Hakata Shoryuken Ramen

Hakata Shoryuken Ramen (5321 Yonge Street, North York)
(416) 733-3725

So, the last time I visited this ramen place was a long time ago.

Changes to note:
The prices on their website are about a dollar less than what they actually are (noted today).
The portion size seems much larger than the last time I was here, and if you're not full, you can get more noodles for $2 to be added into your leftover ramen soup.
There is an option of wavy noodles or straight noodles.
It is way, way, way busier now.
They are now open on Mondays.
The $13 lunch special (ramen plus don) is now from Monday to Friday.
There are more menu items now (including tako wasabi).

A little E. Honda. 

Chashu Lover

Seven pieces of melt-in-your-mouth chashu. Really, it is the highlight for me. The soup base is flavourful and very rich. The ramen is filling. The one guy running the room is super efficient. He set us up with menus and water real quick.

Would I return? Yeah, love that chashu. Though you have to wait a little bit for the ramen (there's two guys in the back making it, and only one server), it's good. Not the cheapest, but pretty tasty. Also, Street Fighter. 

Sho Ryu Ken

Hakata Ramen Sho Ryu Ken (5321 Yonge Street)

(416) 733-3725

A new ramen place opened up on Yonge Street, and the first thing Jo noticed is that it is named after the uppercut move in Street Fighter. This was confirmed as we peered in from the windows; three paintings of Street Fighter characters in shadowy art style were hanging from the wall. On closer inspection, they are all holding ramen bowls. 

Chun-Li!

Hakata Tonkatsu ramen ($9.80) with egg ($1.50)

I wasn't too crazy about the price, as this seems more expensive than the average ramen place  (I think Ajisen runs from about $8-11). But it is slightly cheaper than Kinton (slightly further down on Yonge Street). The egg texture was awesome. The white part had this soft, silky tofu texture, and the yolk was creamy. It was perfectly soft-boiled; however, it was cold. After leaving it in the soup to heat up for a while, it tasted fine. The meat was great. It was fatty, but the fat in the chashu melted in my mouth. I don't usually like fatty meat, but it was kind of delicious. The noodles were thinner than what I'm used to, but they were bouncy and cooked to my liking. The soup base was okay, but it could've been more meaty flavoured. The amount of noodles seemed a bit scanty for the price, but it filled me up enough for a meal.

I think takoyaki was greened out of the menu.

There are four choices of ramen: Hakata tonkotsu, black tonkotsu, red hot tonkotsu, and chashu lover. They are all basically tonkotsu or variations of tonkotsu.

Would I return? Sure. Service was super prompt (which was way more than we could say for our recent experience at Mabu Station). We were greeted, seated, and given glasses of water almost immediately. I really liked the way the protein was cooked in my meal. I am very amused by the restaurant's name and decor. My only beef with the place is that it is on the more expensive side of ramen, and the soup base could use more flavour if that's the main base for all their ramen dishes. 

Ippai

Ippai (8865 Woodbine Avenue, Markham)
905-470-1688
info@ippai.ca

Ginger soup ramen ($9.95)

There is the option of combining your preferred soup base with your preferred toppings, but I just couldn't be bothered. There were lunch specials, but they were mostly bento boxes or some sort of rice dish. I wanted ramen.

I was particularly hungry that day, so I don't remember much about the meal. The noodles were good and bouncy, but I don't remember much ginger flavour coming from the broth. Again, I inhaled this so it might've been more flavourful than I give it credit for. Jo seemed to like her Japanese curry pork just fine. 

Would I return? Sure. The prices are more or less normal for ramen, and Jo said that some of the other soup bases were pretty good. The only thing that stuck out to me was the paper thin naruto. It's like they were running out or something.

Kinton Ramen

Kinton Ramen (51 Baldwin Street, Toronto)

Hours: Mon - Sun: 11:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m., 5:00 p.m. - 10:30 p.m.

