Soon the chef-owner, Yasushi Kida, placed before me a bowl of plump noodles garnished with ginger, scallions, shredded daikon radish, and a sliver of sudachi, a kind of Japanese lime.

ELLE HARROW and TERRY MARKOWITZ were in the gourmet food and catering business for 20 years. They can be reached for comments or questions at m_markowitz@cox.net.

Sushi party platters are also available but require 24 hours’ notice. If You Go What: “O” Fine Japanese Cuisine, (949) 715-5551, www.ofinejapanesecuisine.com Where: 30872 Pacific Coast Hwy ...

“We’re not a typical ramen shop with just spicy miso or shoyu bases,” says owner Mike Chen, who grew up helping out at his father’s restaurant, Fortune Gourmet, in Flushing. A long-time ...

Dubbed the udon-ken (the udon province), Kagawa claims to be the first province to produce udon in Japan. It’s said that famous Japanese monk Kukai brought back udon after his stint in China ...

Yoshida Udon noodles are thick and chewy, almost tough. There’s real texture to them. You chew them, rather than slurp them down, and there’s a comfort to eating them.

For vegetarians, local Japanese menus do not have as much to offer, but favourites like the kappa maki (Rs. 250) stuffed with raw cucumber, the avocado maki (Rs. 290) and vegetable tempuras (Rs.350) ...

Makoto Suzuki of the family-run Namtien, a Japanese noodles manufacturer in Hong Kong, agrees. “Ramen came to Japan from China about 100 years ago – it hasn’t stopped localizing and evolving ...