ramen

Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum-Review

Yokohama is a good place for a day trip if you’re visiting Tokyo. We had activated our JR Pass so it was only about a 30 minute ride on the bullet train or less. We didn’t have a lot planned for our day in Yokohama besides visiting Yokohama Chinatown, Osanbashi Pier, Cosmo World and the Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum. The ramen museum is just a short 10 minute walk from Shin-Yokohama station. We were surprised that admission was only 310 yen which is about $3.50 CAD. I noticed they even offer an annual pass for people who want to visit often! The Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum was opened in 1994 and is the world’s first food-themed museum.

Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum

The ramen museum features specialty ramen from 9 different regions in Japan. Once you buy your ticket and go in, you will be in a lobby area with a small gift shop and slot car racing for kids. This is also where you can learn about the origins of ramen through some large poster panels on the wall. At first I wasn’t very impressed because there wasn’t much on this floor but the ramen eating area is actually located downstairs. You can get a glimpse of the waiting times for the various ramen restaurants from a TV screen in the lobby.  Continue reading →

Yuu Japanese Tapas

The last time I was at Yuu Japanese Tapas was quite a few years ago. I took my parents here for dinner to check out their “new” location as they had expanded into another larger storefront but still in Continental Square.

Yuu Japanese Tapas

My dad had the Chicken Cutlet Rice with Egg and Onion which came with miso soup and a small tray of side dishes including Japanese pickle, edamame and marinated bean sprouts. The chicken was very tender but I thought the sauce could’ve been stronger? It wasn’t very flavourful to me. They were very generous with the portion of rice here.  Continue reading →

Ramen Danbo-Robson

Ramen Danbo opened up last year on W. 4th and opened another location on Robson as well. After watching Dr. Strange, my friends and I craved ramen on a cold rainy day so we headed over to their Robson location. It wasn’t too busy and after a quick wait, we were seated at the bar. The “bar” is actually a really low one instead of the high counter top kind that you usually think of when people say they’re sitting at the bar.

Ramen Danbo

Each wooden stool is actually hollow inside and there’s a lid that you can remove so that you can place your coat and bag inside since there is usually no where to put your belongings in many ramen shops. I thought that was super nifty! Continue reading →

Sydney Eats-Ramen Zundo

As a Vancouverite, I’m used to seeing Asians everywhere but I was surprised that there was such a large Asian population in Sydney too! There are possibly even MORE Asians there. I also noticed that they have a lot more bubble tea shops in their “downtown” area, known as Central. Like how we have a Starbucks on every block here. With that being said, I was happy to find that there were a lot of Asian food options!

Ramen Zundo

I was researching where to get ramen and I found that Ramen Zundo had good reviews. It is located in World Square Centre and there is a little “alley” inside the mall with small eateries! By the way, I must say that the mall layouts in Sydney are really cool! They all have small cafes/restaurants inside with their own seating areas making it super convenient! Here at Ramen Zundo, you order at the counter and they will give you a number and bring the food over. Continue reading →

Marutama Ramen

Marutama has been highly praised for their perfectly soft boiled egg and flavourful chicken broth so it was about time that I tried it. Located on Bidwell Street, it’s just around the corner from the ever-popular Santouka and it’s never ending line ups. I arrived right at 12pm and there was no line up! Score for me!

Marutama Ramen Continue reading →

Momofuku Noodle Bar-Overhyped

I recently started a new job and I had the chance to go on a business trip to Toronto. Of course I had to use this opportunity to try as much food as possible. Momofuku is a chain restaurant from New York and their only location in Canada is in Toronto. Momofuku is located inside the Shangri-La Hotel and they take up 3 floors. The noodle bar is located on the first floor.

Momofuku Noodle Bar

The seating area consists of some communal tables and it’s very spacious looking compared to places I’ve been to in Vancouver! But then again this is a famous restaurant chain and they’re inside a hotel. Continue reading →

Jinya Ramen Bar-Kerrisdale

Jinya Ramen Bar opened their new location in Kerrisdale back in May. It’s right next to The Hills and there’s a bus stop right in front of the store so it’s a great location. I went around 3pm and there was still a short wait! I was super hungry during this visit so it could’ve biased me slightly since everything tastes good when you’re hungry! Just letting you guys know!

Jinya Ramen Bar-Kerrisdale Continue reading →

Santouka Anniversary Day

My coworker alerted me about Santouka Anniversary Day where they would have 50% off select ramen bowls! That was a deal we couldn’t pass up!!! Unfortunately she was too busy to come with us =(

Santouka RamenThe special event was all day until they ran out of soup! The 50% off only applies to their shio, shoyu,  miso and kara-miso ramen. We went really early and got there at 11:15am! We ended up waiting for 20mins which isn’t too bad.

Santouka Ramen

We both ordered the Kara-Miso which is a spicy version of their regular miso. Since it was a busy day for them, we placed our order in line before we were seated and after we were seated our ramen arrived almost right away. So efficient!

The noodles were al dente and the cut of pork was well marbled just the way I like it. It was thick enough too. The broth was rich and creamy while having the right kick of spiciness. I liked this much better than the red ramen I had at the Ramen Butcher.

Hokkaido Ramen Santouka 山頭火 on Urbanspoon

The Ramen Butcher

When the Ramen Butcher had their grand opening special week ($5/bowl!), I tried to go but the line up was waaay too long, we are talking about at least 30 people or more… totally not worth lining up so we just went the week after!

The Ramen Butcher

This was the Red Ramen which is their spicy ramen. The broth was not overly thick and rich but still creamy. It actually wasn’t very spicy to me though. I wish it came with another piece of chashu! The chashu was a good balance between fatty and lean. The weirdest thing was the noodles because they were really thin and more like soba noodles so I wasn’t used to it. The portions aren’t too big but they do give you complimentary noodles after you are finished if you still want more!

The Ramen Butcher

This was the Orange Ramen which came with miso marinated ground pork and also a piece of chashu. It didn’t really taste that much different than my Red ramen though but I only had some of the soup so I can’t really say.

The Ramen ButcherThis was the Original Ramen.

The Ramen Butcher

We also had to order some of their gyozas to share! On the left we have the Cheese Gyozas and on the right we have the Okonomi Gyozas covered in bonito flakes. The wrappers were thin and the fillings were juicy and flavourful. The cheese and okonomi toppings were good additions to make it more interesting but they’re not like a must order item to me. I kind of feel like I can add my own toppings or I’m just really cheap. On the other hand, the gyozas were probably more memorable than the ramen?

I think the ramen was good but nothing too exciting? It wouldn’t be my favourite ramen joint… I don’t think I have one yet since I haven’t tried them all.

Ramen Butcher on Urbanspoon

Yah-Yah-Ya Ramen

I don’t think Richmond has many ramen places so it was nice that they opened one in Union Square beside Supermarket 2000. They had booth seats on one side of the restaurant! That’s rare for a ramen restaurant. The other side was more cramped though with some small tables right beside each other. If I was any fatter it’d be difficult to squeeze in to the seat on the wall side of the table.

Yah-Yah-Ya Ramen

We had a Seaweed Salad as an appetizer. It was crunchy and had a nice sesame flavour. I should learn to make this myself.

Continue reading →