The menu features the usual assortment of ramen options – shoyu, shio, miso, etc. and and cheese! (according to the menu, “Ladies just lo-o-o-ve it!!”) but then there is a choice between rich, medium and light soup broth and lean or fatty BBQ pork. I had the Miso ramen with medium broth and fatty pork and Matt had Shio with lean pork (also with medium broth).

The fatty pork turned out to be a stroke of genius. Warming up in the broth, the fat melted into the broth and gave it the illusion of being thicker and creamier. The noodles were perfect, the broth was perfect. Unlike Santouka, which made me swoon, this is every day, excellent ramen. It’s not hard to see how students live off of it.

Wikipedia defines Miso ramen as:

a relative newcomer, having reached national prominence around 1965. This uniquely Japanese ramen, which was developed in Hokkaidō, features a broth that combines copious amounts of miso and is blended with oily chicken or fish broth – and sometimes with tonkatsu or lard – to create a thick, nutty, slightly sweet and very hearty soup. Miso ramen broth tends to have a robust, tangy flavor, so it stands up to a variety flavorful toppings…The noodles are typically thick, curly, and slightly chewy.

whereas Shio ramen:

is probably the oldest of the four [types]…is the lightest ramen, a pale, clear, yellowish broth made with plenty of salt and any combination of chicken, vegetables, fish, and seaweed. Occasionally pork bones are also used, but they are not boiled as long as they are for tonkotsu ramen, so the soup remains light and clear. Noodle texture and thickness varies among shio ramen, but they are usually straight rather than curly.

I still don’t have a favorite type. Different days call for different soups, and sometimes even shops. Luckily we have some good ones.
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Kintaro Ramen
788 Denman Street, Vancouver

Not that Motomachi isn’t excellent ramen, it is. It’s just that there are many types of ramen and some ingredient in some of them doesn’t make him happy. More research is clearly needed.

Motomachi is a beautiful room. Cozy with lots of wood stools and counters and a big common table in the middle of the room. I spent some time staring at it while we waited outside, peering through the window like smokers. I watched a six year old eat an entire bowl of ramen, slurping away slowly and I have no idea where she put it all. It did make me notice though, that there are many children in ramen shops and not many (like none) child-sizes. Japanese kids must be made of rubber.

Finally it was our turn and we warmed our hands over big steaming bowls of miso ramen and then I ate mine while Matt pondered what the offensive ingredient might be and ate the oddly shaped “fingers” of gyoza.  The soup was  was hearty and comforting, especially with the addition of burnt onion  but the pork was a little dry and the broth was a little thin. I’d go back but it wouldn’t be my first choice with Santouka so close.

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Motomachi Shokudo
740 Denman Street, Vancouver

Again had we had gyoza, followed by a Shio ramen for me and a Miso ramen for Matt, and when we saw that Santouka also offers toroniku (fattier pork jowl) as well as leaner pork meat, we both decided to treat ourselves.

The gyoza was excellent but the ramen was unparalleled. The broth and noodles are served separately from the meat and other ingredients, so that the meat doesn’t cook up and fall apart before you’re ready to eat it. But it also provides an opportunity to taste the broth on its own without any additional flavours. This is a very rich soup. The extra time boiling creates a creamy broth that doesn’t separate and combined with the pork jowl, was an interesting overlap between comforting and decadent. At the first slurp I may have gasped at the deliciousness of it, but by the end of the bowl it proved to be a bit much for every day. Combined with the lean meat, it would be exquisite.

Leaving with smiles and sloshing bellies, I almost wanted to end “Ramen Week” right then, but there are still a few neighbours on Ramen Row…

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Hokkaido Ramen Santouka
1690 Robson St, Vancouver

It was packed, so we waited a few minutes (during which time we were prompted to order ahead to speed up the process) and picked out our dishes. I went with  the Shōyu ramen (top) and Matt had the Akaoni, spicy ramen with ground pork (below):

According to Wikipedia,

Shōyu ramen typically has a brown and clear color broth, based on a chicken and vegetable (or sometimes fish or beef) stock with plenty of soy sauce added resulting in a soup that’s tangy, salty, and savory yet still fairly light on the palate. Shōyu ramen usually has curly noodles rather than straight ones…

The trouble was that it was inedible. Instead of the wonderful fragrant broth steaming out of the bowl, there was an overwhelming odor that Matt describes as like “the inside of the tropical exhibit at the zoo”…dank, fetid and nasty coming from both of our dishes. I nibbled a piece of the pork, which seemed to be untainted, but the noodles, broth and even bamboo slices were awful. We had gobbled up the gyoza before the soup arrived, but not without remarking that they were “not awesome” and the ramen seemed to be a continuation of that theme.

I don’t often leave restaurants, but there was no way we could overcome this one so we took refuge in Cactus Club (of all places!) next door.

Benkei is a chain with no less than 5 locations in Vancouver – and more internationally – so they must be doing something right but  I won’t be back.

