Eats: Ramen Fest San Jose

When Cee originally told me about a ramen festival in San Francisco, my husband and I were beyond excited. The night before we were going to go, I decided to look at the Yelp reviews in order to systematically hit the best-reviewed ramen booths. I was disappointed to see that the event had been rated w/ 1 star citing overall chaos and massive lines (some people waiting up to 5 hours). Unable to summon the motivation to brave the crowds, we decided to wait for the SJ one instead. Touting a much larger venue, and presumably valuable logistical learnings from SF, Ramen Fest in SJ is currently being held over 2 consecutive weekends (10/3-10/5 and 10/10-10/12) downtown. The vendors vary each weekend.

Tatsunoya from Kyushu Japan - Hakata Ramen, Tonkotsu Broth My favorite of the festival! I generally prefer the thicker type of ramen noodle as it seems to absorb flavor better, but this perfectly picked up the rich creaminess of the broth.

Tsujita from Tokyo / LA - Miso Tonkotsu Another rich broth with very generous fatty flavor (in a good way), but though I liked the thick noodles, I prefer traditional tonkotsu over miso.

Kohmen from Tokyo - Jukusei Tonkotsu My second favorite! This used a soy sauce tonkotsu, thicker noodles, and more veggies than the other vendors. Broth had great depth, noodles soaked up the flavors well, and the veggies were a welcome departure.

Ramen Vendors (we went during the late afternoon to avoid the crowds)

Spacious venue - one side held a seating area and the other held vendor booths

Doraemon was at Ramen Fest too!
And because we were feeling rather gluttonous, we also stopped by Cafe Lattea:

Totoro Art in a Matcha Latte

Brick Toast w/ Sesame Ice Cream
Total food coma, but I wouldn't have it any other way. :)