Foo Foo Tei Noodle House - Monterey Park (Closed)

Since I'm on the subject of ramen, a while back I had tried Foo Foo Tei Noodle House in Monterey Park. I had dined here based upon seeing it repeatedly on Biggest Menu, and because Henry Chan's Food Videos said it was one of his favorites.


The caveat here is that it seems to be a knock-off of the original Foo Foo Tei Noodle House ramen shop of the same name in Hacienda Heights. It's not bad. Which isn't to mean I'm singing high praises, but it could be a lot worse, ya know?

Foo Foo Tei is located on the far right of the same strip mall as Elite Restaurant. Even though there are designated parking spaces, you'll still have to deal with a crowded parking lot on weekends.

Buta No Kakuni (Japanese Braised Pork Belly)

As promised, fall-apart tender Japanese braised pork. So tender that I had difficulty slicing without the meat falling apart.



While serving ramen with char siu (Chinese barbecued pork) was tasty, I wanted to go all-Japanese the second time around when I made shichimenchou (Japanese turkey) ramen. I remembered Kirk of Mmm-yoso's recipe for buta no kakuni (Japanese braised pork). It's apparently based on the Chinese version, and looked amazingly similar to thit kho (Vietnamese braised pork). Even down to the hard-boiled egg.

So I decided I would largely cook the buta no kakuni the same way I would the Vietnamese version, subbing out such Vietnamese ingredients as the caramel sauce and fish sauce for Kikkoman soy sauce and grated daikon. Kirk's use of the grated daikon was ingenious. The meat was so incredibly tender.

Fried Rice with Pork, Corn, and a Ladle of Ramen Broth

I know this goes against every rule about keeping fried rice dry so it doesn't become mushy, but when I go to the trouble of making homemade ramen broth, I'm going to extract as many uses for it as possible. Just look at how a ladle of ramen broth makes the rice grains glisten.



Last year, when I posted my recipe for Fried Rice with Bacon, Corn, Eggs, and Green Onions, I mentioned that I was inspired by seeing Henry Chan's Food Videos' brief clip of the Daikokuya Noodle & Rice-Bowl folks ladling a spoonful of their fabulously porky ramen broth into the fried rice just before serving. That spoonful of broth added just at the end gives so much flavor to the fried rice that I just had to try it myself.