647-748-8900

This place is pretty tiny and I've heard that it's always packed. We got there around 1 p.m. on a weekday, and the wait for our party of four was about 20 minutes. They don't take reservations. We ended up at a table in the back, sharing it with other customers.

Spicy garlic ramen with pork belly ($9.80)

There's a choice of pork belly or pork shoulder with each of their noodles. The slab of meat I got seemed dry at first bite, but it seemed okay afterwards... possibly because it soaked up the broth? I'm not sure. There was also the option of light, regular, or rich broth. I got the rich one because I enjoy intense flavour. The broth was good. It wasn't very spicy, but that small mound of garlic certainly delivered. The noodles were good consistency, and they had that bit of bounce that I like.

Bianca and Amanda each got a cheese ramen ($10.80).

It seemed very cheesy, but they noted that the cheese melted into large clumps that were a bit difficult to eat. 

Would I return? Yeah... when I have a lot of time... and don't want to talk to the people I'm with. There's all sorts of noise coming from the staff, similar to what you'd hear in Guu - you know, cheering, greeting, and the like. The environment makes it hard to hear anything else. The wait makes it hard for it to be a quick lunch. I liked what I ate, though. It should also be noted that they don't have air conditioning, but there are fans all over the restaurant. Oh, and their sawaa drinks are priced similarly to the bottled beers. Fair enough.

Niwatei

Niwatei (3160 Steeles Avenue East, Markham, Ontario)
905-513-6492
info@niwatei.com

Pork ramen ($8.80)

I've been craving ramen for so long now. SO LONG! Anyway, this definitely satisfied my craving. Doesn't come with much meat, but the noodles are bouncy and fun, and the broth was so turbid with flavour. I also really like how they don't overboil their eggs. I was pretty full by the end of it, but Lorne was still hungry after eating his bowl of ramen. 

Deep-fried chicken ($6)

The chicken wasn't super crispy, but the meat was nice and moist. They appeared to use dark meat for it. Lorne said that it wasn't great, but I liked that the meat wasn't dried out. Could have been crispier though. 

Would I return? Yes. They have good ramen noodles. The menu isn't super extensive, but it is a ramen joint and that's their focus. I also really enjoy their random racoon cartoons on their menus. So random and so cute!

Total damage: approximately $15 for my noodles and half of the chicken.

Maruchan Ramen

Andrea was kind enough to give me some new instant noodles she found on her trip. I must say that they were pretty good. It's just the instant noodles and the msg package, no oil packet. The chicken flavour comes off strong. The slightly unique thing about these noodles is that they don't get soft as easily as other brands. So after boiling, the ramen retains their bouncy bite. It's something like al dente, but... bouncier. 

I would totally eat these again. 

Total damage: free for me thanks to Andrea!

Ajisen

Ajisen (5229 Yonge Street, North York, Ontario)

416-223-0618

Pork cutlet ramen.

 The pork cutlet actually comes separately so it doesn't get soggy by the soup broth.

I was pretty pleased with this visit. The noodles had a tense sponginess to it, and the broth had floating oil bubbles of flavour. The pork cutlet had a crispy exterior. 

Would I return? Yup. It's not bad. Prices are okay. Addition of a bubble tea to your meal isn't a bad deal either. 

Total damage: approximately $10.

See what I thought about this place last time.

Kyu Shou

Kyu Shou Japanese Noodle House (4733 Steeles Avenue East, Scarborough, Ontario)

416-609-1819

Another trip to Kyu Shou in Scarborough.

I got the pork neck in pork bone soup ramen. 

I still think the bak choy in ramen is a bit odd. The meat was pretty awesome. It was so tender and so crispy on the outside. As for the broth, there wasn't much pork bone flavour this time. 

According to Renée and Simon, they always play Korean concert videos on the TV screen. It's entertaining to make comments about their styles and watch the Korean pop stars dance.

Would I return? That meat was pretty good. And I could afford the meal on a budget of $9 in my wallet.

Total damage: $5.99 + tax + tip.

