Raraya Ramen

this restaurant took the place of a japanese restaurant we used to frequent. there are so many ramen/noodle places popping up all over honolulu these days, it's hard to keep track of them all. this particular restaurant is a iekei ramen bar chain, that specializes in yokohama style noodles, which is thicker and flatter. they use pork and shoyu (soy sauce)as the base for the soup. The bowl usually comes with slices of roast pork, nori (seaweed) and spinach, but you can order a variety of toppings such as egg, menma (bamboo shoots), wakame (seaweed), corn, etc. Customers may also adjust the amount of oil, shoyu and the hardness of noodles (usually in three levels: plenty, normal, and less; or hard, normal, and soft). their gyoza (potstickers) are to die for. there's this crispy, thin layer of "don't know what you call it". it sorta taste like a mild cheese, but the waitress said it wasn't. the noodles are on the chewier side nothing like those other ramen places, where the noodles are thin. the broth is a little oiler than expected. i always get the ramen with the soft boiled egg. it is yummy! it's interesting to have the 3 sheets of nori and it actually works well once it is soaked in the broth, it gets soft. the only thing i would recommend is to TURN UP THE A/C and please put more ice in the water!!! it is always so warm in there and even hotter when eating piping hot ramen! enjoy this place! cheers!