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| - Sorry Richmond Hill/Markham. This place will not fill the niche that the downtown Toronto ramen joints provide. (Santouka, Sansotei, and Kinton anyone?)
Ordered the Shoyu ramen. (There were only 6 types of basic ramen. They also serve beer and sake.)
Slightly overcooked noodles, they were chewy but lacked the depth in flavor like some of the other ramen restaurants downtown. Soup was hearty, not overly seasoned but at the same time, bland and didn't stand out from something you could get elsewhere like from say any other Japanese restaurant. But, it did not have any aftertaste which means you know it's not laced with MSG, and was custom cooked.
The 4-5 pork pieces tasted like it was boiled in hot water first and then placed into the ramen bowl as it too lacked any distinguishing flavor. What stood out most was the pork looked and reminded me of the same ones I buy at the Chinese supermarket when having hotpot at home. Meaning, it's not custom prepared like say at Kinton (they do slabs of pork amazingly well in their ramen!) or Sansotei Ramen downtown.
I'm not sure if the chef uses any special noodles for the ramen as they were very thick, and reminded me of the braised noodles you get when eating a 10 course Chinese wedding meal. The customary egg was not runny at all, in fact it was poached, it wasn't even a whole egg only half an egg. (Kinton/Sansotei gets this right very well). The nori seaweed was the wrinkly kind that's used in home cooking. Also came with 2 pieces of pre-made artificial fish cake. Other toppings in the ramen were small dried bamboo shoots, light sprinkle of half cut scallions, and some beansprouts. Overall portion was average, but for $10 you get less than what you receive at Kinton ramen for the same price! Mind you, the presentation was lacking as the ramen didn't look very appetizing when it was served to our table. My friend also had the same Shoyu ramen fyi.
I've heard that this place is run by a husband/wife team and it shows. It was a busy lunch with 8 out of 12 tables filled and the wife was the only one doing double duty as hostess and waitress! I felt bad for her and they can clearly use the additional help. A large table next to mine had 6 patrons and 4 out of 6 got their bowls but the last 2 guests did not. She apologized in broken English that it was coming and the soup was being cooked. The guests looked slightly annoyed as their 4 friends were finishing their meal already.
This place definitely needs to hire more staff. And definitely please clean the fish tanks, I feel bad for the one or two clownfish living in them. (There were 3 tanks, 1 per booth next to the wall. They looked like they haven't been taken care of in years. I hope the fish are fed...)
Overall, this place has/had potential. They recently only converted from a sushi joint to a ramen joint 2 months ago. They've recently taken out ads in the local Asian newspapers as well. But, in the long term, if they want to have long line ups like the other ramen joints downtown do - they need to step it up and improve on the overall flavor and presentation. The owner needs to try out what other popular ramen joints are doing, improve or build upon it to get into the spotlight. Because once the new novelty wears off, given the peculiar location it's located at, it may not draw regular business to keep going.
Hiring more staff would also help to improve service, increase turn around time, and create a relaxed atmosphere. And please clean the fish tanks!
FYI, it is very stuffy inside the restaurant, gives off a slightly humid sweaty smell, there is lack of circulation so people with allergies beware!
Would think twice about going again, for now I'll stick to my ramen trio of Santouka, Kinton and Sansotei downtown Toronto.
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