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Benkei Ramen
545 West Broadway, Vancouver (various)

First up is Menya – my go to only because it’s quick and close to my work – but also good quality ramen. The mainstay here is tonkatsu ramen; this type is made from pork bone and usually has a thick, cloudy broth with a variety of other ingredients thrown in. As I came to learn, on my ramen quest, there are several types of ramen and the tonkatsu type comes from the Kyushu region of Japan.

At Menya, the Tonkatsu Miso ramen comes with two chah su (BBQ) pork slices, with cold corn nibblets that contrast against the steaming broth. Bamboo slices, bean sprouts and green onions also share space with slightly firm, long, straight noodles.

The broth is thick and creamy, with a little bit of pork fat that was not reflected in the dry slices of meat the last time I was there. But the noodles were near-perfect and I had no trouble slurping it all up:

My partner Matt had the Jae Jae noodle dish; ground pork in thick peanuty broth with bok choy on top. This one was very flavourful and comes with both a wooden spoon and a slotted spoon for scooping up the pork.

Occasionally, I order the cha su don; pork slices with pickled daikon, caramelized onions, scallions, a boiled egg , bean sprouts,  and rice. You don’t get the comfort that you do from the steaming soup, but it’s rich and flavorful (and colourful!) and the flavour balance between salt (in the egg) and tang (from the daikon) is pleasant. The rice mediates nicely between them.

For folks with a bigger appetite, you can get the combo – it comes with a nori-wrapped rice ball (triangle) and 5 tiny gyoza – or order either of these separately.

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Menya Japanese Noodle
401 W Broadway, Vancouver

It seems unfair to write about a place that no longer exists, but I went to Kakurenbo on my birthday right after meeting the most amazing man ever and sooooo… it didn’t get written about. And now it’s closed. Aptly named after the Japanese for “hide and seek,” I was first told about it during the Olympics and only months later it was gone.

Beautiful wood interior beams and sculptures decorated the place and made it look just like a Japanese inn – with a sake bar out front. The warm light and wood made it feel utterly cozy and comforting and then came the food.

Horse sashimi, curry spring rolls with chili sauce, salmon tataki with ponzu sauce, hot stone rice bowls and more, each lulling you in with the traditional and then opening your eyes with a little twist.

Yes, I said horse. Sashimi. Raw horse. I wrote a while back that people sometimes have an aversion to eating domestic animals or animals that are kept as pets in their part of the world. For some reason that doesn’t bother me. I certainly wouldn’t eat my pet, but I had a horse as a child and there was no stopping me from trying this Japanese version of beef tartare.

I also said this was very shortly after meeting Matt, but he was a good sport and dug in with the rest of us, so I am definitely going to keep him. And in fact it was not all that challenging. Like carpaccio with a side of soy sauce.I will definitely be having it again if I can find somewhere that serves it.

The first stop was Well Tea bubble tea and Taiwanese restaurant, popular with students and young people. The choices were unlike anything I had had before; grenadine yeast juice, and caramel milk tea with tapioca noodles instead of pearls! I later found out that by “yeast” they meant yogurt which brings things a little closer to home but I had already ordered an Earl Grey milk tea with kanten, a type of agar that is lower in calories than the traditional tapioca.

Next we stopped in at Kam Do Bakery where we sampled a winter melon pastry (their signature treat) and an egg custard tart. Not having much of a sweet tooth, I would eat the winter melon pastry (also inexplicably called “old wife” pastry) again and again. It is a subtly sweet and gelled custard wrapped in a flakey pastry with the result being just rich and pleasing without being too rich or too sweet or too oily. Yum.

Alexandra Road is a jumble of all kinds of Asian restaurants sharing space. There are Malaysian, Taiwanese, Thai, both Japanese izakayas (gastropubs, really)  and traditional sushi joints, plus all types of Chinese eateries. At its inception in the late 80′s there were many Hong Kong style cafes, but now that immigrant patterns have changed and many more people are moving here from mainland China, the dining scene is starting to reflect that with Shanghainese and Beijing-style eateries.

Our first sit-down meal was at Cattle Cafe, a comforting Chinese-style diner with dishes like bakes seafood in cream sauce and choose your own noodles / sauce /topping. The photo above is of one of the most delicious laksa’s I’ve had in a while…a Malaysian style spicy soup with vermicelli noodles, brisket and basa fillet.

Some of the dishes were a little bit more adventurous (but no less delicious), like this unagi BBQ eel sandwich with cucumbers and sauce. Kind of like a Chinese grilled cheese sandwich, but then not really like it at all. I’m determined to recreate this for lunch this week.

The next stop was Nan-chuu by Gyoza King, a dark and sexy Japanese Izakaya where we sampled more strange and wondrous stuffs; chicken skin skewers, gizzard skewers, chicken hearts, salmon nori and more. It was the Hitachino Nest cask ale and the mushroom-bacon yakisoba that made me start planning a repeat visit. The beef tongue (below) was also spectacular, its sweet, rich flavours being complemented on all sides by the beer.

