When you think of a good school lunch, your mind may jump around options of a slice of pizza from the cafeteria, a nice sandwich packed from home or even a burger from a nearby fast food joint. But what if there was an option that had everything: delicious, healthy, affordable and only a five-minute drive from Northwood? The newly opened Yoshiharu Ramen at the Orchard Hills Shopping Center can give you all of the above, making it the perfect place for Northwood students to grab a bite.

With an extravagant menu derived from authentic Japanese cuisine, Yoshiharu Ramen offers many dishes to suit your tastes. Whether you would like to sit down and eat a bowl of traditional ramen, or get a quick rice bowl to go, this place will consistently serve you amazing food at surprisingly affordable prices. 

Their amazing bone-broth, boiled for 14 hours in order to extract “everything good,” can be found in many of their ramen dishes, and is iconic for its brilliant flavor and texture. 

Along with this broth, their Tonkotsu Shoyu ramen includes perfectly seasoned pork chashu, seaweed, bamboo and green onions for $12.50. 

If you’re looking for a little more of a kick in your ramen, you can try their Spicy Tonkotsu Miso. With three levels of heat to choose from, this dish combines spice with great tasting ramen like no other. 

Regardless of the many types of ramen you get at Yoshiharu, you can be certain it is some of the best served in Irvine. While sushi might not be their specialty, for a quick and cheap spicy tuna roll, one cannot complain. 

Yoshiharu crafts their dishes with authentic Japanese ingredients, cooked to perfection by talented chefs, trained in Japan. In addition to toppings such as flavored eggs, pork or chicken chashu and kikurage mushrooms, their ramen is not only delicious but delightfully traditional in both taste and style.

Up until now, some of the better ramen places in Irvine were all located too far from Northwood to be considered a viable lunch option, but that isn’t the case for Yoshiharu Ramen. While ordering and eating an entire ramen dish during the 35-minute lunch break may be a challenge, grabbing a rice bowl or some sushi to go is a great alternative to the usual cafeteria food. If you have time after school or at dinner, take a seat inside and enjoy your meals served with social media-worthy style. Feel free to grab yourself some mochi ice cream or a bottle of Ramune soda and enjoy the relaxed atmosphere of the Orchard Hills Shopping Center with your friends.