Like many of you, I fully anticipated the rain earlier this week.

And with that, the biting cold wind, the warmth of a sweater — and the excuse to eat ramen.

So my friend and I headed to Yotteko-ya in McCully Shopping Center.

Outside the ramen shop in McCully Shopping Center. It's located on the second floor.

This place is usually crowded, especially during peak hours.

Yotteko-ya — which can be confusing to find since the outside sign reads "Kyoto Ramen" — opened five years ago and has garnered a loyal following, many of which come for the shop's homemade soup.

According to the menu, its soup is "simmered for over 10 hours with the choicest of pork, the freshest of chicken and 10 different vegetables and spices. This meticulous process produces a uniquely thick collagen rich stock that will actually help prevent aging of skin and joints."

Hmm. Ramen that helps prevent aging?

I don't know about that claim, but I do know one thing: it's good.

Here's how it works: When you order the Kyoto-style ramen, you can choose between two different boiling styles — Japanese style for traditional noodle softness or local style an even softer noodle texture — and among three different soup bases. There's shoyu, Hawaiian salt (tonshio) or paitain, which is the recommended soup base.

Paitan is thicker and creamier, no doubt made with the collagen the shop claims will stave off wrinkles.

But Yotteko-ya offers more than just ramen.

You can get yakibuta chahan, or pork fried rice ($8.75); sweet and sour chicken ($8.95) and ebi chili mayonnaise ($7.95).

And like any good ramen shop, Yotteko-ya offers combo sets, too.

Here's what we ate:

The paitan ramen ($7.45 for just the bowl, more if part of a combo set), topped with two slices of homemade chashu.

The soup base wasn't as salty as I had anticipated. It had a nice, creamy flavor that wasn't overpowering.

I had the shoyu-based yataiaji ramen ($6.95), with chashu, green onions, mushrooms and toasted sesame seeds.

I can honestly say this was the best chashu I've ever had. And I've sampled a lot. This literally melted in my mouth. And the flavor was outstanding. I'd go and just order this and rice.

The karaage chicken ($7.45 for the meal) was good, but I can see how it would be better with a sweet and sour sauce.

I can't eat ramen anymore without an order of gyoza ($4.75 for five), and these pork potstickers didn't disappoint.

If the rain doesn't let up this weekend, consider ramen. And consider Yotteko-ya. Don't go because you want to prevent aging. But if eating well makes you happy — and being happy makes you live longer — then I guess there's some truth behind the claim.

Yotteko-ya, McCully Shopping Center, 1960 Kapiolani Blvd. Hours: Lunch, 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday through Sunday; dinner, 5:30-10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 5:30-9 p.m. Sundays and holidays; closed Wednesday. 946-2900.

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Follow Cat on Twitter @thedailydish or send her an e-mail at cat@thecatdish.com.

Tags: dashi, eat, food, fuud, gyoza, hawaii, Kyoto, McCully Shopping Center, paitan, ramen, restaurant, toth, Yotteko-ya

This entry was posted on Friday, November 13th, 2009 at 3:04 am and is filed under Hanging out. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.