Finally we dragged our bellies into Jang Mo Jib, Korean for “mother-in-law” because she is the one running the kitchen while the rest of the family takes care of operations out front. Our guides had already ordered ahead for us and in short order out came soon dae jub see (blood sausage), jok bahl (BBQ pork feet), hae mool pah jun (seafood pancake), tohng gahl bee (BBQ short ribs) as well as some amazing glass noodles and an assortment of picked sweet potatoes and kimchi. 

Walking back to the skytrain, I started running down the list of strange delicacies we’d sampled…agar, bitter melon, chicken hearts, gizzards and skin, blood sausage, pig’s feet…I am an adventurous eater by most people’s standards and so I had had most of the “exotic” delicacies of the tour before, but I relished the idea of trying them as part of different cuisines and especially to be able to finally have a solid understanding of what Alexandra Road has to offer. Now there are only 197 restaurants to get through!

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Alexandra Road is between No. 3 Road and Garden City in the Golden Village area of Richmond.

Well Tea
4811 Hazelbridge Way, Richmond

Kam Do Bakery
1120 – 8391 Alexandra Road, Richmond

Cattle Cafe
1020 – 8580 Alexandra Road, Richmond

Nan Chuu Japanese Izakaya
1160-8391 Alexandra Road

Jang Mo Jib Korean Restaurant
8320 Alexandra Street, Richmond

How have I not been to Miku Restaurant yet? I pass it constantly (albeit usually on early morning runs or late night walks with my fiancé) and I’ve heard so many good things about it, but somehow it was only recently that I managed to get in a superior sushi experience there.

My old friend and former boss, Jame Healy has had practically everything on the menu, so with him in charge out came a crunchy scallop roll with tobiko and crumbled tempura, a red wave roll (crab & avocado in maguro with pine mushroom sauce), aburi tuna, lush fatty bincho toro – the belly meat of white tuna, and the dish I keep hearing about – Aburi Salmon Oshi Sushi.  Aburi is Miku’s signature style, lightly flame-seared and infused with flavour. Oshi means pressed, so here you have fresh salmon seared then drizzled with a secret soy sauce, pressed and topped with a jalapeño. The flavour combination is exquisite and if I didn’t have such an addiction to toro and hotate (scallops), this would have been the favorite.

The location at the bottom of the Guinness Tower is a bit of a strange one – the 60′s decor of the office building is not quite in line with the swish minimalist Japanese style, but a lot of attention to detail has gone into both room and dish aesthetics. When I saw the edamame arrive at the adjacent table plated on some kind of twig nest, I regretted not ordering it, but the soft shell crab karaage came the same way, with a side of chili cream sauce and was delicious in the extreme.

I may just have to schedule my next run at lunchtime.

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Miku Restaurant
#2 – 1055 West Hastings St. Vancouver.

I leant my car to a friend last weekend, so my fiancé and I spent a significant amount of time wandering around the city, part of which included checking out the Japanese Powell Street Festival. It was a first time for both of us and didn’t disappoint.

Of course the first thing I had to check out was the food. There was a takoyaki, yakitori and of course, sushi, as well as an okonomyaki station and several vendors selling ramen. We weren’t very hungry from the heat, but I couldn’t resist trying the yakimochi, BBQ’d rice cakes that looked for all the world like grilled soap:

Cooking softens it up considerably and served drizzled in soya sauce and wrapped in nori, it was quite tasty.

And then I saw the SPAM sushi. WTF? Raw SPAM? SPAM with rice? I had to find out.

There were no surprises; slice of grilled SPAM with some teriyaki sauce, sandwiched between pressed rice and wrapped in nori. Wikipedia tells me that this is a popular snack in Hawaii and the large size of the musaba strikes me as similar to the grab-and-go fare that Michi Sushi use to have. I have a bit of a phobia about canned, processed meat but it turned out to be not all that bad…the Japanese version of a ham sandwich maybe.

Aside from the food adventures, we had arrived in time to watch a sumo tournament and walking home provided a whole lot of interesingness in the form of a self-guided historical walking tour through the old Japantown. I really want to spend some more time exploring the area but failing that, I’ll definitely be checking out future festivals.

More photos of the event on flickr.

Last Sunday there was a little something special happening at Granville Island, after hours. A fudraiser/book launch hosted by Edible BC saw the summer set mingling, sipping, sampling and dancing in support of author Evaleen Jaager Roy’s book, Four Chefs One Garden and the YWCA’s Crabtree Corner. While a full moon was rising over False Creek, Tojo’s Hidekazu Tojo (above) plated piles of hand-rolled sushi while the band played and guests moved from fresh fish to St. Hubertus wines, Osake Artisan Sake, Granville Island beer, Victoria Gin and back again. It was a gorgeous night, a delightful event and a resounding success – thousands of dollars were raised for underprivileged women in the Downtown Eastside.

Here are some of the highlights:

Chunks of fresh salmon, ready to go on the grill.

Rows and rows of meticulously hand-rolled sushi.

Artisan sake maker, Masa Shiroki, on hand for sake sampling.

Cucumber prawn rolls.

Summer mingling.

More photos can be seen here.