Q Go Ramen
1443 West Broadway
Vancouver, BC

Reflecting on my last ramen post, i.e., Motomachi Shokudo, I have to admit that, despite new ramen shops have appeared, one thing is also good: Opinions have been divisive as to which ones are “good” and which ones are “bad”. In fact, some people believe Kintaro is still king of the hill, while Santouka is overrated, the lower profiled Benkei hits the spot and Sanpachi seems to be middle of the road. Unless you are the one who says “everything is good” (specially if you didn’t have to pay for it), these opinions are good because it allows so room for discussion. So, just to throw yet-another-ramen-shop, I went to Q Go Ramen….

Now, unlike the other ramen shops mentioned above, Q Go Ramen isn’t located in Downtown Vancouver: it is located in the Broadway corridor near Granville Street. If we had to do some comparisons, the nearest competitions would be Benkei (near Cambie) and Menya (also near Cambie). However, that’s not the full story on how I ended up here: I went there because of an epic fail of sorts. See, I was supposed to go to Xoxolat to pick up a gift and, just before that, I was supposed to visit Mochikas, a Peruvian restaurant in the middle of nowhere. OK, in the middle of a car shop… (Check Sherman’s post for more details!). Anyway, according to their website, they are supposed to open before noon; however, when I arrived almost 1:00 p.m., it was still closed. Hmmmm…. So, after my visit to Xoxolat, the next question was “where”? Driving through Broadway, I noticed Q Go Ramen and said “might as well!”.

Despite it is not a new shop (it has been opened for couple of months already), it still maintained a bit that “new”-ish feeling. Given that day was a bit outcast, I chose to sit at the “bar” facing outside to use natural light rather than the artificial light inside. Of course, that also meant I didn’t really “absorb” the feeling of the restaurant. Is that a bad thing? Well, I only care about what is served, so, probably no! And talking about food, after the waitress left the menu and I made my order, I got…

Edamame. Wait, I actually didn’t order this; it was complimentary. Technically, I am not surprise at that fact, after all, Mijune mentioned it in her post. But, still, there is the fact it was provided “free”. As for how it was, if you have had edamame before, then you have a good idea of what to expect. If you haven’t, think a bit waxier peas with some salt on top. Anyway, it was an interesting, nice touch.

Moving to the food that I actually ordered, I went for their shio ramen – tonkotsu broth enhanced with salt flavouring served with boiled egg, marinated chashu, arage kikurage fungus, bean sprouts and green onion. For the pork, I had the option to go for lean and fat. I chose the later. In a “good” way, they only have three broths: shio, miso and shoyu, all of these with pork. Furthermore, they have a vegetarian dish version. Past that, you have some toppings and some sides, in the form of gyoza and takoyaki, plus kimchi, steamed rice and extra pork.

One thing that might not be necessarily evident in the pictures above is the size of the bowl. Alas, I should have brought something for comparison purposes. The circumference of this bowl was easily a third larger than most of the other ramen bowls. However, that could have also being an optical illusion. But, does more mean better? Anyway, the noodles felt a bit soggier than others I have had, though it could be due to the time I took to take the pictures. Darn! >_< The pork, wow, it was fattier than what I expected. Ever since that bowl I had at Kintaro, I have to wonder how much my threshold for fat has lowered… But, as for taste… I don’t know, I wished it had more of that pork flavour. I mean, you knew it was pork but it felt there was something missing. Oh, sorry about the egg, as I didn’t take a picture. I had it in a single mouthful.

I also had a side of gyoza, which had a nice crispy skin. The filling though… Was OK, once again, nothing extraordinary. At least, in all senses, it was better than Hida Takayama.

Overall, I won’t say I have necessarily high opinions of Q Go. I mean, it wasn’t bad but it wasn’t good or outstanding. Could it because of some external factors that result in a so-so product? For instance the time it took me to start eating? Not sure but… Too many buts. In the end, if I happen to be in the area in the need of a quick fix, may be. But not as a destination, nah. Now, can somebody tell me why of the name? As in Nine Five Ramen? :/

Motomachi Shokudo
740 Denman Street
Vancouver, BC

Here we go again… A two months ago, I did a revisit to Kintaro (original post here). When I first visited it two years ago, it was regarded as the best in town. But, looking back, there wasn’t much to compare against. After an onslaught of ramen shop after ramen shop, with Benkei, Santouka and Sanpachi, among others, it was a question of whether it could hold itself up. Alas, it didn’t. The question is now if Motomachi Shokudo, a sister restaurant to Kintaro, in a similar way, would hold itself up or not. As usual, there is only one way to find out… A revisit!

