Ramen Jinya - surprisingly good fusion ramen

Ramen Jinya is the final entrant to the Sawtelle ramen battlefield for a while and it is at last open for real. It's located south of Olympic Blvd where all the fast food restaurants are. The first thing I noticed was the decor; it's very Studio City :P I wasn't expecting much but this trip had me surprised.

The Jinya Chicken Ramen had a thick, milky chicken stock soup with the sweetness of corn swimming throughout. It's not too salty and quite drinkable in a good way. The pieces of chicken meat have a slight wine taste to them that makes them interesting.

The Tonkotsu Black Ramen has a good complex tonkotsu soup that is again drinkable and not salty like most ramen places. There are pieces of fried onion and garlic oil that add flavor but they cause a tiny bit of bitterness in the soup. Chashu is pretty good.

The Tonkotsu Black Ramen comes with a soft-broiled egg. Whoever took the shell off this egg failed epically as you can see here. There are even some leftover eggshells still stuck to the other side of the egg! Flavor-wise it's actually one of the better ones in Los Angeles and it's runny like it should be inside.

The Gyoza appetizer is alright. 

The meat inside is more chewy than other places.

Annin Tofu (almond tofu) has wonderful soft texture like a panna cotta but it also have the mouthfeel of almond powder that distracts from the smooth experience.

The most important thing of a bowl of ramen is the soup, and Jinya made both soups wonderfully. The soups are more catered to American tastes but in this case it's fusion for good. The toppings are very average so don't expect Yamadaya here but it's worth a try just for the soups.

Ramen Jinya
2208 Sawtelle Blvd,
Los Angeles, CA 90025