Summer Days Spent Slurping Down Ramen
To my knowledge, I believe that Bodo is not a Japanese word, but my friend and I threw caution to the wind last summer when we decided to grab lunch last minute, when the company I previously worked at had a shutdown day.
So let me set the scene. Late summer. Middle of the week. It must have been about 11:30 AM in the morning and I woke up not too long ago—sitting on my chair in an albeit confused, but hungry state. At that time, it wasn’t all that unusual to have shutdown days at the company, but I never really knew what to do with my day off. Usually, it was in the middle of the week and that meant most of my friends were at work, so needless to say it was—odd.
It was about lunch time and I knew I wanted to eat, but the leftovers from last night did not look appetizing. And while the idea of binging on chips and snacks was appealing, I decided to refrain from a college habit I abandoned and made up my mind to go out instead—like the adult I am or aspire to be (I’m still working on that part). The idea of eating by myself didn’t bother me, but it soon dawned on me that one of my friends also had the day off.
After shooting her a quick message, she agreed to join me for lunch. We somehow agreed to go to—now looking back, the least Japanese sounding restaurant, ever—Bodo Lucky Japanese Restaurant for some ramen (in the middle of a hot, summer afternoon, nonetheless) and I went to go pick her up.
Bodo is located near a very popular highway change intersection on Warm Springs Blvd in Fremont. Other familiar and popular restaurants and shops in the area include: T4, Aberdeen Cafe, Gong Cha, 99 Ranch, Marina Market, Tea Papa and more. It’s a very heavily Asian— specifically Chinese based area, but there are a lot of companies in the area that helps fuel the lunch crowd.
And boy was there a lunch crowd. We managed to skip the initial rush and got seated quickly in the small restaurant, but there was already a large group eating and another large one coming in while waiting for others.
Their menu was pretty simple with no frills. They give you the choice of having a free drink or having a free dessert. I took the free drink option, which was iced milk tea (although you can also have it hot), while my friend opted for the free dessert after her ramen, which was a refreshing bowl of almond tofu. If that doesn’t already clue you in on whether or not this is an “authentic” Japanese restaurant, it isn’t.
Iced milk tea and almond tofu is very distinctly Chinese. Yes yes, Japanese people drink milk tea and eat tofu too, but when was the last time you saw milk tea and almond tofu as part of the menu in a Japanese restaurant?
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| Bonito! Wriggle wriggle! |
For starters, we tried their Takoyaki ($4.75). They give you five pieces with a heaping stack of bonito flakes. There’s definitely takoyaki under there—they’re just hidden. The takoyaki was piping hot (like it should be), with big pieces of octopus in each one. SOLID takoyaki.
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| For the big eaters when ramen simply isn't enough. |
Moving on, I ordered the A2 ($8.49) with a shio base. It came with half of a half-boiled egg, cha shu, quail egg, spinach, nori, negi and a very generous handful of bean sprouts (spot the similarity? Bonito flakes, now bean sprouts). If you don’t like bean sprouts, you would want to tell your server before you order. It’s not listed on the menu, but trust me—there’s a lot of bean sprouts.
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| I wasn't joking when I mentioned the bean sprouts. |
Instead of painfully eating around it, just ask them to leave them out.
I’m not picky when it comes to bean sprouts, but now that I think about it— they’re not really an “essential” topping for ramen. Now if we were talking about Pho, that’s another story. The shio soup base was salty, but light— not as full bodied and umami as what I expect the shoyu would taste like, but pleasant.
Or maybe because there were so many bean sprouts that it didn’t feel greasy or as heavy as other tonkotsu broth.
Don’t let the picture fool you, but there were a lot of noodles— or were the bean sprouts clouding my judgement? Well my memory is a bit fuzzy now, so unfortunately I can’t answer that question. But if I do visit anytime in the future, I’ll try to update this post.
They filled up quickly as we ate, but the servers didn’t rush us.
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| They have all a variety of flavors! |
When we asked for the bill, they also gave us a cup full of Dums Dums as “dessert,” which I thought was a nice touch. Seeing the Dums Dums gave me such nostalgia. I use to eat them often back in elementary school. And whenever I paid a visit to my cousin’s house, she would always offer me one-- or two five. Before we left, there were one or two parties waiting for a table, which goes to show that they have a large lunch crowd.
While Bodo Lucky Japanese Restaurant isn’t going to make my list of mindblowing, delicious must-try ramen houses, they’re pretty good. I feel like I would definitely visit often if I worked around the area.
Bodo Lucky Japanese Restaurant
46260 Warm Springs Blvd.
Fremont, CA 94539