As a reminder, back then, I thought it was decent; however, not as good as Kintaro. Now, given I thought Kintaro has gone downhill, the question is whether Motomachi has slipped in a similar way…

The day I went to Motomachi, I had PO as my partner in crime. Also, on that that, it was one of those “typical” Vancouver rainy, gray “cold” days, which would have made a bowl of ramen more enticing. In a way, not much has change about the place, except for one detail. Back in the old days, it was said that Motomachi was a more delicate, female version of Kintaro and, as a reflection of that, there was also the usage of ingredients (chicken broth base rather than pork) and an all female staff (kitchen included). Not sure when things have changed: there was a man in the kitchen. But, you know what, as long as the food is good, should I care much who is in the kitchen?

I know that it is not necessarily exciting to show a cup of tea, less that a cup with a tea bag in a Japanese restaurant… Wait!!! OK, here is one of those strange oddities. While a lot of places have associated tea with “free” drink in Japanese restaurants (similar to ice water in other restaurants), not necessarily so here. Yup, there is a charge for this cup of tea! Do not think of it as a “bad” thing, just as an FYI if you wonder why there is a line item in your bill.

Moving to the food now, rather than ordering the “usual” default dishes, we went for the more adventurous one. After all, that’s Motomachi’s claim to fame, right? Starting off, here is PO’s bamboo charcoal dark miso ramen – angel haired Japanese leek, menma (bamboo shoots), soft-boiled local organic egg, green onion, BBQ pork, thinly sliced chili pepper, white pepper, seasonal green vegetable, chili pepper powder. Well, people, here is a case of if you can’t stand the strange things, look away. Yup, the broth is black. I tasted a bit of that broth and my thought were on the lines of “meh”. I am not sure about you guys here but, fad or hype or whatever aside, I couldn’t think of anything that would make me order this one again. It is just that it was too… Simple? How can I put it… There wasn’t anything that made it stand out. Now, that’s the opinion of the broth alone so, to extend the question, what about the rest? Well, I had to leave that to PO and his thoughts were “meh” as well. I think I will leave it at that.

As for myself, I had the spicy miso ramen with organic chicken – chicken, cabbage, lotus roots, carrot, bean sprout, spinach, Chinese chive, onion, snow peas, menma (bamboo shoots), angel haired Japanese leek, green onion, corn, olive oil, sesame oil, chili sauce. I will have to admit that, when presented at the table, I was a bit surprised. I mean, that was a lot of vegetables! Probably a bit of emphasis on the “healthy” side? But, of course, given so much oil, how can you call it “healthy”? OK, let me backtrack that, people, it is not that oil is bad for your health, you need some. It is at times how much you consume! Anyway, there was so much that I was starting to wonder when I was going to start hitting the noodles. Yes, eventually I did. But, one thing that went sort of MIA was the chicken. No, really. There were only a couple of small pieces. If that was “bad”, here is the killer: White meat. Facepalm. I know, I know, they might be going for “healthy” but, c’mon! As for the rest, it felt quite similar to the bamboo charcoal one. It was just “meh”. There wasn’t anything exciting, anything that really stood out. I mean, if I were to compare it to the leek version of Sanpachi, that one stood out more because there weren’t too many components added. Here, the different components ended up fighting and distracting each other. It was a case of too much for its own good. Oh, as for the noodles, it was decent, still had a light bite but… But… Not outstanding (yes, again!).

As a side, we ordered their gyoza and, in an odd “claim to fame”, these are not sort of chubby but elongated. Well, nothing extraordinary, just OK. Sorry…

In the end, we paid and left without much to say. Reality was that food was average and not overkill as some parts of Kintaro’s meal. However, that’s the problem. It didn’t have anything to “show” and, as a result, the new kids in the block felt superior. So, in the end, similar to Kintaro, it feels it has rested in their laurels… Pass?

