Benkei Ramen (Thurlow)

Benkei Ramen
1741 Robson Street (blogged previously here)
747 Thurlow Street (Location visited)
Vancouver, BC

I think pretty much all of us food bloggers have mentioned countless times that that corner of Denman and Robson is the ramen epicentre in Vancouver. And, in its own ways, it has expanded with Menya in Cambie (as far as I know, not related to the other ones) and G-Men in Richmond (related to Gyoza King, an izakaya in Robson Street). Benkei Ramen, on the other hand, has decided to expand but rather to doing it into the suburbs, they chose a place not that far from its current location: Thurlow Street between Robson Street and Alberni Street.

Typical sign a Chinese/Japanese shop just opened…

I have been awaiting for its opening for quite some time opening. I remember this place being occupied by a Noodle Express, which closed without me visiting and then a restaurant called “Inn of Happiness” which served Chinese food. When that flopped, I started to wonder what would be next. The day I met with Sherman in Azia was the day I found out they just opened and, similar to all openings, it was packed. (On that note, since the Azia lunch was in part a filet-o-fish meal, I was partially tempted to go that same day!). It had to hold myself as I was in a rush to get back to work which meant I will be back. And that meant the following Monday!

I am not sure if they learned from others mistakes or what not but one thing that catches your attention is the fact that, aside from tables, they have a “U” shaped counter for single diners. Both Kintaro and Motomachi Shokudo have a communal table for people like me who tends to go by themselves so, in a way, that is a good idea. After all, this is prime real state and each cover counts! On that note, the day I went, I arrived a couple of minutes before noon (unlike Kintaro, they open at 11:00 a.m.) and it was starting to get packed already. Unlike the Robson location where you could see people of almost all ways of life, in this location, I saw a good share of office people (i.e., in suits). Again, it reflects the area where it is located. But, enough of this, now, to the food!

I will admit one thing: After my initial visit to Benkei over a year ago, I haven’t been back there. It is not that it isn’t good, it ranks third behind Kintaro and Motomachi; it is just that, with so many good eats in the area, there are times I would try something else. Come to think about it… I haven’t been to either one in ages! Anyway, after I was seated and my order was taken, the wait started. And it went… And went… For some reason, they messed up my order and my neighbours who arrived (and ordered) after me was already enjoying their bowls of noodle. OK, I will give them some slack because they just opened but, then again, this is not a completely new operation…. But, still, why does funny things happen to people like me?!

Back to the bowl of ramen above, I went for their Shio, described as “Heavy Tonkotsu – Greeen onion, bamboo shoots, chashu, bean sprouts. We thicken the soup by stewing pork bones and meat, then added sea salt to create a richer flavour”. (OK, let the “this ramen is popular with women” start…). I asked for half an egg, which ended up being a good addition (though, at most two bites). Green onion? Check. Bambo shoots? Check. Bean Sprouts? Check. Actually, while there was a decent amount of these, it wasn’t overloaded with bean sprouts. Chashu? Hmmmm… OK, I thought it could have been better. Unlike Kintaro, I wasn’t given the option in regards of how heavy it could be. Unfortunately, that resulted in a case of it could have been better. Don’t get me wrong, it was soft but it lacked the punch a fattier cut could have provided; then again, I like fattier cuts of pork… The noodles still retain a bite and did not end up being mushy by the end of the meal, so, from that perspective it was still good. Now, the major point of contention… The broth… Since I haven’t been to Benkei for so long, memories about that first visit have started to fade, I will reset myself and not make any comparisons. Having said that… Well, I wished it could have been better. Unlike my visit to Kintaro, where I can still recall that rich pork tasting broth, in the case of Benkei it felt slightly flat. Don’t get me wrong, you could taste the pork; however, it was somewhat faint – and that is despite what seems to be some fat floating on top of the broth. The “sea salt” did not make that much, if any, difference…

Along with my order, I had some shrimp gyoza. While I like some dishes charred, blackened might not necessarily work for me in the case of gyoza or dumplings. Regardless, these were decent but I have had better. At the $3.50 price point, I will give them some slack but, otherwise, I might stick only with the ramen.

At that point, I was wondering… Could things have changed after all this time? I mean, I liked Benkei in my original visit but this visit left me wanting something more. Don’t get me wrong, it still holds a solid third way above G-Men (though, at this point, I am not sure if it is necessarily a good thing). So, that made me wonder… Should I revisit the original Benkei Ramen? Well, that is part of being a food blogger so the following day, I went to their original Robson Street location.

From the exterior, it hasn’t changed that much so, I guess, they are focusing in the key element of a restaurant: the food. For this visit, I “volunteered” ZF, whom I went with in my visit to La Belle Patate. According to ZF, this is his favourite ramen shop; however, that is mainly because he usually has early lunches and, again, neither Kintaro or Motomachi opens before 12:00 noon…

When we were directed to a table, I asked if we could have the window table. That ended up being a good thing and a bad thing at the same time, as you will see in the next set of pictures. But, in the mean time… If you see the picture above, I was starting to wonder if there has been one too many Chinese/Vietnamese influences in Benkei…

ZF went for the basics and ordered the miso ramen and requested extra corn. It has been his favourite and he seemed to enjoy it so I will just leave it at that. However, I noticed something that will be common with my bowl as well.

The only way to do a 1:1 comparison would be to order the exact same dish. And that is what I did here, except I chose to skip the egg. So, once again, their Shio ramen. The one common part about the miso and shio and ended up also being a “complain” while in the Thurlow location was that of the pork. C’mon dudes, fat tastes good, why you are shooting yourself and using leaner cuts? Still, it was soft to the taste but there is a big room for improvement. As for the rest, I will have to say they did a quite good job in terms of consistency, i.e., almost the same experience I had in their Thurlow location was encountered here as well. The only minor difference would be that here, the soup was slightly richer – something you will only notice if you really paid attention.

Did I say a 1:1 comparison? Well, since I ordered shrimp gyoza, I should order that as well here. And, as you can see here, it wasn’t charred the same way so, I guess, in their Thurlow location, they were partially swarmed. Tastewise? Almost the same…

As mentioned in the middle of the post, Benkei makes a good ramen and, best of all, a solid, consistent product. Unfortunately, they haven’t caught up with Kintaro and the question is how they will stand once Santouka opens across the street. Until then it still holds its position.

Tagged under: Japanese • Lunch • Ramen • Vancouver