Hokkaido Ramen Santouka 山頭火

1690 Robson St
Vancouver, BC V6G 1C7
Map | Website

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After hearing all the good things about this new ramen restaurant, I finally gave it a try. As expected, the place was packed at around 8pm on a cold rainy weekend, I guess that's the perfect time to have noodle soup! Their soup bases feature tonkotsu (pork bone) so its creamy, light colored and nutritious. Overall, the ramen here is tasty (a bit too oily for me) but I wouldn't purposely come all the way out just to have this ramen though..

Miso Ramen ~ $8

The flavour of the miso ramen (compared to the shio ramen) is too salty. First spoon might be okay, but after eating the rest of the noodles it's way too salty – ironically 'shio' which means salt wasn't as salty by far. It's got a strong miso flavour so it differs from the miso ramen from Kintaro.

Shio Ramen & gyoza ~$9
I'd have to say this was a solid bowl of ramen, the pork (chasiu) was very tasty and had an appropriate amount of fat attached to it. The noodles are a bit stringy compared to what I'm used to. Unfortunately, the soup has a distinctive layer of oil on it which makes me not want to drink the soup.

Other Input:

Benkei Ramen Noodle Shop (弁慶 ラメン)

1741 Robson St
Vancouver, BC V6G1C9
Tel: (604) 688-6980
Fax: (604) 681-6633

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I tried this place one month after it opened in January 2008. They got our orders mixed up, the broth was SUPER OILY, and didn't have any taste besides being overly salty. The meats were super fatty and thinly sliced. Gyoza's were laughable. The only thing that was good was the barbeque pork onigiri flavoured with soy sauce. Ever since that experience, I've avoided coming back because it was so horrible .

So now, 2 years later, I've returned to see if its any good... I'll have to say its alright, but I probably won't go back again.. unless other people I'm with want to try it. I find their broth to be a bit on the overly-oily side.

Shio Tonkotsu Ramen ~ $7

This is their more popular flavour, and it tastes quite smooth. On their menu, it says this flavour being good for women's skin because its got a lot of collagen (from the pork bone). The taste of this tonkotsu ramen comes second to the one from Kenzo Ramen.

Shoyu Ramen ~$7

The soup broth was slightly saltier than what I would like it would be. Their Chashu was good! Their bamboo shoot didn't taste as well with the noodles. The green onions tasted good in it.

Others' Input:

Deli Nippon

3913 Knight Street

Vancouver, BC V5N 3L8

Tel: (604) 568-6101

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Japanese Healthy Food. All their prices already include tax and they're unfortunately CLOSED ON MONDAYS!! Their location is a bit hidden because it blends in with the rest of the shops on that small block. The food is exceptional from this little deli. Their service is good considering it's only the owner and one more person in the back making all the food. Their tea is very very tasty! I could drink it all day Pricing is great also since you pay only $7-$8 (depending which okonomiyaki you get) for a 10 inch. I definitely recommend this place if you want great unfranchised local Japanese food.

Italian Okonomiyaki $8.50
bacon, cheese, egg, noodles, bonito flakes
This is a good dish to share between 3-4 people. Traditionally, okonomiyaki should be with pork, but this looked more interesting. I mean, how can you not like bacon and cheese?! I thought it would be too rich and crazy but it turned out sooo good! The combination of bacon, cheese and egg is good and made the okonomiyaki smell amazing! like a feast for your nostrils. TRY IT!

Miso Ramen $6

This could very well be the most affordable bowl of ramen in the lower mainland. The miso tastes good and healthy, not covered in oil or overly salty. The texture of the noodles are not al-dente so most people will find it too soft. I personally Iike softer noodles so this fits my preferences. :)

Miso Ramen with Gyoza $7

Their menu has a lot of combinations, this being one of them where you can add gyoza — good ones!

Shoyu Ramen $5.50

Simple and tasty, more on the saltier side but that's usually expected of shoyu (soy sauce) flavour. This time the noodles were a lot firmer too. I really like the pork slices because they were a generous size and had an appropriate amount of fat on them. I like how the seaweed it comes with is separately served (I put it into the bowl for the photo).