Kintaro Ramen
788 Denman Street
Vancouver, BC

To those who haven’t been reading this blog for long, back in October, I celebrated this blog’s second anniversary. Looking back, I have seldom posted about restaurant revisits for other reasons. What I have implied for the longest is that, what I wrote was valid at that point in time but, as time goes, things might have changed. The restaurants have changed, my likes have changed, time has changed. Or, as an acquaintance yoga practitioner would tell me: “your body is different every day”.

For the longest, every time there has been a new ramen shop in town, something that has partially exploded in the last 24 or so months (Sanpachi, Santouka or Benkei, just to name a few), I have always used Kintaro as a reference (my original blog post, back over 2 years ago here). So, that begs the question: should a revisit be worth it? Have Kintaro kept up with times? Or is it still surfing over that initial popularity from eons ago? So, with high expectations, around lunch time at work, I decided to take that (short) walk to see how and if things have changed…

Not sure if this is something I should have seen coming but, arriving at just past noon (they open at 11:30 a.m., closed on Mondays), there was a small line outside. Now, unlike 2+ years ago, at least the line didn’t go to the corner: there were about 10 people ahead of me. Fortunately, in the communal table, I spotted an empty seat which meant that, as long as nobody ahead of me was going by themselves, it won’t be that much of an issue. And, indeed, all the people ahead of me were “parties” so, as soon as I was inside, I was able to claim that seat for me. See, people, you shouldn’t be ashamed to visit restaurants by yourself! (Something I do quite often when I travel for business).

After seated, menu given, I looked around and, yup, not much have changed. Probably a bit worn down but, in the end, is the same ambiance (or lack of) of times past. When the waitress came back to take my order, I was sure of what I wanted to order: Shio BBQ Pork Ramen (my original visit was miso). What I didn’t recall, though, if the contents in it would be the same as my other non-blogged previous visits so I naively asked for an egg just to be told it was included. OK, that works for me! And, then, it was that dreaded wait…

Interestingly, on that wait, I noticed a customer getting a small bowl with chunks of pork in it. Then, I looked around again wondering if there was a special of sorts. While there was a a note about the hanpayaro BBQ pork, special it wasn’t, as it is the same price as in the menu. However, for $0.95, when was the last time you go so much meat in a bowl??? It had some really light sesame hint and token green onion on top but there was a small issue depending on how you like your pork: It was cold (not fridge cold, a bit under room temperature cold). Now, it can go both ways: by being cold, the fat was able to “bind” the meat but the fat texture was a bit too promiment. Had it been hitting room temperature or a bit over (thought, of course, that will hit that dreaded bacteria safe level), it might have been better. After all, isn’t it how Chinese BBQ pork is sold?

And here it is, my Shio BBQ Pork Ramen, ordered with “medium” broth and fatty pork. Right from the get go, I got some strange vibes from it, as if there was something… Wrong? Different? But, before going into details, some more pictures.

At almost $10, they don’t shy away on the slices of pork and they made good use of their word when “fatty” actually means fatty. However, and it is really strange for me to say this, it went a bit pass a threshold I didn’t existed I had in regards with pork fat (short of consuming chunks of lard). In the end, I ate only half of it; instead, ate the hanapayaro (which was leaner) instead. This, of course, could have been easily “fixed” had I ordered the lean slices of pork. As for the egg… Well, here might be sort of a depends on how you like it. As seen here, the egg is cooked through (which is exactly what I had in my first blogged visit) but other places now make with the yolk soft. I don’t mind it be done this way but others might disagree.

As for the noodles… Well, that’s were things went a bit south: It didn’t have that much of a bite I recall from eons ago. While it didn’t break easily (say, by using the chopsticks) and still had some stretchiness to it, that didn’t really made up for that lack of “bite”. Could I have ordered it differently? I am sure I could have; however, there are times where the question is rather how it is served by default. And while the I could live with the “bite” issue of the noodle, what really dampened it overall was the broth. I felt it failed in several aspects. While I don’t care the seemingly bits of fat floating, it lacked that semi-gelatinous consistency from Sanpachi and lacked that salty “kick” of the sea salt (i.e., the Shio part). To make it “worst”, it was just warm. Now, I am sure some purists will be claiming my head for saying it, as the intend is to not overcook the noodles; however, compared to the one I had in Santouka (which similar issue was mentioned), it was still not as warm as theirs. It is possible that was the reason the slices of pork felt flat?

