an hour so we were a little worried that we would not have enough time. I was stoked when the waiter called our group from the waiting list but was then disheartened when he said he couldn't seat us because all of party members were not present. Doh!
By the time our last family member showed up we only had about twenty minutes left. Luckily we'd been eyeing the menu while waiting outside so we pretty much knew what we wanted to order.
I decided to get the T-set which was Hakata Ramen and Deep Fried Takoyaki which sold for only $8.50! My goodness. Why can't we get prices like this in San Diego?!
We were thinking about having Bo Bay Mon (Seven Course Beef) while in the O.C. area and after yelping, the mention of an extra course led us to Nhu Y Ca 8 Mon instead. This place had EIGHT courses using fish instead of beef! I'm down for the fish!
The eclectic decor inside struck me first. There wasn't any type of continuity between the decorations, with random plants here and there. We were seated in one of their booths near the window and we asked the waiter about their fish set. He said that it was enough for two normal appetites so we ordered a single order ($24.95).
To start, we got the first course of Goi Ca (Fish Salad) in a very generous size. There were fish strips mixed in that were firm and did not fall apart. There was fish sauce already mixed into the mixture and it came with freshly fried shrimp chips.