Kenzo

Kenzo Japanese Noodle House (138 Dundas Street West, Toronto)

416-205-1155

Miso ramen.

After realizing that the restaurant wouldn't be able to fit the nine of us at a table for a weekday lunch, we opted for takeout. As we returned with our respective boxes, we all realized that they super skimped on the portions. The amounts that we were given were nothing compared to what we saw in the bowls of patrons in the restaurant. It made the noodles look a lot less appealing.

The miso soup seemed to have a lot of flavour, and the meat was pretty good. The clumpiness of the noodles was a bit of a turn off.

Would I return? Maybe I'd go back to try their food that isn't takeout. It might taste better that way.

Total damage: $7-something.

Kyu Shou

Kyu Shou Japanese Noodle House (4733 Steeles Avenue East, Scarborough, Ontario)
416-609-1819

One order of uni (sea urchin) sushi.

Melts in my mouth. The paper divider was a bit of a turn off though. It reminded me of cheap takeout sushi.

 Pork bone soup ramen with onigri.

The onigri was pretty fillin in addition to the bowl of ramen. There was bits of what looked like dry canned fish and some seasoning in the onigri. The white soup was very intense. The noodles were wavy like packaged instant noodles, but with more turgidity. The meat was easy to chew and came in a fair portion. I wasn't a fan of the bak choy in the ramen. It just seemed weird.

 Chris's spicy seafood ramen.

The broth was indeed spicy, but I still preferred my pork bone broth. There were mussels, clams, and shrimp in his bowl. What was impressive was that the shrimp was peeled. This could also mean that the shrimp came from frozen.

After meal candy.

Guava?

The two menus are pretty solidly made. One contains mostly pictures. Most of the lunch specials with pictures and prices are posted on the windows outside as well.

Would I return? Yes. I quite liked the pork bone broth, and Chris seemed satisfied with the uni. The prices are fair, but they seem extra cheap during lunch time. The restaurant looks nice and clean inside. There were three small complimentary appetizer plates of edamame, kimchi, and bean sprouts.

Total damage: free for me thanks to Chris!

Ajisen Ramen

Ajisen Ramen (5229 Yonge Street, Toronto, Ontario)
(416) 223-0618

There aren't that many ramen places that I know of in Toronto, so it's kind of a treat when I get to try one. I went here for lunch with Esther. She says that they're Chinese, but they serve Japanese ramen.

I walked into this place, and 'Wah! Hot pink bench chairs!' The bowls on display on the wall are kind of cool though. The place was about a third to half full of customers on a weekday during prime lunch time.

I ordered the crispy chicken ramen. The chicken came out in a cute little dish. It was a little weird that it didn't come out at the same time as the ramen, and it was just that on our table for a little while. 

It didn't fail in crispiness, but the meat was on the dry side.

What I liked about the bowl of noodles was the soup. The taste is pretty strong so it's a good thing that I liked it. The ramen itself reminded me of spaghetti. Maybe that's what ramen is supposed to taste like?

Total damage: $8 or $9. I can't remember.

Would Dri go back? Sure, if I'm in the area and Kenzo is too far.

Daikoku Sushi & Ramen Bistro

Daikoku Sushi & Ramen Bistro (8865 Woodbine Avenue, Markham)

My first impression of this restaurant was that it was very clean. The decor was very... white and clean-looking. The menu looked pretty fancy with a partial metallic face. If you're looking for ramen, there are a few pages of options.

I decided on the noodles in a ginger-based soup with beef:
I could taste the ginger in the soup, but it wasn't overbearing. It was nice, and a bit refreshing. The ramen noodles had a firm texture. Think al dente. There wasn't a terribly small portion of meat, but I wouldn't have minded a little more. I think the winning point of my meal for me was the soup base.

Wing-See ordered the super strong white pork bone ramen, and recommended it. She also mentioned that the satay flavours were pretty good, but the curry one not so much.

Total damage: $10.