Noodles: Chin-Ma-Ya VS Urban Noodle

The Noodles Partner and I along with PepsiMonster headed over to Chin-Ma-Ya of Tokyo and Urban Noodle to check out what Little Tokyo and DTLA had to offer.

First up was Chin-Ma-Ya. It was Saturday and still early enough for happy hour but it wasn’t until later in the evening when we realized we (or me) could have gotten the $1.99 plum wine. They also offer discounted Kirin.

I ordered the #3 combo which came with half a bowl of tan tan men and half portion of the mabo rice. The Noodles Partner pointed out how little ground meat there was in this dish but I rather like tofu so I didn’t mind. I can see how the little bit of meat didn’t add much flavor and honestly, it was pretty thick from just corn starch and soy sauce.

As I was tasting my noodles, I wondered just how come the broth was so thick. I thought it was maybe from a raw egg but probably adding corn starch or some other thickening agent would do the trick. I didn’t enjoy these noodles very much and wouldn’t return for them. However, maybe I’ll try the mabo ramen next time and there are at least 5 other ramens to try.

Chin-Ma-Ya of Tokyo

123 Astronaut Ellison S
Los Angeles, CA 90012

(213) 625-3400

At Urban Noodle, I swore I wasn’t going to get my own bowl as I was too full but I did anyway. The wonton noodles caught my eye but I convinced everyone to order their own bowl and we’ll share the wontons the Noodles Partner ordered. How slick of me.

Urban sent out a complimentary appetizer. They’re thinking about offering the rolled noodle as an app. It’s very Chinese and maybe I would order it if it came with the traditional dried shrimp. This is basically a rice noodle rolled and topped with hoisin sauce.

I really enjoyed the wontons and the spicy beef from these bowls but wasn’t into the noodles. They reminded me of fried noodles that had been softened. Er, not quite as bad as packaged ramen bricks but definitely not to my taste. I would have preferred the thin fresh egg noodles that normally come with these types of noodles.

I loved this bowl! I adored this bowl! I was entranced how fresh everything was. And it really reminded me of a good bowl of laksa, first introduced to me at Simpang Asia and then the love was cemented at Litz.

I’m a terrible spice wimp but I thought a little of the glistening red stuff went well with the wontons.

Urban Noodle

118 W 4th St
Los Angeles, CA 90013
(213) 626-0662