While I was having my bowl, I was hearing some familiar voices on my back and, interestingly enough, PO went there the same day with some of his friends. Unlike me, he ordered one of the specials, the spicy garlic version. Then, back at the office, I inquired about it and, to quote him, “it wasn’t spicy nor garlic-y”. When asked how it would compare to Benkei spicy ramen, which you can then ask for garlic (as a free side), he thought Kintaro’s version was extremely inferior.

Overall, I will have to say it felt flat, as if they have rest on their laurels of eons past and the new offerings have overtaken them. It is too bad as it was an iconic place. Of course, it is still better compared to other places but, in the overall rankings, it is not as high as I made reference to in the past. In fact, pending a re-visit to Motomachi Shokudo, if I had to rank the places I have been recently, it would be Santouka (though only for the toroniku, otherwise, won’t be king of the hill), followed closely Sanpachi (highest overall if it wasn’t for the before mentioned Santouka’s toroniku), Benkei and then Kintaro. Now, it is possible they haven’t changed at all; instead, now that there is more competition, my likings have evolved. The question for Kintaro is whether they should stick with what they have done for ages or change. If the answer is the former, I guess my “ranking” answers that question. I guess until they change, then?

Sanpachi
770 Bute Street
Vancouver, BC

Originally, I had two more additional San Francisco posts; however, when people asks your feedback about certain restaurants, at times, you can’t avoid try to switch the post dates and have it as soon as possible. Such is the case of Sanpachi, the newest ramen shop on the block. Of course, if you look closely, shokutsu of Foodosophy, had already written about it but, hey, the more opinions the better, right?

One thing I will openly admit is that one of this blogs “issues” is that of amount of visits and/or amount of dishes I order. Given that I usually go to restaurants by myself, I can only eat that much by myself. However, as I have said repeatedly: this blog is about my restaurant experiences, not necessarily a review site (for that, I will defer it to fellow bloggers like Mijune). So, for kicks, rather than visiting Sanpachi once, I went there not two but three times! Of course, each time, ordering different dishes, hehehe. To start off, on my first visit, I ordered…

Cha-siu ramen with an egg (extra $1 side). OK, here is one language hiccup: When I got my bowl initially, it was topped with leeks. See, somehow they thought I ordered “negi-ramen” rather than “with an egg”. As for the broth, I ordered shio. Originally, I wanted tonkotsu but, for some odd reason, it wasn’t an option for the cha-siu ramen. Don’t ask me, it wasn’t listed!

The noodles had a bit of bite to it but, from what I have read, you can order it slightly more undercooked for that “bite”. Otherwise, “as is”, it works for me fine. The broth had a thickness to it, as if it was made up with some quality stock/bones to extract all that collagen but, at the same time, it still had a “clean” taste (i.e., no ingredients that “sinked” as you drank the broth). The one part that failed was the cha-siu: They were quite thin, too thin for my liking. I am not sure if it is due to Kintaro‘s (which I will admit haven’t been in ages now) or Santouka‘s, but in this case, it felt “strange” and/or minuscule. As for the taste of the pork, it was OK but have had better.

So, the following day, I mulled the idea of visiting them over again. In the end, I thought “sure, why not!” Of course, I wasn’t going to order the same order again so, for contrast purposes, I ordered their Yatai ramen, along with a side of nori-mayo. For $11, Santouka’s jowl version it ain’t; instead, it would be more on the lines of Santouka’s ramen + sides.

For the most part, the general qualities observed of the previous bowl can be applied to this one. In fact, I would say some standarisation was observed in regards to the broth and the noodles! As for the broth itself, it was borderline a shoyu type, i.e., soy sauce-like based. Not complaining but, let’s just say, I prefer tonkotsu and shio. As for the slices of pork, other than having three slices only, still the same issues…

Finally, the nori-mayo: some sushi-type rice on top of seaweed and pork drizzled with a mayo-like sauce. I will categorize this as interesting and, actually, it was good in its own ways. My only “issue” is that, if you order it, chances are you are ordering a bowl of ramen along. Translation? You can easily end up ordering carb with carb.

