miso Archives - Curiously Carmen

Taishoken Ramen has been on my must eats list for a good few months now. The sad thing is that I’ve tried to come here twice, which have both failed. Third time is the charm I guess, as the boyfriend and I finally found ourselves here one early evening.We had just finished walking around the Christmas market and Taishoken had just opened, which was perfect timing because I didn’t want to wait in line in the cold. He dropped me off first, and there were still a few minutes before the doors actually opened.

Around 4:58, there were three other parties starting to line up too. The size of Taishoken was pretty standard for a ramen shop, warm and cozy. I chose a table furthest from the door because I was quite cold that day, and didn’t want to feel the breeze of the door.
Of course, I ordered the shio tonkotsu ramen. Shio is my absolutely favourite ramen broth, anyone else? 🙂 Since I’ve been wanting to come here for so long, I had an idea of what it would taste like because I’ve read so many reviews. The shio tonkotsu ramen was very creamy, thick, and rich… perfect! The noodles were cooked al dente and had a nice bounce to it, I also loved how there were so much green onions! As for the pork shoulder, I found it slightly on the dry side, but that’d me trying to nitpick at something.

Can we also take a moment to appreciate the egg? It was cooked perfectly to my liking, with a bit of yolk oozing out. The egg was also marinated in some type of salty soya sauce broth, which made it taste even better.

I ordered a side of extra noodles, which was not a good idea because I was way too full afterwards! The bowl of extra noodles came in the side, which I divided up with the boyfriend. I knew there was no way that I would finish it myself.
The boyfriend ordered the shoyu tonkotsu ramen. Like myself, he found the broth to be very flavourful and rich and his noodles were bouncy as well. However, he was disappointed with the pork belly meat because it was very rubbery and chewy. For something so fatty like pork belly meat, you would expect a softer, melt in your mouth texture. I’ve read on previous reviews that people had the same opinion as him too.

For both our ramen and the side of extra noodles, our total came to $21 without tax and tip, which is reasonable for dinner. Since we came when it had just opened, there was only one server who was doing her best to attend to every table and was very friendly. But the shop filled up every fast, so service was a bit slow but that’s okay because she was trying to do everything herself. The chefs actually ended up bringing our food because the server was very busy.

Would I come back? Since it is in a somewhat convenient area and I won’t have to drive through the downtown core to get a good bowl of ramen, yes. I don’t see myself wanting to come back right away, but if I’m ever hungry at the office, Taishoken is a mere 7-10 minute walk away! I would also only come at obscure times because I don’t want to wait in line for this.

-Carmen

PS. Merry Christmas eve to those celebrating Christmas! 🙂

People say it’s hard to mess up ramen because it’s just broth, and noodles but there’s much more to it. The broth should be made from good ingredients and from scratch, or it’s not going to taste good.

My visit to Ramen Sanpachi fell short, and I was disappointed with the broth and questioned it’s authenticity.
We decided to come here since the boyfriend has been here before and he liked it. We found meter parking pretty easily. I was a bit confused because in the picture, it looks like Sanpachi is the smaller restaurant on the left, right?

But turns out, the right side is part of the restaurant too… talk about change in style. I thought it was two different restaurants, but when I read the hirigana on Google street view (what basic Japanese I know came in handy, heh), it was the same place! Weird.
We were expecting it to be busy since it was Friday evening, but there were only two other tables. When we first came in, I noticed a sign advertising their “Taiwanese beef noodles”… I saw that as a warning sign to its “authenticity” but I decided to overlook it.

I also read reviews on Urbanspoon that this place wasn’t authentic, because one of the servers asked if they could speak Chinese to the customer because it was easier.
Here is the ramen menu. They have a story on their background, where they started in Japan and expanded internationally. Their miso broth is their specialty, and to this day, only the family knows exactly what is in the broth.

A couple of the ramen dishes on the right let you chose the type of soup base you wait (miso, shoyu, shio, yatai, spicy), and come with more cha-shu pork for an extra $3 which I have never seen before at other ramen joints.
This is where the semi-disappointment begins. I settled on ordering the shio ramen because I wanted a saltier and rich broth. The first thing I noticed was how clear the broth looked, when I’m used to having creamy, and rich broth with my shio ramen. Although Benkei cheaps out on the pieces of meat they give you, they have their broth made really well and I never realized it until I came here.

This broth lacked the creamy richness associated with shio ramen. It was also too salty to be tasty. The redeeming qualities about this ramen was that the ramen noodles were cooked al-dente, and their cha-shu pork was lean and there was more than what we got at Benkei . The boyfriend joked that I should have gotten the noodles that came with a stick of butter, to make it more creamy and rich.
The boyfriend got the cha shu ramen with miso broth ($13). I was secretly glad he ordered the miso broth since, as I mentioned above, it was their specialty and maybe it’s only the shio broth that was disappointing? His soup tasted better, and wasn’t as salty as mine. It also had more taste. His ramen came with a lot more cha shu, which was lean and well-cut as well unlike the paper thin ones we got at Benkei . If I had known beforehand, I would have ordered the miso broth since it tasted better than mine.

I have yet to figure out if Sanpachi is authentic or not, because some of the other reviews on Urbanspoon say that the chef is from Japan. After this experience, I think I will just eat at the ramen joints on the West End, at least I know I won’t be disappointed there.

Read my separate review at Benkei here 🙂

-Carmen