Wood House accommodates flavorful Japanese and Korean cuisine
1
0
Scrolling through my Yelp app in hopes of finding a new restaurant to satisfy my savory cravings, I came across a restaurant that had opened a few days ago. With tempting pictures of fulfilling ramen and vibrant sashimi, I decided to give Wood House a visit.
My friend and I were heavily confused as we circled around the building three times, wondering if we had arrived to our destination. After 15 minutes, we concluded that we had arrived at the right place, despite not seeing the name of restaurant on the building itself. The restaurant gave a more casual, comfortable feel as music played in the background. Inside was quite busy with majority of the tables occupied.
We ordered tonkotsu ramen, spicy miso ramen, salmon sashimi, and takoyaki. We were first served with salmon sashimi, which was about $12.99 for six pieces. It was shocking to me when I found a large bone in each of the three sashimis, proving to be an overall disappointment. Despite starting on a bad note, I was pleasantly surprised by the tonkotsu ramen, which was $9.36. With its flavorful broth, half egg, chewy noodles, thinly-sliced and fatty pork chashu, kikurage mushrooms, fried onions, and green onions, I was very satisfied with the ramen. The broth was rich in flavor and worked beautifully with the texture of the chewy noodles, crunchy fried onions, and fatty meat. In addition, the ramen had a great balance of flavor as it was not an overwhelming savory flavor but left a memorable taste. The takoyaki, or small Japanese batter balls filled with minced octopus, was a bit lackluster in terms of flavor compared to takoyaki I have had in the past. However, it was still able to maintain the classic flavor in a more subtle way for only $6.99.
In terms of the service, our food took a while to arrive. In addition, we were given a single refill of water and were checked on by the waiters once. Overall, I would say the service was satisfactory due to timeliness and lack of attention.
I would recommend eating at Wood House with friends and family for those who enjoy Japanese and Korean cuisine. Not limited to ramen and sashimi, they also serve a variety of fried chicken, rice bowls, and yakitori. However, I would not recommend ordering the sashimi due to my disappointing experience of encountering several large bones in the sashimi. Wood House is located at 5709 Rosemead Blvd, Temple City, CA 91780.
