Kawawa Japanese Ramen

Kawawa Japanese Ramen
E15 – 4700 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC

According to Eat, Snap, Repeat‘s theory of ramen in Vancouver, the “quality” of the final product is inversely proportional to the distance from the corner of Robson and Denman (in Vancouver’s West End, where Kintaro, Benkei and Motomachi Shokudo are located). Of course, there is the occasional deviation from that theory like Menya and it did not take into consideration new places in Richmond like G-Men Ramen. For today’s post, a sort-of new kid on the block – Kawawa Japanese Ramen in, out of all places, the largest mall in this side of Canada: Metropolis at Metrotown.

Kawawa Japanese Ramen, along with Kawawa Japanese Restaurant next to it which serves all-you-can-eat sushi, is an offshoot of Aji Taro, in Richmond, BC. I have never been to that restaurant because, well, it is an all-you-can-eat and I don’t do that anymore (OK, once in a long while but…). Unfortunately, for good or for bad, it occupies the same spot where an all-you-can-eat used to be: Taisho. What that has to do? Well, it just happens that it was lambasted as one of the worst of such restaurant types. I can’t confirm nor deny this, since I never been there but it sets a precedent when you occupy the same spot. Regardless, it still amaze me there is still market space for such eateries. After all, at another end of the same mall, there is yet-another-all-you-can-eat (Sui Sha Ya), which is also criticized to be one of the worst… But, enough of that, this post is not about their sushi offerings but the ramen side.

There is always that question of authenticity. If you are not from that country, can you make the food the same way as one who was born/grew up in that country? Originally my thoughts were on the lines of “no” but, after a while, I found out I was wrong to a certain extent. Instead, it was rather the question of what customers consider “authentic” and how easy is to replicate the final result based on the “original” recipe. For the last part, it is specially true in chains – after all, you expect a Big Mac to taste the same if you are in the US, Canada, Europe, etc., right? From the picture of their menu above, aside from the fact the number of slices of pork is hand-written, the fact there is Chinese written (and I am not talking about kanji) should give you some hints. But, I chose to ignore these and focus on the final result. And, talking about final results, this is what I ordered.

“Golden eggs”… Wait, This is not the “main” item, instead, this is a side dish. However, rather than have it brought along with my bowl of ramen, I was given this ahead of time and easily waited for five minutes. Talk about odd efficiency? Regardless, if you are among the people who are afraid of salmonella, just don’t order this, OK? It is a boiled egg but the yolk is not “hard” yet. It served as a blank pallet for what was to come – again, a bowl of cha siu ramen.

In visits to other ramen shops, one my “complains” was that bean sprouts were often used as filler. Here, they go the opposite way. Other than a piece of seaweed, some bamboo shoots and green onions, there is nothing else in the toppings department. So, in this case, the basics work for me… Now, that does not mean you can add other “toppings”, if you do, it will be extra.

Since I ordered the cha siu version, the question would be: what about the pork? Well, unfortunately I will have to say that I can do better pork than this. No, it wasn’t bad – it had some fatty chunks clinging to it -, just that it wasn’t that good. Also, it was a bit thinly sliced for my liking. Sure, I could have ordered additional pieces but I felt partially cheated.

And, then, the key component – the noodles. At first, I thought it was a bit too thin and a bit too “straight” but those are things I won’t necessarily “complain” about. Rather, there was something missing: the “bite” to the noodles. It was slightly overcooked hence it was starting to fall into the mushy side. Finally, the broth… Well, I have mixed feelings about it. While it was better than what I have had in other places, it was still a bit lacking. It had some consistency and flavour but it lacked the “punch” that could have finish the deal. On the plus side, it did not feel “salty”.

There were other things from the restaurant that threw me off a little bit. For one it was the ambiance. Whereas in some shops there is that sense of rustic-ness, here, it was a bit on the modern side, like having TVs. If the bussiness flopped, they could easily add a couple more TVs and call it a sports bar… Another one was the spoon. Yes, the spoon. If you notice in one of the pictures above, you can see the angle of the handle. It felt almost like a ladle which made putting the noodles or broth in it and eat/drink a difficult process (not to mention the spoon itself wasn’t that deep to begin with). And, finally, one thing that really irked me was the bill. OK, let me try again: the bill arrived right after I asked for it. The total bill was just under $10 ($8.00 for the ramen, $1 for the egg plus taxes). So, I put down $12 (two $5 bills plus a toonie) and, when the waitress pass by to collect it, she asks “do you need the change?”. I was planning to leave the $12 from the get go; however, when I was asked that question, my thoughts were “WTF?!” Don’t get me wrong, I thought about the possibility she was asking that question if I needed change for the tip. But, even if that was the case, you shouldn’t ask that question – just break the toonie into a loonie and four quarters. Don’t get me wrong, I know that this is not a well paid job and you rely on tips to supplement the wages. However, you are not helping yourself by asking such question.

Overall, taking away that last “incident”, the food wasn’t that bad. If I had to put it somewhere, I would have to say it is above Kenzo and Deli Nippon and, in a way, catching up with Menya. However, still, it is not match to the big boys in that corner of Robson and Denman…

Tagged under: Burnaby • Japanese • Noodles