Ezogiku Noodle Cafe
1329 Robson Street
Vancouver, BC
We all known about Kintaro, Bentei and Motomachi Shokudo as destinations for ramen. Then, Dan of Eat, Snap Repeat reminded me of Ezogiku, the “other” ramen shop in the West End outside of that Robson and Denman corner. So how good is it? How does it compare to the other three of that corner? I guess the only way to find out was to visit them…
I dropped there for lunch without high expectations. This is because you don’t read/hear about Ezogiku as often as the others. In fact, I think you read/hear more about Menya, one of the newest ramen shops in Vancouver than here.
When I arrived, there were only three other customers. Good sign? Bad sign? Let’s just say, during my meal, more customers walked in. Anyway, for my lunch ($8.39), I went for their miso ramen with gyoza:
4 pieces of gyoza, well cooked and still juicy. This is one of the few instances where I wished there were more in an order.
And here is the bowl of ramen. Not sure how would be the best way to describe it. It had its good points and its bad points. First, the good. One of my main complains of ramen shops is the excessive use of bean sprouts. Sure, they can use it as a filler but when almost half the bowl is bean sprouts, it simply takes away the main element of the ramen bowl, namely, the noodles. In Ezogiku’s case, while it had bean sprouts, it did not have as much as those other places. To make it up, they added cabbage. A good, interesting twist in its own ways.
Now, the disappointing parts. First, the broth. To make it short, it was somewhat tame. It had a bit of miso flavour but not to the same extent as those found in other ramen shops. Then the pork, again bland. And the noodle lacked the chewiness from Kintaro and Motomachi. I could keep on but there is no point. It is one of those cases where you are disappointed in so many ways, unless somebody can really convince you otherwise, there is no way for you to come back. In this case, specially because of the “other” three ramen shops are a couple of blocks away…
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Ezogiku’s days as one of the few places where a facsimile of a bowl of ramen could be had are long gone. Better to hit the joints around the corner. Which reminds me, I had a nice meal at Motomachi recently, should post about it…
Shokutsu, yup, that’s what I found out. But, hey, anything for a post!
I agree. The soup base has gone downhill ever since they were taken over by Chinese. I still go back though because they seem to be one of the cheaper Ramen choices price-wise.
I know what you mean about using beansprouts as noodles!!! Lots of places do it, but I guess if you like it, that’s different
Monchichi, if bean sprouts are being used as replacement for noodles, well, there is something wrong. After all, it is supposed to be a bowl of ramen, not bean sprouts!
Wendy, welcome! Was it taken over Chinese? I can’t say/tell. However, although slightly cheaper, I would rather pay the extra to go to the ones in Robson and Denman. Or, almost at the same price, go to Hon’s (and that’s saying a lot!).