So, finally, to be diligent, I went to Sanpachi for a third time. WTF?! Going to the same restaurant on the same week for third (not straight) times?! Oh, well, whatever it takes to write a “good” post! So, due to the snafu on my first visit, I chose to order the their negi-ramen to find out what’s so interesting about it. And indeed, the leeks give it an interesting herbiness and crunchiness to contrast that noodle feel. And, given this time I had the option, I ordered their tonkotsu version… And, in this case, it definitely delivered: it had a strong pork taste to the point it could be offensive to some people, so caveat emptor!

While everything sounds good, here is one “fail”:

I will let you judge it…

Overall, I will have to say Sanpachi produces good bowls of noodles. If I have to compare it with the other noodle shops, it felt slightly short but it is still a good offering. OK, let me try again. Santouka’s noodles are OK; however, there is only one dish that really stands out. Sanpachi, on the other hand, based on the three bowls I had, can be considered good across the board. What does that mean? I think I had my share of ramen this week and might not want to touch one for a couple of weeks. OK, kidding! So, unless you are ordering Santouka’s noodle with the jowl, the remaining ones from Santouka do not necessarily compares quite well. So, in the end, I welcome this new addition… Until I want ramen again, that is! OK, let me rectify that: Given they have other dishes not yet available when I went, I might drop back “sooner” to try those. But, until then…

Katana-Ya
430 Geary Street
San Francisco, CA

On our first night in San Francisco, after the FoodBuzz welcome reception street food fare, we were driven back to a hotel near Union Square. While everybody was walking back their to the hotel, I noticed a restaurant that I thought “just for kicks, this might be interesting for us to try!” The following night, while waiting for the gala dinner and seemingly seemed to be taking forever, I was telling the “gang” (as in TS/JS, Mijune and Sherman) that if dinner didn’t star by 8:00 p.m. (officially the invite was for 7:00 p.m.), I might as well go back to the hotel as I was tired already, a bit grumpy (OK, grumpier than usual). Wait! What about the food? Hey, food is always in the radar and Katana-Ya, that said restaurant, was on the way back to the hotel! Given I wrote about the dinner, that means we were let in before 8:00 p.m. which means we had to see if there was space/time to go there. And, actually we did! Since our flight back to Vancouver was in the late afternoon, I agreed with Sherman to meet way past the lunch rush crowd for a last lunch before taking the BART (hence, to the airport) and back to Vancouver…

Why so much push for Katana-Ya? I thought it would be a good comparison point for two things: (a) Despite it wasn’t the “best” ramen place in San Francisco (as was told to us during the Incanto dinner), at least it was “good enough” according to Yelp, and (b) more importantly… How it is compared to Vancouver offerings considering all the options around (Santouka, Kintaro, Motomachi Shokudo, Benkei, Menya, the recently opened Sanpachi, among others)? Anyway, back to this adventure, Sherman arrived before me and, thanks to really good timing, he was able to secure the only table with access to natural light. Thanks a lot for this, man!

Given it was only two of us (Sherman, I and what army???), we had to be careful as for what dishes to choose. After all, we might not be coming back for a full year (that is assuming we would)! So, to plan things “safe”, we went overboard and order probably a couple too many dishes! Said that, we start off with…

WTF?! Salad? With Sashimi? Well, I might have given a red herring here. If you look closely at the sign at the entrance, it says “sushi”. So, Katana-Ya is not necessarily a ramen specific place so we thought we might try dishes like this. Having said that, it was, the dish was good and bad: some of the pieces were quite decent (hamachi, et al), some were as expected (shrimp, given it was cooked) but, oddly, the one that failed in an epic way was the salmon which didn’t have a “fresh” feeling. The dressing for the salad actually worked quite well as it gave some saltiness, acidity and sweetness at the same time. This would certainly a salad I would order again; however, not for myself, instead, to share.

