Follow Me Foodie: Modern vs authentic ramen
By Mijune Pak , Follow Me Foodie – WE Vancouver
Published: August 21, 2013 5:00 PM
Updated: August 21, 2013 6:19 PM
Published: August 21, 2013 5:00 PM
Updated: August 21, 2013 6:19 PM
Last week I wrote about authenticity in food. We live in a multi-cultural city with endless ethnic dining options, so we end up using the term “authentic” loosely. We see so many cuisines borrowing ideas from each other that we become more open minded to modern interpretations for traditional dishes, or a fusion style of cooking.
Ramen has become widely celebrated outside of Japan over the last few years, and Vancouver has fully embraced it. Following last week’s article here is an example and recommendations of where to find modern and traditional styles of ramen. Read the full article.
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Ramen isn’t my favorite noodle bowl. Often I find the broth too strong and I find it expensive because ramen offers a small portion of meat. I am a fan of soba. Motomatchi is an organic ramen house which is 1/2 block from Kintaro. Kintaro has huge lineups but people aren’t aware of it’s sister noodle house(same owner). Motomachi is superior in every way. I find ramen at Hokkaido uber expensive, and not worth it…especially when I can get a great Pho with a better broth and more meat for less than $6. Is the ramen experience worth the high price and a long wait(outside) ? Not for me…there is better soup noodles elsewhere.
I share similar sentiments with Bow. I’m not a huge fan of ramen, and local high prices for them reduces their appeal further. I do enjoy a nice cold plate of plain soba when the mood is right, or a well done sizzling yakisoba on cast iron griddle. But to fill that comfort food gap, pho is the way to go for me.
Nevertheless, it’s great that we have so many good ramen options in Vancouver.
@Bow – where do you go for pho ?
I tend to stick to Thai Son, expanding chain now: http://www.urbanspoon.com/s/14?q=thai+son (with yet another on Victoria Dr/41st where the Church’s Chicken used to be), or Thuan An.
I understand both of your arguments, Bow and LR; however, there is one small problem: there is no decent pho in that part of town. Ankor Noodle (a couple of shops next to the former Benkei location) does barely OK pho but nothing compared to Kingsway – the area where you are thinking about. If we had Thai Son or Lemongrass (or some of the shops in Kingsway) opening in Robson and Denman, then we might have an interesting battle!
As for myself, when it comes to a bowl of noodles + broth, I am split between the two. If I want a richer meal, I go for ramen; when I want a meatier meal, I go for pho. I do feel a lot of people would go for ramen rather than pho because Vietnamese is not as hip or popular as Japanese. But, hey, that means I can get a table without having to wait in lines (as in Santouka or Kintaro)!
BTW, Bow and LR, have you guys tried the Toroniku in Santouka? Yes, it is $$$ (~$15 if memory serves me right) but it is a deceivingly heavy meal. And, of course, instead of soba, some hiyashi chuka (cold noodles). And, agree, at least there are options, compared to some other cities in Canada! 🙂
@Lotus Rapper, pho at Pho Le Do has a great broth but no toppings, I really like Pho Linh on Broadway opposite Kingsgate mall and near Hime. The Thai Song’s broth isn’t as good as others…but it makes the best beef stew and excellent meat and rice dishes. I also eat at the Hai Phong on Kingsway. Found the Main st, pho joints inferior.
@Kim, thanks for the recommendation, By the way the ChongQing on Robson and Jervis has a fab Tan Tan noodle w, fried pork chop for less than $8. The Pho Goodness on Davie is meh.
@Mijune,,,sorry if the thread went sideways, HOWEVER I feel that many Japanese who have never eaten other styles of noodles are just unaware that Ramen is not the best. In fact Ramen isn’t held in high regard vs soba in Japan. Many of the Japanese people I’ve taken to eat Pho, Shanghai, Vietnamese or Chinese soup noodles are amazed at the variety of styles and love them.
@Kim – no I’ve not had the toroniku at Santouka. BTW I’ve only been to Vancouver Santouka once (actually can’t recall what I ate, it was a busy dinner meeting with several other people and I obviously got carried away with the conversations). I *did* however eat at Santouka in Taipei back in March, which btw was its first outlet so far within Taiwan (in the foodcourt of the upscale ToGo Shopping Center):
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2012/05/10/2003532430
Prices weren’t far from Vancouver prices (not that I’m familiar with the Vancouver outlet’s prices) and definitely seemed reasonable. We had a mix of 3-4 bowls of ramen, and some side dishes, all for sharing, so the meal was far from focused and I wasn’t able to take good mental notes while we were eating. Coincidentally, Dai Ting Fung had an outlet just a few vendors down the hall, and the wait to get to get a table was 45 mins !
@LR + KH + Bow – This blog is meant to be shared! Everything is meant for discussion. Thank you for your tips/rec and inspiration… you gave me some food topics to consider for next week 🙂 Btw Bow, if you click on the “read full article”… you can see I said exactly the same about Kintaro and Motomachi 😉
I agree with a lot of what you guys said. I just didn’t have great examples for other types of noodles for the topic of modern vs. authentic. There is no western pho I would recommend… or western wonton noodles I can think of to recommend either.
@Bow – thanks for the tips about the other pho shops 🙂
@Kim – forgot to thank you re: toroniku. Sounds like
Thx Mijune for bringing up this topic for discussion, a great piece about food but not about food at the same time 🙂 In my mind, I agree, that the definition of authenticity is rather fluid and is dependent on many anthropological factors in addition to availability of ingredients, tools, etc.
@Kim – forgot to thank you re: toroniku. Sounds like a great bowl of comfort food on a cold wet November night !
Santouka 1690 Robson is fabulous for lunch and we have gone many times….But…no more ! They just changed to a minimum of $10 per person…This is not Tokyo….So, where should we now visit?