It’s Decem-brrr. Ahh tis the season of cold weather! It’s time to bust out the Hello Kitty sweater, scarf and plush hat. 😉 In addition to bringing out the kawaii winter clothes though, it’s also the time of year for eating warm ramen!

In the recent years, I’ve become a big ramen fan and have made my way throughout the South Bay to try out various ramen spots. I have heard so many good things about Hakata Ramen Shinsengumi and knew this ramen shop has been in Gardena for awhile but it wasn’t till one cold day that I finally came here.

What I loved about Hakata Ramen Shinsengumi was that all their lunch specials come with a little appetizer. It’s always nice to enjoy a good bowl of ramen with a little extra treat!

Here they have classic appetizers like gyoza. One of their lunch sets comes with six pieces of these pan fried half dumplings. It’s made fresh and served hot. It’s small enough to fulfill your gyoza cravings but not big enough to make you full. It’s a great starter.

They also offer more non-traditional appetizers such as chicken rice balls. This is the first time I’ve seen such an offering at a Japanese ramen shop but I liked it. It reminds me a lot of Chinese sticky rice. It’s a good twist on their fried rice. It is the fried rice but in a sticky rice ball form.

Alongside the appetizer is the main star, their ramen. The ramen is here is some of the best I’ve ever tried. You have your choice of soft, regular or hard noodles. They also offer various toppings such as bacon in addition to their regular chashu. I didn’t get any extra topping this time around because their chashu which is so tender and lean was more than enough. The broth itself is tasty. It’s not salty at all, which is very nice. The ramen is pretty big bowl and sure to make you pretty full at the end.

This place is great for those brr days. Holiday smiles are sure to come when you enjoy a good bowl of ramen here along with some appetizers.

For more smiles, please see my recent Yelp review on Hakata Ramen Shinsengumi