noodles Archives - Page 2 of 11

Kamamarui Ramen – North Burnaby

November 17, 2018 Leave a Comment

I wasn’t planning on writing about Kamamarui Ramen again, but I haven’t been out to try new places lately! This visit was actually from the summer time. I wrote about Kamamarui four years ago, when they opened their first shop by Metrotown.

I remember back then, it was super popular and constantly had huge line ups because it was one of the only places you could find delicious taken joint outside of downtown! Now, ramen joints are popping up everywhere and there are more options in the suburbs.

The boyfriend and I usually go to their second location in North Burnaby because it is more convenient.
Tonkotsu Ramen: This is my go-to and hits the spot every time. I order the light broth which is still pretty rich and creamy. It is a bit on the saltier side which I don’t mind!

This bowl comes with one piece of lean chashu pork. The lean pork is a bit dry so I like to soak it in the soup and eat it near the end.

If you want more chashu, you can order the chashu ramen. The chashu ramen contains the same broth but with more pieces of chashu.

Dan Dan noodles: On one of our visits, the boyfriend was pleasantly surprised when he saw that they now offered Dan Dan noodles! He traded in his usual chashu ramen (described above) for it.

It was alright, but lacking in the prominent peanut and chili flavour that is associated with Dan Dan noodles. Although he was glad he gave it a try, he would stick with the ramen instead.

Overall, Kamamarui is a great choice if you’re craving some ramen in Burnaby and you don’t want to venture into Ramen Land (aka the West End).

Yay!

Myst Asian Fusion

September 6, 2018 1 Comment

After seeing my friends always posting about Myst, I felt like the only person in this city who hasn’t tried it before! My friends have been recommending this place to us, so one evening, the boyfriend and I decided to go and see what we were missing out on. Spoiler alert: a lot!

I read reviews that it was hard to find parking here, and I would agree with that. The first time we came, it was super busy which was not surprising at all.

Luckily, since we only had two people, we were given a spot right away! On our second visit with my parents, I made sure to call ahead with a reservation. I should also mention that they will only seat you once everyone has arrived at the restaurant, and if you’re 10+ minutes late for your reso, it will automatically be cancelled.
Calamari: The food came out within minutes of ordering, it was quite impressive! Cheese recommended the squid tentacles here, so we had to give it a try. They were very fresh and crispy, and fully seasoned with Taiwanese style spices. If you’re craving squid tentacles, I would definitely recommend ordering them here!
Chicken nuggets and rice: Again, the boyfriend’s dish came out so fast! It came with a pretty big basket of Taiwanese chicken nuggets. Just like the squid tentacles, the chicken nuggets were super fresh and crispy. They had the signature Taiwanese spices which are so addicting!

I really enjoyed the vegetarian side dish, which was some sort of chilled marinated tofu and wood ear mushroom. It reminded me of the ‘jai’ that you can purchase at TNT.
Taiwanese beef noodles: A long time has passed since I had Taiwanese beef noodles, it just seems so hard to find these days! I ordered it with thick noodle for an extra $1.00.

This was super comforting and satisfied my Taiwanese soup noodle craving. There was a good ratio of preserved veggies and green onions. The broth was flavourful and the thick noodles were deliciously dense and chewy.

As for the beef, oh my GOSH was it delicious. It was so incredibly tender!

Needless to say, we were very impressed with Myst and can see why it’s so busy and popular. Service was very fast and efficient too. I know where to go for my next Taiwanese craving (which probably will be soon because the beef noodles are LIFE!)

Yay!

Marutama Ramen

August 19, 2018 Leave a Comment

Every summer for the past 5 years, the boyfriend and I have been doing this thing where we bike from East Vancouver to downtown, along the seawall, and then have ramen. We usually go to Santouka or Kintaro, but this time, we decided to try out Marutama Ramen since we’ve been hearing and seeing it a lot on social media. We are also huge fans of chicken broth and Marutama Ramen makes all their ramen with chicken broth!

When we got there around 3pm ish, we waited about 10-15 minutes outside. Walking in to Marutama, it was so nice to find that they had the AC blasting! It made the meal much more comfortable because it was really hot that day. The servers also came by often to refill ice water, and kindly refilled my water bottle too.

Tamago ramen, $11.25: I requested for my broth to be leaner since my stomach does not handle rich foods well. Despite it being ‘lean’, I still found it to be deliciously creamy. It was the first time having a chicken broth ramen and it did not disappoint.