OK, given that push for ramen, we had to end up ordering one, right? So, given we would only order one, to play it “safe”, we ordered their name sake bowl of noodles called Katanaya Ramen, which at $13, includes “corn, fried chicken, fried potsticker, seaweed, scallion, BBQ pork & boiled egg“. They might have as well called it everything but the kitchen sink!

There were a couple of things that we observed right away and thought failed miserably: fried, crispy items in broth is a no-no. So, in this case, we rushed to take out the pieces of chicken and pot stickers as, otherwise, it would have ended up soggy. And actually that was a good idea, as by themselves, the chicken was good enough; the pot stickers, while nice and resembling the Korean fried mandu, was slightly chewy. The rest of the components (pork included) made it comparable to several of the noodle shops found here so not complains, though I am sure some will “complain” the egg is hard boiled rather than soft centre. As for the broth (here, shio)… Well, I will have to say it was good but Santouka it wasn’t. So, from a ramen-ya perspective, it is a good option but one has to wonder about the price. At $13 (<– US Dollars here!), in Vancouver, of course, the direct comparison would be, again, Santouka’s pork jowl and, Katana-Ya would be considered below par. Of course, I am in an oranges/apple comparison so, from that perspective, I will leave it at that.

What?! Curry as well? Well, before anybody starts jumping into conclusions, Benkei has been offering curries as well and the recently opened Sanpachi has donburi in their menu (though currently “coming soon”). What does that mean? Well, just because it says sushi outside (which technically Katana-Ya does not list itself as), it does not mean they can’t offer other dishes, provided they can execute it well.

And, as for this one, in a typical American way, the katsu curry bowl was large. Extremely large. So large that even the two of us didn’t manage to finish the salad, bowl of ramen and this rice bowl. Then again, size isn’t everything but taste. As for this one, I appreciate the fact they didn’t pour the curry sauce on top of the cutlet but put it on the size. This is because we found out it was nicely friend and, in fact, still slightly juicy. The curry sauce was the typical Japanese style curry, though it didn’t have that Glico feel to it plus it had a light nice spicy kick. As for the rice, fortunately, it was your typical Japanese style.

Yup, having sushi outside meant we had order one, this time in the form of a roll, the Hawaiian roll: Spicy salmon, tuna, butter fish & BBQ eel. At $13.50, it might be borderline on the expensive side compared to some offering/places in Vancouver. But, again, this ain’t Vancouver… One thing that should be noted about this offering is that this is a “spicy” roll and that’s what the creamy sauce on the side is: It game some hot kick to it.

In general, the roll falls in the category of “OK”: the rice could have been “better” as in having more vinegar and cooked differently (in some instances, had a slight “bite”). Now, that does not necessarily means it is below par: some of the mass produced “sushi” places in Vancouver would have offered such type of rice. As for the fish used, for the most part, it still had a bit of hit/miss mentioned above regarding their salad. So, it wasn’t bad but, given what I am used here in Vancouver, it might be borderline average to good.

After we finish the meal, we could barely move from our table. We thought we won’t be served that much food but, then again, I should have known considering this located in the US. As for the food served, I will have to say that it was better than what we though. While some parts of certain dishes went sideways, what I won’t deny is that it didn’t necessarily fail. In fact, everything served was at least par with similar specialist shops in Vancouver. So, from that perspective, I will have to tip my hat. Would I come back? Certainly I would, with the caveat there are still other places I still have to visit first.

Miki Japanese Ramen
5212 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC

ET of Doesn’t TaZte Like Chicken once asked me “How long does it take you to write a post?” Back then (almost a year ago), I told something about ~1 hour post processing pictures plus another 30 or so minutes writing the actual post. That, is of course, not counting the time it takes to decide what restaurant to go, etc. etc. That was back then… The question is, what about now? So, as a test, I asked myself, if I didn’t have a post in the queue (the original post for today was that of Pho Hong, which will be rescheduled for this coming Monday), how long would it take me write a post from scratch? Well, there are of course some things that takes time of its own, for example, where? To avoid spending some time figuring that out, I decided to go to the same restaurant Sherman visited yesterday plus the order the exact same dish(es). That restaurant was Miki Japanese Ramen.

