Fat Kid Adventure #108: Ringer Hut (San Jose/Campbell)

Initially we wanted to hit up new rebuilt Sumiya Yakitori, but I called and found out they're all full until 9pm. The foodiebooties can't wait! So we decided for quick ramen but at a new place. We've actually seen Ringer Hut quite a few times on our way to Zeni (mmm!), but, because the resto logo reminded me of the Pizza Hut logo, I had completely disregarded the "Japanese Restaurant" subtext underneath the logo. Located on Saratoga just south of Williams at the edge of San Jose (close to Cupertino), it's in a semi-boring neighborhood that's kind of close to Westgate.

Since we've never been to this place, and it looked not so much like the regular hole-in-wall ramen joints, we had to look around the joint for some "verficasian." It's the same thing people do at any ethnic restaurants when they wanna know if it is authentic - if the natives are there, then bingo! I say Ringer Hut is different from a hole-in-wall because 1) it's a diner setup (maybe they bought the previous diner out - who knows), 2) it's a standalone Denny-like property, not a crazy little hole-in-wall all crunched up in a strip mall, and 3) because the name contained no recognizable foreign terms nor the word "ramen".

Ringer Hut, whose website is apparently in Japanese with that .jp URL ending, features ramen from Nagasaki, and I get the "Hut" part but why "Ringer?" They call it "champon" ramen, but half the time they misspell it as "Champion" - really makes me wonder which one is the misspelling. Anyway, the Champon ramen is a spaghetti noodle thickness, relatively chewy, in some semi-velvety beef-based broth, a lot of stuff thrown in there to accompany the noodles themselves - cabbage, shrimp, bean sprouts, and what seems like a bunch of other stuff that I can't really remember. We both ordered a combo of small Champon ramen (we asked for mildly spicy and it came completely non-spicy) and chicken donburi, and we also had agedashi tofu as appetizer.

Agedashi tofu is badass. It's a giant couple pieces of fried tofu that is then soaked in some soy sauce-dominant sauce and then brought to the customer immediately. The tofu is fried only on the outside, so the inside is still smooth. So you cut off a portion, dip it in the sauce, and consumption! It's great.

The chicken donburi on the side was almost as much as the main entree. Chicken was good, and rice was decently drenched in whatever the chicken was cooked with. There's something about holding a little bowl of rice that's covered with teryaki chicken with my left hand and shoving the rice into my mouth with recyclable chopsticks with my right hand that I really enjoy. I found myself eating faster and faster.

In summary - portion is great, quality is decent - like 3 oout of 5, and service is excellent. Worth a try if you're hungry and in the area.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/ringer-hut-san-jose
http://www.ringerhut.co.jp/ - real talk mayne, Nihongo to the bone.