Lobster is great celebration food. Doesn’t anything sound better with lobster in it? Apparently Ramen Halu agrees, since its highly touted, limited-edition 7th anniversary special was … lobster ramen.

I’ve been a little disillusioned about ramen lately. I first discovered rich, porky tonkotsu ramen in L.A. about a decade ago (!!) at Daikokuya, but recently I’ve heard it’s gone downhill and that the milkiness of the broth comes not from long-boiled pork bones but from actual milk. Then, just as I discovered the flavorful but not too rich shio ramen at Santouka and the complex shoyu ramen at Gardena Ramen, we moved to the Bay Area. There are actually two decent ramen places within walking distance from my house, which is probably more than most people outside of Japan can say, but they’re nothing to get really excited about.

The best ramen joint in the area, people say, is Ramen Halu. I had only been there once, when I was pregnant and feeling pickier about food than I have since I was a kid and went through a phase where I ate nothing but beef stew. I told my husband I wanted udon; he took me for ramen. For the record, udon’s fat, chewy noodles come in a clean, almost austere broth; Ramen Halu’s signature broth is more like gravy. My memory of that meal is shrouded in a haze of nausea.

But now I’m un-pregnant, and lobster ramen sounded pretty good. So my friend Daveena and I went to check it out.

We sat down, our bowls came, I took a taste and I was in love again. This was amazing stuff. Pork, chicken and lobster shells and heads had gone into the broth, but if I hadn’t read that on the menu I could only have said that it was dark, complex and flavorful. The thin, whole wheat noodles were toothsome, with just a little more heft and flavor than the regular kind. I was so absorbed in eating those noodles, I forgot about the lobster.

I had worried that the lobster itself might be a letdown, poor in quality or overcooked or scant. But about half a tail’s worth of lobster meat floated in my bowl, and it was sweet and barely firm. Perfection was complete.

The next week, I came back with Wes and the baby for another round. It was just as good as I had remembered. I only felt a little bad when the baby, who had been sleeping in his stroller for most of the meal, awoke near the end and I looked up from my bowl to see him watching me with his dark eyes, dreamily gnawing his fist. Someday, kiddo. Someday.

Ramen Halu
375-M Saratoga Avenue
San Jose, CA 95129
(408) 246-3933