Now, it is not like I didn’t have Miki in my queue of places to visit. However, I was detracted from doing so due to a post from shokutsu of Foodosophy. While I haven’t met shokutsu in person (though, he/she claims he/she has seen me in restaurants!), it is the fact, a lot of times, that what he/she writes are in line to what I like. But, this time, I needed a place to try (and then write) so I had to set aside any previous preconceptions about this restaurant.

When I walked in, there were four covers in two separate tables. Unlike, say, Kintaro or Santouka, I wasn’t greeted with the usual irashaimase you hear in Japanese restaurants. But, you know what? My concept of authenticity has gone in odd ways so, despite I wasn’t greeted that way, it is what ends up on the plate (or in this case, bowl) that matters. So, after giving the menu but without actually looking through it, I ordered their Miki ramen – our most popular ramen bowl! Chewy ramen, pan fried chashu & bamboo, sweet corn, full serving of golden egg, house recipe kimchi… the works! At $10, it is actually more expensive than the bowls at Benkei, though still far from the $13 toroniku in Santouka.

My expectations were quite low to begin with, given Sherman’s and shokutsu’s thoughts. But, still, that didn’t prepare me for the disappointment I was about to experience. For one, notice something missing? When I take pictures of bowl of noodles (Vietnamese pho, Taiwanese beef noodle, et al), I show the noodles and some of the meat and other toppings. Based on the description of the dish, I would expect some slices of pork but, that wasn’t the case, the pork was chopped. As for the rest, the noodles were as described, i.e., chewy (though the description is accurate, it was just OK) and the amount of ingredients was quite balanced, though the kimchi does not seem to fit in the overall theme and the shredded seaweed didn’t really add much savoury overtones. And then there is what really killed the bowl of noodles: the broth. There wasn’t much to describe, it was just a basic broth. Compared to what I have had in other ramen shops, there wasn’t anything exciting, anything that would have made me want to come back.

While I also like tongue, unlike Sherman, I am not as vocal as him. Here, it was served with a mayo and a sauce similar to hoisin. It had the qualities of this cut of meat but, at $5, I think I was expecting a bit more (quantity wise). Otherwise, it was decent.

Overall, I am not sure if I can even say it is “average” at best. And, Sherman might give me hell for saying this but I found Kawawa Ramen to be better than Miki’s offerings…

Finally, as for the question of how long it took me to write this? ~90 minutes… ^_^;;;

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.

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.

G-Men Ramen
1101-3778 Sexsmith Road
Richmond, BC

After the hard drive of my main computer died two weeks ago, I spent some time working off my backup/traveller computer. While it was workable, it simply does not have the apps I need. After going back and forth, I finally got a replacement hard drive (though technically, it is not a replacement at the same time; won’t go into details). The “catch” was that I had to go to Richmond and, after picking up my hard drive, I was looking for a spot for lunch. One place I wanted to go for some time, specially after some raving from some fellow bloggers, was G-Men Ramen. OK, since I was in Richmond, I might as well make the best out of it!

When I arrived, I wasn’t sure what to think. I mean, do they really need to cover everything outside? How can you tell it is busy or empty without poking your head? While there is a board for you to write your name, in the case there are lines, I was by myself so, it was a matter of walking in and hope there is a table open. No need, in this case, there were tables open but was seated on the “bar” instead. That works for me… Looking at the menu, I was partially disappointed the full menu was not available. Instead, they had two ramen and two sans-broth noodle dishes. And then dishes like the nattou dish which Mijune tried. Since I was there for the ramen, that pretty much “solved” the what-to-order dilemma… However, I started with…

A side order of gyoza. Now, here is one small detail: G-Men is from the same people who runs Gyoza King in Downtown Vancouver. If this is the case, that means their gyoza should be pretty good, right? Well, unfortunately no. While it was cooking quite well, the problem was that the filling was tasteless and without any texture. Somehow, I have had better frozen from T&T. To make it even worst, the dipping sauce did not add anything. Had it had some acidity (in the form of rice vinegar) or heat (in the form of chili oil), it might have partially saved it. But, it did not. It is technically possible there was some but I simply couldn’t taste it.

