Chocolatea (3811 Canterbury Rd., Tuscany-Canterbury) is fairly easy to miss. It’s settled on the corner of the Ambassador Building (next to Ambassador Dining Room, natch), it’s quiet, unassuming and fairly colorful inside. And the few times I had strolled past Chocolatea on foot I figured it was a fairly run-of-the-mill coffee shop with a remotely clever name, until I took a gander at their new(ish) menu: “Spicy Beef Ramen? Teriyaki rice bowls? These things are not Tea nor Chocolate.”
Somehow, someway Chocolatea for some amazing reason decided to add a robust selection of noodle soups and other asian dishes to their menu, and while I’ve only had this (pictured) bowl of Spicy Beef Ramen ($10) I have witnessed at least 4-5 other dishes being delivered to other cafe patrons and they all look really, really delicious. This beef ramen, for the record, was really, really, delicious. Fresh noodles, huge chunks of sliced ginger, broccoli, mint, and a mountain of beef, all *extra* spicy at request. It could have very easily fed two people but I’m a selfish baby so I ate it all myself and regret nothing. I’m looking forward to sampling their various other noodle bowls like Udon, Rojak, Tom Yum and probably some more of this Ramen.
Oh yeah, they have a whole bunch of teas, coffees, truffles and pastries and stuff too, they’re all pretty good too. But good god, try this Ramen.
was hoping they had somehow made chocolate ramen.
so i’m a TOTAL weenie about spicy food, but i’ve always wanted to try “real” ramen (since the freeze-dried crap in a bowl just doesn’t cut it). i have trouble with spicy tuna rolls. will i be able to handle this ramen?
serious question.
Fairly sure that even if the not extra spicy variety is too spicy, you could probably ask them to make it more mild – I tend to like things like runny-nose spicy so I couldn’t say whether the regular ramen is too spicy for those with delicate spicy sensors
I had authentic ramen while visiting LA. It’s more meaty than spicy. And it includes a few unexpected treasures, like a whole boiled egg. The noodles are excellent. The addition of real miso to the soup is what is really, really delicious, even if it adds a lot of salt.
i want this. right now.