Foo-Foo Tei in Hacienda Heights

Two weeks ago, a couple of friends of mine came into town for a conference, and we had to schedule dinner together so that we could catch up and give them an opportunity to meet R. One of my friends, who I envy because while I'm busy at home raising three kids, she's summited Mount Rainier up north, and her tales of her conquest brought back all those years of hiking I use to do as a single and free student. But while she has Mt. Rainier, she tells me that there are no good ramen places in her metro, so I am glad I'm able to take her to Foo-Foo Tei to get her ramen kick.

Foo-Foo Tei was introduced to me by my cousin when I was in search of a ramen place in my area after my favorite one closed down. Her husband used to work together with the owner of the place and actually tried getting him to work for them to introduce Vietnamese pho' into the restaurant. Luckily they've decided to focus on Japanese because they've got something good going on there.

Most first-timers to Foo-Foo Tei like my friends alway point out that it's located in the strangest location. Driving to Foo-Foo Tei takes you down a street that has nothing but industrial and residential buildings, leading you to think that you've made a seriously wrong turn somewhere. The rent must be seriously low here. Once you get there, there is usually a long wait since the restaurant is quite small, but no worries because you can read the racks of manga inside the doorway while you're waiting. Luckily today since my buddies had to leave early, we had dinner at 4:45 pm, and there was hardly a soul there.

I usually order the seafood ramen in really spicy miso soup, but since I was sharing today with the kids, I ordered the plain, non-spicy Miso Ramen. It was still good, as I really like their delicious, creamy miso broth. The noodles were as slurpible as always, although I realize some people like their noodles al dente.

My friends both ordered the Pork and Miso Ramen, and they both really liked it. My friend from Washington said she'd be coming back here again when she's in the area.

The appetizers we ordered today were awesome. The fried tofu were a hit with my kids, and they ate most of it. These were fried and salted just perfectly and were so light.

My favorite of the whole dinner was the broiled squid. It was perfect in every way. Fresh, crunchy, just yummy.

After coming home from Foo-Foo Tei, I started going into my Japanese food binge. You can see that from my recent previous posts, can't you? By the way, they have a second branch in Monterey Park under a different owner, but from what I've read, that one is not as good as this original one.

Foo-Foo Tei is located at 15018 Clark Ave., Hacienda Heights, CA (626) 937-6585