Hokkaido Ramen Santouka

Hokkaido Ramen Santouka
1690 Robson Street
Vancouver, BC

“There is always space for one more”

That phrase is of course a tongue-in-cheek. In some areas of Vancouver, you see a saturation of certain restaurants, yet, it seems one more restaurant always pop out. Fish and chips in Steveston, Indian in Surrey, Izakaya in Downtown Vancouver. In the corner of Robson and Denman, also known as the ramen epicentre in Vancouver, we already have the three main ramen shops: Kintaro, Motomachi Shokudo and Benkei Ramen (and its “relative”, Benkei Ramen in Thurlow). The question is, of course, is there space for Hokkaido Ramen Santouka, the newest addition in the ramen picture in Vancouver…

Since I work in the area, every other day, I walk by to see if they had open yet. I was hoping they would open prior to the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games but, alas, they did not. So, one day, I was walking by, I noticed a sign saying it would be open on February 26th. Alas, that day I had off and had no plans to be in the area (that was the day I ended up going to the Royal Canadian Mint pavilion, which, on that note, will be open during the Paralympics, Go Fish and Bakery 101), which meant I would be going the following week for lunch.

Since I work in the area, that means I could go for an early lunch and avoid any possible line-ups, something that occurs frequently in Kintaro. And unlike Kintaro, they were open before 12:00! However, either I was there too early or nobody had noticed it was open yet because we (colleagues and myself) were able to walk in and get a table without any problems. In fact, I was able to dally a little bit by taking pictures like the one above showing what they have in their menu… Except there was a *small* problem: not all the items were available! Now, if will give them some leeway on this visit (more about this in a moment) as it was still their soft-opening; yet, it was disappointing at the same time. Sigh… Anyway, how about a picture of the *real* thing?

After browsing what was available, I decided to go all-in and ordered their “Toroniku Shio Ramen – simmered pork jowl and salt seasoned ramen”. As seen above, it is served separately. I guess that partially eliminates the problem of people wanting (or not) their bamboo shoots, green onions and wood ear fungus in their broth. In my case, I am not that picky (Ha! Kevin, take that!) so, whether it was in or separate, does not matter that much.

Now, here is something that I am sure some people might “complain” about – but not me (Take that again, Kevin!): the size of the bowl. I wish I had a ruler or something on those lines to provide a better perspective but, unfortunately, you will have to take my word for it. If we compare side by side against the one from the other nearby ramen shops, Santouka will end up being a loser. Yes, the size of their serving is smaller than the other ones. The question remains, will the rest make up for the smaller size?

While they did not ask me how I wanted my noodles, their “default” serving still had some bite and, more interestingly, even after the photo shoot and the time it took me to eat most of it, the last pieces did not turn mushy. From that perspective it was good. I found the broth to be thicker than the ones from other places and, as a result, richer. Some people (non-bloggers) have told me diverse opinions about it, from it being sweet to be a bit salty. I guess it is a matter of how you like yours: if, like me, you like it with some consistency, then it is a definite winner. And, despite it was good, there was even another winner: the pork jowl. While it retained its shape and you could grab it with your chopsticks, as soon as you put it in your mouth, it almost melts away. It is something I can eat the whole day…

Now, here is one catch of this visit: since not all items in the menu was available, I was determined to go there again another day. And, fortunately, a couple of days later, Sherman drop me a note saying he will be in Downtown and wanted to give it a try as well. Hey, I am always game for food! While perusing the menu, I was disappointed again not all the items in the menu was available. And, in the meantime, I insisted to Sherman he *must* try the toroniku shio (he initially wanted to try the miso version). In the end he did and… Well, just check his post on his thoughts, hehehehe. As for me…

Since I already had the “premium” bowl of ramen, I thought I should go for the basic one… OK, let me try again: among the items not available the day I went originally were the rice bowls. On this second visit, they were available and I could order them with their “basic” ramen orders to make a combo (which includes half boiled egg). So, here is the shoyu ramen – pork broth seasoned with soy sauce. It was indeed lighter than to shio but, at the same time, saltier. Given I prefer the richer version, in my opinion, shio works better for me. Now, there was one thing that disappointed. Notice the piece of pork? Well, there was only one piece! And, you know what? In this case, I think I prefer the one from Kintaro a bit more than Santouka’s… But, on its own, I thought that one slice was a bit “cheap”. I must add, though, one piece might be the amount of slices you get if it is in a combo; in the plastic sample (as seen on the second picture from the top), the stand alone bowl had more than one slice. Well, you decide.

I had several options for rice bowls and, depending on which I choose, price will change as well. Out of the four – negi meshi (dried bonito, green onions and soy sauce), ikura gohan (topped with salmon roe), yakishake (pieces of grilled salmon) and cha-shu (piece of cha-shu pork), I went for the last one. For thoughts of the ikura gohan and yakishake, check Mijune’s post! But, back to this post. The cha siu pork here were really tender but it might be because it had some more fat in the pieces. For some reason, given its consistency, I am under the impression these are stewed rather than braised (yeah, I know, these cooking methods are quite similar…). Regardless, similar to the pork jowl, these were melt in your mouth. The toasted sesame seeds added some level of nuttiness to the rice bowl, which meant another layer of flavour. If I had to find a weakest link here, that would be the rice. Now, there wasn’t anything wrong, just that, it only served as a blank palette for the rest – nothing else. One way I thought it could have been improved a bit more would be some more of the stewing liquid but, I guess, there will be people who prefers it this way. As for the egg…. Well, I won’t say much. Rather than still having its yolk semi-soft, here it was hard boiled. It was OK, not much to comment about.

Oh, one more thing…

Let’s just say there are some people who are crazy about egg and, in this case, Sherman ordered a soft boiled egg. I did not ask for a piece so, again, you will have to check Sherman’s post (or, as an alternative, Mijune’s post).

So, how does Santouka compares to Benkei? It is better but more expensive. How about Motomachi Shokudo? It might a somewhat difficult to compare considering their broths have different base (pork vs. chicken) so it might be an unfair one. What about Kintaro? Now, that is a though question. Putting the argument of authenticity aside and whether Japanese people like or dislike Kintaro, I believe there are some merits in both – it is whether we want to take those into consideration. But, the most important question: by itself, how does Santouka fare? I think it is really good and might come back. The problem; however, is the $$$. If you can swallow the cost factor, then, Santouka might be the top of the list.

Tagged under: Downtown • Japanese • Ramen • Vancouver