Ramen Archives - Page 4 of 4

In Four Beakers

Motomachi Shokudo: Another Great Ramen Shop

February 12, 2012

Motomachi Shokudo is another ramen restaurant on Denman Street. It’s related to Kintaro, but they do offer a different style of ramen….plus the wait is much much shorter. I love how the restaurant sign has french “Nouilles du ramen japonaises”. I am sure you can tell what that means. Japanese Ramen Noodles! M and I came with PikachuGirl since it was one of her favorite ramen places.

Even with a bit of a wait, we got seated in about 10 minutes.

The interior is very rustic with lots of wood and concrete textures. It’s quite small, but the turnover rate of each table is quite fast. The food comes out quite fast too and the staff seemed very efficient! I was impressed.

Green Tea ($1). It was not free unlike most Japanese Restaurants and it was just a tea bag. I would have expected something nicer, but it didn’t bother me too much since I just wanted green tea to accompany the meal. You know me, I need tea!

Butchigiri Gyoza ($3.75) was longer than usual gyozas, but it was packed with pork and chives. Delicious!

Petit BBQ Pork Rice Bowl ($2.95) it was small, but it was very good. It was a good size before the ramen comes. It doesn’t get you full but if you are in a super hungry mood, it’ll keep you occupied before the ramen comes.

Shio Ramen ($8.95) comes with an egg, bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, green onions, and large slice of pork. What is great about their ramen is that you get all those toppings without paying extra.

Extra BBQ Pork Ramen with Extra noodles ($10.95 + $1) has bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, egg, greens, seaweed and lots of pork! M really liked it because there really was a lot of meat and so much food. He was so full he couldn’t finish all the noodles. Perhaps the extra serving of noodles wasn’t necessary.

If you look at the pork, it was bit fatty, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing. Its up to personal preference.

Bamboo Charcoal Dark Miso Ramen ($9.75) is one of their specialties and it was an interesting experience since I’ve never had such dark broth before. The broth has a nice flavour to it, but was a tad salty and rich. The slice of pork was very tender and not super fatty, which I liked. I wish they had one more extra slice of pork. The noodles have a good texture too.

It was a good experience, but try not to eat too messy because the bamboo charcoal may ruin your clothes.

If you want to tweak the taste of your ramen, there are a few spices you can put in.

Overall, the prices are decent and you get lots to eat without paying extra. We all got super full and walked out happy.

Words of Wisdom:

Good broth and noodles
No much parking around
Under $10

We Rate Motomachi Shokudo:

Address:
740 Denman St
Vancouver, BC

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Vancouver

In Japanese

Kenzo Japanese Noodle House: A Little Dash of Korean

January 7, 2012

Kenzo Japanese Noodle House is located in South Burnaby and I’ve always heard great things about their noodles. Since there was nothing else to do, I decided to go have a bowl of ramen with M to waste some time.

There are large booths and smaller tables inside the restaurant. When we walked in, we knew right away that this place was Korean owned. They even have buzzers on the table to signal the servers, so you don’t need to wave them down.

We found that even with the buzzers, the service was still mediocre.

No surprise, I love tea. The tea tastes like the Korean tea that you get at Korean restaurants.

Gyoza ($5.95) it comes in 6 pieces with ponzu sauce and it was pretty good. Good amount of pork inside.

Ji Su Men ($8.95) is ramen with sliced chicken. M hated this so much. It barely had any chicken and it tasted like a bowl of Korean noodles. Since he’s Korean, he didn’t expect the ramen to taste so Korean.

Don Ko Chi ($7.95) is made with pork bone soup with slices of pork. It was a decent size and the broth was very very good. I’m not sure why they named this dish – Don Ko Chi, but I think a better name is Tonkatsu.

The pork was slightly tough but still had a good amount of flavour.

Overall, I think a few dishes are a hit and a miss. Do remember that most of the dishes here have a bit of a Korean influence. You aren’t getting 100% authentic Japanese Ramen.

Words of Wisdom:

Free Parking in front
Mediocre Service
Korean influenced Japanese food
Don Ko Chi is the only good ramen

We Rate Kenzo Japanese Noodle House:

Address:
6907 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC

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In Japanese

Ramen Jinya: A Bowl of Comfort From the Rain

November 20, 2011

Ramen Jinya is a chain ramen joint from Los Angeles. It was pretty packed during lunch and it’s not a surprise since people want to escape the mucky weather outside to enjoy a nice big bowl of ramen. With the amount of ramen shops downtown, I really wanted to see how this shop compared.

This location only has ramen and a few sides – Gyoza and Karrage. All items are under $10.

Their website is very misleading, so don’t come in expecting the full menu from their website.

Shoyu Tonkotsu Ramen ($8.95) comes with their pork broth and pork chashu, spinach, bamboo, and onions.

Vegetable Soup Ramen ($8.95) is all vegetables! When they bring the bowl to you, it looks like a salad, but it isnt! Underneath is a veggie broth and noodles. You should stir it around before eating.

Spicy Tonkotsu Ramen ($8.95) comes with their spicy pork broth, but it was not overwhelmingly spicy. Just a little tingle to the tongue. It also has pork chashu, spinach, Bbamboo, spicy bean sprout, and green onion. Their broth is flavourful, but I think the bowl of ramen could be larger for the price you pay.