Kintaro Ramen is one of the more popular ramen shops in Downtown. They are known for their large bowls of ramen, with customizable ingredients that go inside. People always complain about their long line ups… but today I thought of a very ingenious way to beat the line up.
Since it was the Santa Clause parade, TaiwaneseGirl and I spent a few hours waiting in the cold watching all the floats go by. Since we were grown cold, we thought a big bowl of ramen would make the day complete! We stood right by where the parade started, so we could watch every float and dash to Kintaro while everyone is still at the parade.
Sadly, others had that in mind too, so there was about 4 people in front of us, good thing the turn over is quite fast, so we got a table in about 10 minutes.
Kintaro is quite small and most seating is shared with strangers. They only have 3 tables that seat 2…while the other is bar seating or a large table. There isn’t much else you can do, but it does force you to meet strangers.
After we sat down, there was a rush of people wanting to get a taste of the Kintaro Ramen. When you walk in, you wil be able to see their open kitchen where the chefs prepare the meal. Some say it’s fun eating at the bar because you can see exactly what they chefs are doing to each meal.
We started off with the Gyoza ($5), it was nice and crispy on one side and it had a citrus soy sauce. It was good, but it wasn’t the best ones I’ve had. Especially, if you are paying $1 per piece, totally not worth it. When you bite into them, a bunch of juice would start leaking out.
TaiwaneseGirl had the Miso Ramen ($7.95). She asked for the lean pork rather than the fatty pork. It also had bean sprouts, corn, bamboo shoots and green onion.
I had the Shio ramen with medium soup and lean pork ($7.25). One thing that puzzled me was how much fat there was in the broth. It had eggs, bean sprouts, green onion, and bamboo shoots as well.
After hearing all the hype over Kintaro, the noodles were just average. It’s decent for it’s price and large , but this is not the best. After thinking about another Japanese Ramen place – Hokkaido Ramen Santouka, I prefer their overall taste.
Words of Wisdom:
- Good prices, large portions
- Long waits during peak hours
- Limited seating, you may be sharing tables
We rate Kintaro Ramen:
They are located at:
788 Denman St
Vancouver, BC
1 Comment
I haven’t been to Kintaro in ages so if you tell me things have gone sideways or rest on their laurels, I would believe ya! On other hand, Santouka to is more on the lines of a one hit wonder, namely the toroniku, as the rest are average. Well, there is still Sanpachi, Benkei and Motomachi for you to try in the area so let’s see how they compare! 😀