noodles Archives - Page 2 of 3

Taishoken Ramen 大勝軒

December 24, 2014

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! 🙂

Kamamarui Ramen – Metrotown Location

November 23, 2014

After going shopping, it was one of those nights where we didn’t feel like cooking at home. Since we don’t eat in the Metrotown area much except for Cattle Cafe, we spent the next 5 minutes shivering in the cold trying to think of a backup place to eat after seeing that they were closed. Warm, soupy noodles… Oooh! Kamamarui! We spared no time shivering in the cold, ran back to the car and made our way to Kamamarui.

After walking in, we were greeted and told to sit down at the waiting chairs. The guy spent a pretty long time (well, longer than necessary), to clean everything and have us seated even though it wasn’t busy. He was just hanging out, walking back and forth slowly, while we sat there waiting for him to seat us… eventually, he finished wiping the table and went back and was doing some other stuff.
The menus were tacked on the wall, which was more convenient for both the servers and customers I guess? The walls looked like cement but they actually weren’t. Menu was pretty straightforward, they mostly served ramen and small sides such as gyoza/rice/or these rice balls known as “bombs”.

My favourite type of ramen is shio because it’s usually very rich and creamy, something I crave in ramen broth. Since they didn’t have shio, I ordered the tonkotsu ($9) because that seemed like the next closest thing to the richest broth there was. The broth was very creamy, rich, and flavourful.

The noodles were cooked al dente and had a great bounce to it. In addition, the cha shu was very tender and sweet since it was covered in some sort of marinade. As I was enjoying the noodles, I realized that the broth was so thick that I ended up asking for some hot water (which the server microwaved, I was confused) to dilute it.
The boyfriend ordered the cha shu ramen with extra noodles. The cha shu ramen didn’t specify which broth it was, but it tasted like mine. The meat was also the same as the one in my bowl, so I guess the only difference with his was that he received a lot of extra cha shu. He also thoroughly enjoyed his noodles and cha shu.

Our bowls of ramen were very satisfying and delicious. From the reviews and positive things I have heard about Kamamarui, I personally that it really does live up to the type. I had my doubts that this place would be on par with Kintaro Ramen or Santouka Ramen in the Great Authentic Ramen District (fyi, I just made up the name of the district lolol), but it really is a great substitute if you don’t want to commute down to the Denman area.

Throwback: Favourite bowl of shio ramen at Kintaro

I know that it’s not authentic and is Korean owned, and I’m not sure if they slow cook their broth like the others, but I do know that it’s pretty decent here. I think we will be back!

Rajio Japanese Public House

November 16, 2014

Rajio. Radio? Rajio. Japanese izakayas, or Japanese tapa bars, have become a common thing in Vancouver the past few years. Izakayas are a great place to wind down and relax, enjoy some drinks, and delicious food in a great and loud atmosphere. Emphasis on the loud, it is tradition for servers and kitchen staff to belt out greetings and thank you to every customer that walks in and out of the doors. I personally love izakayas, my favourite in Vancouver is Suika. But of course, I’m always up to try new izakayas, especially one that is a sister restaurant of Suika.
I apologize in advance for the grainy pictures, lighting was a bit dim inside. Walking in, we were greeted with loud welcomes in Japanese. At first glance, I loved the juxtaposition of cartoon characters and rustic, historic Japanese decor.

We were seated by the front in a small circular table, the type that you would see in a small coffee shop. From this table, we had a good view of the restaurant and the street. We went during a promotion last month, which came with four of their food items (the first four down below).

We started off with the Bagna Cauda ($6.80), an assortment of veggies with their in-house made dip consisting of garlic, anchovy, olive oil, and Japanese sweet mayo. Admittedly, I never eat enough veggies and I’m also not a big fan of them either. However, the sauce was what completed the meal for me. It was creamy and had a light garlic taste that went really well with the fresh and crunchy vegetables. Definitely not your average veggie dip, we were left wanting more and discussing how we could try to recreate the dip at home. It was a good starter and filled us up.