The pieces of chashu was not too dry either. The noodles were bouncy and cooked perfectly too. The seaweed was a nice addition as well.

They’re pretty well known for their Ajitama egg, and I must say it was delicious! It was perfectly seasoned and the egg yolk oozed out.

Zenbu ramen, $18.75: This is the largest size ramen that you can get here and it also has the most meat. It came with cha-shu pork, seasoned pork belly, and an Ajitama egg.

The boyfriend had no complaints about his bowl. He said it was very satisfying and the pork belly was delicious.

I’m glad that we finally tried Marutama Ramen. It definitely did not disappoint!

Yay!

Shanghai River

August 10, 2018 Leave a Comment

The boyfriend and I were having one of those indecisive nights about what to do for dinner… we must have spent over a hour thinking of a place!!! Anyways, we decided on Aree Thai since it’s been years that we went, but as we were looking for parking it looked absolutely dead… like the waitress was watching movies on her laptop and there were no tables. At this point, we just quickly pulled up Yelp and entered in ‘Richmond’, Shanghai River showed up so off we went. It was a spontaneous decision but it ended up being a really good dinner.

Shanghai River is located in Richmond by No. 3 road. There is free underground parking in the apartment tower that it is in, just make sure you read the signs for the parking. Walking in, it was more upscale than we thought it would be.

There is also a clear glass window where you can see the workers making fresh XLB.

Stir fry sticky rice cake: When thinking of Shanghai food, this is one of my top picks. It’s been awhile since I had this! The rice cakes were perfectly chewy and dense. People usually underestimate them but they are actually quite filling. There was lots of ‘wok hei’ which made it even more delicious. The literal translation of wok hei is ‘wok breath’. I’m not sure how it works exactly but if the wok is at a high enough temperature, it has a distinct delicious taste. The only negative thing was that it was very oily.

Dan dan noodles: This is the boyfriend’s must have when we go for Shanghai food. He fell in love with it and still talks about how delicious it was. The peanuts were very fresh and crunchy and it had a good amount of spice in it.

Xiao long bao: We wanted to compare the XLB here to other places that we tried! It was delicious. They were fresh and juicy.

Pan fried dumpling: Although we had so much food, the boyfriend insisted on trying this as well. Compare to the XLB, the skin was alot thicker. It also had a slight sweetness to it. The meat inside was nice and juicy.

We ordered so much food that we had enough for leftovers the next day! We will definitely be back to Shanghai River when craving some Shanghai food. It was a great find on Yelp!

Yay!

Food: Shang Noodle House

March 19, 2018 Leave a Comment

While browsing Groupon in the fall, I came across a really good deal at Shang Noodle House! The Groupon came with two bowls of noodles, takoyaki, fried chicken, and two cans of pop for only $25! I purchased it right away and we went to go try it a few months after.

After we paid for street parking, we went inside the restaurant and found out that they had free reserved spots -_- so a heads up to all of you driving there, save yourself some money! The restaurant was completely full and it looked like most people also had the Groupon based on the food everyone ordered. I mean, Asian people usually do not buy canned pop at restaurants… we all know it’s really overpriced!

Takoyaki: The takoyaki came out piping out and fresh. The outside was crispy while the inside had a good amount of stuffing and a piece of octopus. It was pretty good!

Chicken wings: The chicken wings also came out piping out and fresh. I really liked them because they had the flavour of chicken karaage. They were also very crunchy and crispy.

Prawn, scallop, chicken, and bbq pork ramen in pork broth: I chose this one since I like my prawn and chicken. The pork broth was yummy and flavourful, with a strong white pepper flavour. The ramen was different than the usual type of ramen. I would describe the noodles to be more like egg noodles actually.

Pork katsu udon in bonito shoyu: The pork katsu came on the side, and it was quite a big portion. Definitely worth the full price of $10.90! Just like the other fried stuff, the pork katsu was very crunchy and fresh. The bonito shoyu broth was tasty as well.

The Groupon was a great deal because the portions here are really filling and delicious. Even without a Groupon, I would definitely come back. If they do another Groupon deal, I’m definitely going to re-purchase it!

While doing research for this review, I found out that this place is owned under the Kirin Restaurant Group. Even more bonus points because Kirin is quite notable for Chinese fine dining.

Yay!