noodles Archives - Page 3 of 3

Kintaro Ramen

June 5, 2014

Hi everyone,

For the past year, I have raved about Kintaro Ramen to the boyfriend at no end. We’ve tried a few times to go, but they have failed, much to my dismay.

Since we didn’t want to pay for parking in downtown again, we ended up walking from Pacific Center. It actually only took us 15 minutes, and wasn’t a bad walk at all. It’s also slightly downhill. Or, biking along the seawall and stopping here.

We got here around 6, so I was dreading a line up like every other weekend or time we tried to come here. However, there was no line up and we were seated right away! I highly recommend going to Kintaro around or before 6, or there will be a line up out the door.
We shared a big communal table with 2 other parties. It felt a bit awkward at first, but the table was spacious enough that we didn’t have to make awkward eye contact or accidentally brush arms while eating. I took a picture to give you an idea of the seating.

At the other popular ramen joints in this area, they have a big communal table like this as well but I believe that Motomachi Shokudo has a mini bamboo wall so you aren’t directly facing other customers.

The English side of the menu. Pretty straight forward, you choose your soup broth of choice, lean/fatty meat, and richness of broth. Since all their broth is made from pork bone stock, they do not have any vegetarian ramen available.
Last time I came here was over a year ago, so I was worried that their quality had changed and was not like the delicious ramen that I fell in love with a couple of years ago. I ordered a shio ramen ($8.95), with a choice of lean and rich broth.

Shio ramen is usually more creamier and rich than the other soup bases, which I love. It tasted as delicious and rich as I remembered it to be. The noodles were cooked perfectly, and the broth had a lovely and rich aroma to it. It was extremely flavourful, and came with beansprouts, green onions, and bamboo shoots which all tasted really fresh.

The veggie toppings really added a nice crunch to a heavenly bowl of noodles. This is what a perfect bowl of ramen tastes and looks like.
The boyfriend picked the BBQ pork ramen, with shio broth and fatty pork. I was relieved when he agreed and said that the ramen was as delicious as I described it. I have been waiting for that moment forever!! (Well, not forever… maybe just the past year).

I also like how they gave you an hard boiled egg as well, in the previous two disappointing ramen places we went to (see below), they did not include it.
The boyfriend’s little brother ordered the miso ramen with lean pork. He enjoyed the noodles as well, and had no complaints. He didn’t end up finishing his noodles since the portion was too big for him. Afterwards, he tried some of the boyfriend’s shio broth and liked it a lot more than the miso broth. I should also mention that the miso ramen is Kintaro’s specialty and recommendation on their menu.

In the past few months, we have had disappointing visits to both Benkei and Sanpachi Ramen. Benkei Ramen lacked ingredients and was overpriced for what you pay, while the shio broth at Sanpachi was not creamy and rich at all. Kintaro Ramen solved both problems and had the best of the two previous places – quality and quantity.

I also find that they have very generous portions of noodles, and you are left really full and satisfied. Undeniably, the best place in the Lower Mainland to have authentic ramen is on the West End. Kintaro, Santouka, Motomachi Shokudo, are all great examples.

There is a reason why they all have long line ups. I am still on the lookout for delicious tasting ramen outside of this area, so please let me know of any!

Thanks for reading!

-Carmen

Benkei Ramen – Broadway location

March 25, 2014

Benkei has a few locations in Vancouver, but we decided to go this one because we were in that area. It was hard for us to find parking, we ended up parking with the meter a few blocks down.

My visit was alright, but I was quite disappointed with their minimal meat portions (2 thinly cut pieces of chicken/cha shu), I don’t think the price of the ramen was justified when the bulk of it is just noodles and beansprouts.
When we first came in, the restaurant was probably 3/4 full. Their service here wasn’t as friendly as they used to be, they used to actually greet you when you walked in and smile.

They seemed very rushed and that they just wanted us to eat and leave right away. I noticed that their menu changed from the last time I came here, they added some different combo options depending on which ramen bowl you pick.
I decided on getting the shio ramen, $8.50. The broth was very flavourful and they gave a generous amount of onions and beansprouts. I thought this dish was alright except for the chicken, which I was disappointed with. Instead of having the cha-shu (type of pork) with your ramen, you can substitute it for chicken which is leaner and lower in fat.

I personally prefer chicken so I opted for this, however the two slices of chicken was small and really thin. I felt like they should have been more generous with the amount of meat in their dishes.

The boyfriend ordered the miso ramen, $8.50. Again, we felt that the cha-shu portion was really small and that they could have given us more for the price we were paying. Other than that, everything tasted pretty good. He also sprinkled sesame on his noodles which gave it more flavour, I used chili paste instead.

