Ramen Ochi

Somehow, Westfield Century City is now home to two of the city’s top Japanese noodle shops. The newest is Ramen Ochi, the first international outpost of a Japanese restaurant group with outposts in Saitama, Chiba and Tokyo. While Ramen Nagi is still the more destination-worthy of the two, Ramen Ochi offers a unique soup base made with chicken, pork and beef that’s topped with soy-braised pork belly and a raw egg yolk—or soft-boiled, if you prefer. The end result is vaguely reminiscent of a sweet sukiyaki, though the red onions and minced garlic on top cut through the thick, fairly decadent broth. Ramen Ochi also serves rice bowls, gyoza, karaage and a vegan ramen made with seaweed, shiitake mushrooms and tomatoes. There’s also a tsukemen (dipping) broth and two kinds of tamago kake men—cold ramen noodles topped with your choice of meat, seasoned soy sauce and freshly cracked raw egg.