Up next was the sashimi salad ($8.80). Again, the greens in the salad were very fresh and crispy. The dressing was also very delicious, and the tobiko added a savoury and crunchy taste to the salad. The tuna sashimi was incredibly soft and melted in our mouth. Again, just like with the veggie dip, we were left wanting more… are you starting to see a reoccurring theme here? Hehe 🙂

One of Rajio’s specialties is their kushikatsu. Kushikatsu originated in Osaka, Japan, and is a very popular street food. It is basically either deep fried veggies or meat that comes on a skewer, with a special kushikatsu dipping sauce. The dipping sauce was very dark and opaque, and came in a mason jar. We were told to not double dip, I was also reading that in Japan, some of the restaurants reuse their sauce with other customers. I seriously hope this isn’t the case and it probably isn’t due to Vancouver’s high health standards. Anyways, we were given an assortment of veggies which I can’t recall, and a chicken skewer. The veggies still packed a lot of flavour despite being deep fried and dipped in sauce.

Our ebi ramen came next. I actually preferred the oxtail ramen at Suika, their sister restaurant, more. The noodles were bouncy and cooked well, and the pork was very moist and tender.

After all our food came from the voucher, we wanted to see what else Rajio had to offer. We ordered the peking wrap ($7~), which for some mysterious reason, I can’t find on their menu or anywhere on the internet!! The peking wrap tasted exactly like the traditional Chinese wraps, it came with the usual hoisin sauce, fresh white onion, and meat. The dough of the wrap was very soft. The only difference was that it wasn’t Peking duck and the chicken was deep fried, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Every time the boyfriend and I go out to eat Japanese food, it is not complete unless we order some sort of negitoro roll. But this time, we upgraded and got the negitoro battera ($9.80), pressed sushi with tuna belly, scallions, daikon, and sesame. Just like the sashimi salad, I enjoyed the freshness and taste of the tuna sashimi but I found the daikon taste a bit too overpowering. I let the boyfriend finish this plate off since he liked it more than I did.

Last but not least, squid karage ($6~)! Hm, just noticed that deep fried food seems to be an occurring theme in this visit.. oops. It was love at first bite. The squid was very crispy and crunchy, jam packed with flavour and I wished this plate would never ever end.

Our food was undeniably delicious, and with every dish, we we left wanting with more. Staff seemed a bit disorganized as our drinks were forgotten, only to have arrived twice at different intervals after we asked them. Our ramen came twice as well. We were told that our additional items after the set menu would take awhile since it was busy, fair enough. We ended up waiting 30 minutes in between, good thing we weren’t in a rush. I’m glad that we came a bit earlier and beat the rush. Rajio, you have stolen my heart much like your sister!

-Carmen

Mio Sushi, Seattle

November 9, 2014

A lazy Sunday calls for staying at home in cozy blankets, PJs, and watching Netflix while eating a disgusting amount of corn nuts. Oh, and catching up on blogging too of course. Apart from Toulouse, we also stopped by and tried Mio sushi on a whim. Our result to Mio was a result of indecisiveness, hunger, and convenience.

It was quite sad that after arriving in Seattle for a mere 28 hours, I was already missing and craving Asian noodles. In particular, I was craving udon soup as well so we set out on what would be a thirty minute indecisiveness, constant scrolling on Urbanspoon until we found Mio. There were other places as well, but we didn’t want to drive and we also didn’t want to spend a lot of money in the downtown core.

We were pleasantly surprised at how fast of a walk Mio was from our hotel! I was a bit iffy on walking there because the streets were pretty dark and we had to pass a big dark, unlit park which has probably seen better days… but I was assured that it would be safe to walk, turns out it was a pretty nice day for a brief stroll.

This location of Mio was located right outside of the downtown core, in the South Lake Union neighbourhood. The area looked pretty new, nice, and trendy. Kind of reminded us a bit of Yaletown but more commercial. We were the only customers when we came in around 8:30 pm.
As mentioned, I knew what I was going to order before stepping in. They had a seafood and nabeyaki udon. I got the nabeyaki udon ($9 usd) since it was cheaper than the seafood udon, and all I really wanted was just udon. It came in a cute stone bowl with a handle, and I was warned the bowl was very hot. I would have liked the tempura on the side because it got really soggy, but it was good nonetheless.

There were also some pan fried string beans, but it got pretty soggy and didn’t taste super fresh. Apart from those two very minor hiccups, this bowl of udon was exactly what I wanted, and was delicious. The broth was very flavourful, and a tad salty. It came with perfectly cooked and a decent amount of udon noodles, and imitation crab meat. I liked how there was a lot of seafood as well, it was a good addition as well as the fresh green onion garnishes.
The boyfriend ordered the Gyu ramen. The ramen was really disappointing. It lacked flavour, depth, and was very plain. Perhaps we were just used to amazing ramen in Vancouver, but this bowl was not appetizing. He also mentioned that the ramen noodles tasted like instant noodles… yikes.