Others' Input:

Kintaro Ramen 金太郎ラーメン

788 Denman Street
Vancouver, BC V6G 2L5
Tel: (604) 682-7568

Map | Website

This place has a lot of hype, I haven't jumped on the band wagon. If you haven't heard of this ramen place, then you need to make some Asian friends (j/k). But seriously, this place is by far the most popular and longest-running ramen place, with many frequent loyal customers. When you order you can choose the tonkotsu (pork bone) soup base to be light, medium, heavy. You can also choose the meat to be lean medium, fat. or I find the broth to be too oily even when I order light broth and lean meat. The lean meat doesn't tend to taste very good :( but medium is quite tasty. But on the plus side the broth is very flavourful and you can really taste the tonkotsu. There's always a lineup outside except on Mondays when its closed.

Miso Ramen ~ $7

Light soup with fatty pork = yummy! I always like corn in my ramen since I'm not a fan of the bamboo shoots. This was really tasty!

Cheese Ramen $8

Yummy and rich in flavour, this ramen is only available in light soup. This is a specialty ramen only available at Kintaro. Look at all that cheese!

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Kenzo Japanese Noodle House

126907 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC V5E 1P8
Tel: (604) 522-9969

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This place offers Korean food as well as Japanese ramen and serve Korean tea. I believe the chef had studied in Japan before opening this noodle house. The noodles themselves are a perfect consistency — very tasty and not too soft or hard, perfect every time! I've never tried their Korean food yet so I can't comment on that, but their ramen is good. Their Tonkotsu ramen is better than anything and anywhere else, easily the best in Burnaby. They also have a widest selection of spicy ramen I've ever seen. The environment is quiet and very cozy so its a good place to sit and talk after a good bowl of ramen. Its closed on Mondays!

Tonkotsu (Don ko chi) Ramen $7.95

Best tonkotsu ramen ever! (Tonkotsu is pork bone soup base) Everyone must try this and once you try it you'll be a believer. The soup base is EXTREMELY GOOD! I really like the grilled pork and the massive amounts of green onion. THIS RAMEN IS MAGNIFICENT!!!

Sho-yu Ramen $6.95

This was an alright ramen. It tasted like how it's supposed to. Noodles and broth were quite tasty, pork wasn't too fatty and the egg was a good addition. BUT GO HAVE THE TONKOTSU RAMEN (pictured above).

Chicken Fried Rice

Sapporo Miso Ramen $8.95

King of Ramen $10

This is a massive bowl with like everything in it.

Others' Input:

Ezo Giku Noodle Cafe えぞ菊

1329 Robson St (Downtown)

Vancouver, BC
Tel: 604-685-8606

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This place was my FAVOURITE ramen place up until they renovated in 2007 :( This place had the BEST gyoza in town hands down! (Much better than Gyoza King across the street). They used to have corn as a standard element in their ramen along with bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, and what not. Now you have to add a few cents to get it... (maybe too many people were wasting food?) So after the renovation, they got a massive bar seating area that replaced the old small bar and some changes to their menu. I personally thought the place was fine before the renovation. I've tried many of the ramen before their renovation, they've got a lot of Sapporo style ones an also rice. They have a stamp card where you get a stamp for each ramen you ordered and you get a free one if you collect 10 stamps. Needless to say I had 2+ stamp cards but that was back then.... Now I get the Miso Ramen most often and 'add' corn to it *sigh*. I WANT THE OLD EZO GIKU BACK!!

Side Note: I'm not sure what that artificial crab stick is doing in the bowl...

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Miso Ramen & Gyoza ~$8.25

It was good still, just not as good as it used to be. Its still got a good miso soup base. I'm not sure if I would purposely come here from Burnaby just to eat this ramen anymore...

Char Siu Ramen $7.95

The meat was very tasty :D yummy! I find it funny that its got bok choi in it

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