Here is my order: Special ToriGara Shoyu Ramen – “Authentic light “TORIGARA” chicken soup THIN noodle seasoned with housemade SHOYU flavor, topped with BBQ pork, half ajitama, yuzu, seaweed, black wood ear mushroom & green onion”. From an ingredient perspective, it looks quite just that some parts were not as expected. In the case of the slices of pork, they were sliced quite thin. Had I known it, I might have ordered a side of pork. And, on that topic, I did not think the pork was too flavourful. Heck, I think I can do better! The broth was… Disappointing. I thought it was too mild, though I am not sure if it was because it was a chicken based broth rather than pork.

The noodles were a bit too basic to me, not much to comment about. If I had to put it in perspective, I falls way behind Kintaro, Motomachi and even Benkei. Maybe on par to Donburiya but you must keep in mind Donburiya is not mainly a noodle place. One thing that threw me off a little bit was the presence of yuzu (which, originally, I confused myself with yuba – tofu skin). Yuzu is a citrus and, in this case, it is used in the form of the peel. Tastewise, think something similar to a sour orange (though this description is not that accurate). However, in this case, that citrus-y taste was a distraction rather than enhancing the other flavours. To make a comparison, it was quite different to the effect of the lime wedge served with pho; here, it felt as if it was fighting against the savoury taste of the soup.

After I finished my bowl, the waitress was asking me how it was and how it ranks compared to the ones in Downtown. I could have given her my thoughts on the spot but didn’t. For one part, the comparison is a bit unfair because of the broth type. Still, I can’t stop wondering why the pork broth isn’t available at this time of the day. Sure, I have heard of reasons why (they ran out during the opening days and had to close the following ones just to be able to prepare new batches); however, this gives me instead some odd vibes – why you can’t prepare enough for the whole day?

If I had to make my assessment, my answer would be “I don’t like it”, with the caveat the broth was chicken-based. If it had been pork based, most likely it would have fallen in the middle. Of course, that is what I speculate would be my final thoughts. The only way for sure to find out would be a re-visit, specially if I manage to drag somebody along. Until then, it is a pass.

Deli Nippon
3913 Knight Street
Vancouver, BC

We all know the corner of Robson and Denman in Vancouver’s West End is the epicentre of ramen in Vancouver. In fact, a graph by fellow bloggers from Eat, Snap, Repeat best describe the noddle situation here. So, for today’s post, my visit to Deli Nippon, the most recent noodle shop in Vancouver, located in an area known for car accidents as well as some Chinese and Indian restaurants.

I arrived around noon on a Saturday and there was one other busy table, with some old Japanese folks there. Hey, that was a good sign. I sat on one of the other remaining three open tables and starting checking at the menu. Actually, that would be an overstatement: they only have a handful of noodle options, gyoza, okonomiyaki and, as a special for summer, hiyashi chuka.

Citation needed? ^_^

In retrospective, I should have ordered the summer special; however, I wanted to try instead the “normal” option, i.e., ramen. After all, in order to do a straight comparison with the other ramen shops, I ought to order something in common, right? So, that meant, I ended up ordering the ramen, specifically, the shoyu chashu/pork version. I should add that, unlike other ramen shops, there is no options for other toppings like corn, eggs, et al. To go along, I ordered some gyoza.

Skipping this shot? No chance!

First, the gyoza – six pieces for $3.50, though they have an option of a bowl for ramen plus some pieces at a “special” price. But, no, I wanted chashu so I went for the full order of gyoza. While it was done the way it is supposed to (pan-fried at the bottom then steamed), what I found odd was the filling. Specifically, it had a slightly sweet taste, probably from the vegetable mix. Interesting, nowhere near the best dumplings I have had.

And here is my order of shoyu chashu ramen. The only toppings it had were some bamboo shoots and green onions. I found the broth to be a bit too light for my liking. While I should have expected this, I did not expected it to be this way. Is it possible I have been spoiled by Kintaro/Motomachi Shokudo? As for the noodles, it still had a bite, which is good. However, otherwise, there was nothing special. Finally, while the pork was interesting, again, it is nowhere near the ones from Kintaro or the ones I can make myself at home.

Overall, I was totally disappointed. In a way, I did not find anything specia. This is despite their menu is small and other fellow Japanese diners were there, signs that usually mean good offerings. Unfortunately, Deli Nippon failed to deliver.