To split, we ordered the salmon and yellowtail roll. Yellowtail roll is the same as negitoro roll, it confused us at first. Both rolls were very fresh and flavourful, pretty decent. The price was a bit steeper than we were used to for a casual Japanese joint at $4.75 USD per roll, but we did enjoy the freshness of it so we didn’t mind.

The rolls and udon were satisfying and delicious, but I wish we could say the same about the ramen. Service was pretty attentive, fast, and nice (well then again, we were the only customers in the restaurant!). Mio looked very clean, new, and had hints of pink accents throughout the restaurant. This looked like a place that would be really busy during lunch hours on the weekdays, but it was very quiet that night and they closed early after we finished eating. It was a good and convenient place to grab a quite bite since we were in the neighbourhood.

Soho Tea Room

July 26, 2014

Do you ever have posts saved up in your drafts and you forget about them until almost two months later…? Yeah, that happened to me with this post. I’ve heard many great things about this place, but I’m normally not in this neighborhood, so I never got the chance to try it until now (aka 2 months ago when I wrote this draft…oops). Most of the hype that I’ve heard about Soho is due to the fact that you can have alcohol in your bubble tea, and that they serve a delicious honey toast box. I haven’t had a honey toast box for so long :(.
The exterior of Soho was nicer than I expected it to be. I was expecting just the usual store front, but the wood panels and signage was a refreshing sight. If I didn’t know, I would have thought that Soho was a fancy, delicate tea room serving only the highest quality tea from around the world (Say that in a posh English accent, it sounds better, I swear!).

I would never have expected it to be a late night Asian snack joint! Anyways, they do have free parking in the back but the spots are extremely narrow and tight.
Walking in, the restaurant was pretty nice and like the exterior, had a West Coast style as well. Lots of wooden panels, and warm tones. They had a chalkboard wall as well, which listed out the specials. I was a big fan of Soho’s interior and exterior design.

This is their alcoholic menu! I found the “recommendations” part to be pretty interesting, as they suggest what alcohol goes well with which bubble tea. Never have I seen that before! I wasn’t feeling like having alcohol that night, plus we had to drive back so I’ll have to come back for it next time.
I wasn’t that hungry, so just got the standard Taiwanese salt and peppery chicken nuggets ($5-6? I forgot). I was a bit surprised that it came on a long plate like this, because I was used to the bowls or square plates that restaurants normally put it in.

It reminded me a lot of a Western appetizer that I would get at Earls or Cactus Club, doesn’t it? Anyways, despite the presentation, the nuggets tasted pretty good. Well seasoned with the traditional five spice powder. I liked that most of the pieces were pretty lean too.

Taro slush bubble tea ($4). I ordered it with pearls, but unfortunately, they were sold out that night which sucked, because you can tell a lot about a bubble tea joint with the quality and taste of their pearls. Oh well, more reason to come here again!

The taro slush was very sweet and slushy. I was also wanting to try the honey toast box, but no one wanted to share it with me and I didn’t feel like having such a sweet food item after drinking this taro slush. Next time maybe?
My friend got the noodle and Taiwanese nugget combo. I didn’t get a chance to try it but he didn’t complain about it. My cousin got the beef brisket noodles. Their thick noodles were really delicious and had a thick and chewy texture to it, similar to my favourite Taiwanese restaurant, Wang’s, down the block. The soup base was also really good and flavourful, and had a strong beef taste to it.

All in all, I enjoyed my brief visit to Soho Tea Room. We wanted to stay longer, but there was a long line up forming and we felt bad for holding the table. Plus, we were passively getting rushed out by the servers LOL.

With their interior design and plating of certain dishes, Soho really tries to balance both Taiwanese and Western cultures together, which can be a good or bad thing, depending on which way you look at it.

Pros:

Good bubble tea
Delicious soup stock for noodles and delicious noodles
Spent a lot of effort into the design of the place (inside and out)
Service was fast and attentive
Comfortable seating

Cons:

Parking lot was really narrow and squishy
Bubble tea was a bit pricier than what I was used to
Sold out of pearls the night we went 🙁
According to my cousin, there are really long wait times on Fri & Sat nights
If the restaurant is busy, expect to wait 20-30 minutes for your blended drink (disclaimer on the menu)

-Carmen