In conclusion, we enjoyed the broth and noodles of our dishes. However, their meat portions were really small which was disappointing and I don’t feel like the price of the ramen were justified.

I would probably go to Kintaro or Santouka for ramen since they have bigger portions and friendlier service.

Thai’s Saigon Bistro

March 2, 2014

Whenever I am craving hearty, delicious, and authentic pho, my mind and tummy travels to Saigon Bistro. I love Saigon Bistro because their pho broth is lighter, and less salty than other places.

Their pho really reminds of authentic home cooking, and the vegetables served here are really fresh and crunchy. I never leave this place feeling bloated and gross due to their light but delicious broth. Not only is their broth healthier, the owner of the restaurant is an extremely friendly and cheerful Vietnamese man!

Let’s get the review started:
This is one of the pho dishes that I normally get, pho tai nam gan sach (rice noodle with beef flank, rare beef, tendon, and tripe) $6.75 for small. I normally ask for extra tripe and no tendon, and the owner is glad to accommodate my requests.

As you can tell from the picture, the broth is pretty light in colour and clear. Although the broth is lighter, the flavour of the pho itself isn’t sacrificed. It really reminds me of home cooked pho due to its light but delicious flavour- really only a broth that a mom/grandmother could perfect! But somehow, they accomplish it!

The noodles are also cooked perfectly, and do not clump together.
This is the nuong cuon (salad roll with grilled pork) ($3.50). This dish is pretty tasty due to the marinated and grilled pork. The wrap also isn’t that sticky, so pretty easy to eat.

There is also vermicelli and lettuce inside the wrap. In addition, the roll comes with a peanut butter (I think there’s also Hoisin sauce in it?) dipping sauce which complements the flavour.
This is the salad roll with shrimp & ham, goi cuon ($2.95 for 1 roll, $5.50 for 2 rolls). Nothing too special about this dish, but I love ordering it when I’m not that full yet and want something light.

All the vegetables taste really fresh and crunchy. I find that their slice of ham isn’t as big as other restaurants.
This is the banh mi thit nuong ($4) grilled pork with vegetables and hot pepper, toasted on a french bun. The bread is super crunchy on the outside, but soft in the inside. I love this sub because there is an equal amount of meat to vegetable. The vegetables, again, also taste really fresh (Look at that fresh, yummy cilantro!). I normally dip every bite into hot sauce and it’s delicious!

-Carmen

Chad Thai Restaurant Review

February 20, 2014

Hi readers!

I have heard many great things about this place from my friend, and the perfect opportunity came to finally try it out when one of my best childhood friends came back into town this week. I feel like since it’s such a small place, it often gets overlooked by all the other surrounding restaurants in the neighbourhood. It also has really high ratings on Urbanspoon, which I never knew!

This was the Chad Thai Garden dish. It consists of a fresh rice roll stuffed with vegetarian delights such as tofu, mushroom, carrot, and served with spicy dipping sauce. At first bite, I fell in love with the flavour of this dish. The spicy dipping sauce really highlighted and complimented the flavours well.

The part I loved most though, was the BASIL! The basil was what really made this dish stand out as it kind with its minty flavour, giving this dish a good PoP! The only thing I didn’t like was the way that it was prepared.

The rice wrap was wrapped pretty loosely, and the three of us had a hard time eating this without the wrap breaking and having the contents go on all over our plates.

The second thing we ordered was the Gai Yang. Gai yang is a type of Thai grilled chicken which is marinated in Thai herbs and spices. We picked the sweet chili sauce for the dip, instead of the peanut sauce.

I enjoyed this dish as well. It tasted really similar to lemon grass chicken to me. I would probably have preferred white meat over dark, since it was a bit fatty but overall not bad!
The last thing we ordered was the Yen Ta Fo. This is a thin rice noodle in piquant sweet and sour stock with fermented tofu, calamari, fish balls, prawns, and crisp wonton topping. I found this dish to be definitely more sweet than sour, I wish that it was more balanced.

We also ordered the soup to be medium spice, but we all agreed that it wasn’t really that spicy. It came with a good portion of seafood which I enjoyed. I probably wouldn’t order this dish again because the soup was too sweet for my liking.

Overall, the food at Chad Thai was pretty decent. I wish we ordered more food so I could give a better review, but we weren’t feeling that hungry! The servers were all really friendly and attentive, coming to fill our water constantly and asked us how everything was. Small things like this really are appreciated and come noticed!

At the end of your meal, they give you complimentary Thai candy which was really good- it was a bit sour, kind of like the Chinese dried salted prune candies. I would probably come here again sometime, and try more of their other dishes!