First impressions of Ramen Santouka
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Karen Hamilton
March 7, 2010
Whenever I want to go adventuring in the land of Japanese cuisine, I ask my brother. His inner circle is populated with so many Japanese students and ex-pats that he’s practically foresworn our Filipino culture for theirs. When it comes to the food, he’s one of the biggest snobs and best scouts that I know, having introduced our family to Kingyo, Alpha, Kaide, and Motomachi long before ramen and izakaya entered Vancouver’s mainstream vernacular. It should therefore come as no surprise that it was he who made me curious about Ramen Santouka.
My brother haunts the non-touristy end of Robson Street for its array of Japanese and Korean dining options. A week and a half ago, he happened across the soft open of Ramen Santouka, the newest of the chain of ramen shops originally based out of Hokkaido and starting to make its conquest of North America.
The restaurant decor is peppered with bears – the symbol of Hokkaido, according to my brother
Soft open / grand opening signage and tasty, tasty visual menu
Even if he hadn’t already eaten at Ramen Santouka during his last trip to Hokkaido, the place still would have captured his attention. The storefront, while modest in signage and obscured by a bus stop, has an arresting display in the front window of what one could eat inside its doors. It would have been enough for this curious diner to try it without further recommendation; I imagine the descriptions and visuals would interest a ramen neophyte as well.
My brother stepped inside for his first Vancouver taste of Santouka’s shio ramen. One slurp was enough to sell him on a second visit in the same week – another positive experience which led him to suggest Santouka for lunch the next time he and I hung out. He tried the shoyu ramen and the cha-su don while I wasted no time in ordering the most unusual items on the menu: the kara miso ramen and ikura don. Our picks were conveniently available as ramen/don combos for $11 and $13. Gotta love a place that makes sampling this easy.
Kara miso ramen: spicy tonkotsu broth flavoured with chili oil and miso
Ikura don: rice bowl topped with salmon roe and thin shreds of scrambled egg
Shoyu ramen: tonkotsu base flavoured with soy
Cha-shu don: rice bowl topped with slowly simmered pork
Yum, yum, yum! Easily the best tonkotsu I’ve had in Vancouver. The regular pork in our ramen was already so superb in tenderness, marble, and rich flavour that it’s gotten me drooling in anticipation for the premium pork jowl of the toroniku ramen that I will no doubt order upon my return.
A few observations: 1 slice of pork in my bowl and the default portion size were not enough to appease my normally peckish appetite, and certain items on the menu were not yet available for order. I recommend immediately upgrading your bowl to the large portion and requesting extra pork when you visit. Don’t let the limitations in the current menu stop you from coming down to eat there, as food lovers in the know and Santouka fans happy to see its presence in Vancouver are already causing a formidable line-up during service peak times. Oh, and don’t forget your cash – no debit or credit cards accepted yet.
This is a promising ramen find for me. As for my brother – who isn’t wild about Kintaro and who prefers the likes of Motomachi – he has found a new favourite in Santouka. He’s even posted photos and rave one-line reviews of his Santouka meals on his Facebook profile without telling his friends where to find the place. Tease.
Chow Times and La Petite Vancouver can give you more detailed accounts of this newcomer to Vancouver’s ramen scene, so read about their dining experiences if you aren’t already en route to Ramen Santouka.
Categories: Downtown, Food, Restaurants, West End
A trio of baby-friendly lunch spots during the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games
Leave a Comment Karen HamiltonFebruary 22, 2010
Now that our daughter has graced our lives, it’s a lot tougher to dine around with her in tow – especially during the mayhem of the Olympics. I was happy to find a few places within a 15-minute walk of our abode in Yaletown that not only offered special hours and menus during the Winter Games, but allowed me to lunch with a stroller by my side without compromising on quality.
Joe Fortes and its Pacific Kiss Platter
Paula from the BC Shellfish Growers Association (BCSGA) emailed me last week about a BC oyster sampler that Monk McQueens and Joe Fortes were offering for the duration of the Olympics. As I hadn’t applied for accreditation for the Games, I missed the official media tasting. But that was fine with me – at an affordable $25, I was able to make a lunch reservation at Joe Fortes and experience this Pacific Kiss platter as a normal diner.
Armed with a handy trifold showing the map and tasting notes above, I slurped my way across 12 regions of BC oysters, with almost all of them on or neighbouring Vancouver Island. Amongst my favourites were the smaller varieties: the Kusshi, the Pacific Rim Petites, and the Effingham. Clear winner for me was the larger Fanny Bay oyster, pictured below. Guess there is a reason this baby is popular at my other oyster haunt, Rodney’s Oyster House.
Service at Joe Fortes was terrific. The hostesses reserved us a table by the Oyster Bar that allowed room for a stroller and our server gave tasting glasses of the wines we were trying to decide between.
We also witnessed her cater to a table of tourists with a Pacific Kiss platter. She returned to said table with 12 cleansed shells – now souvenirs for their niece’s shell collection. It was funny to note at the time, as I had mentioned to my friend at how tempted I was to take home the aesthetically pleasing exterior of my Chef’s Creek oyster (above).
Joe Fortes Seafood & Chop House
777 Thurlow St | Downtown Vancouver
(604) 669-1940
Alpha’s Olympic lunch combos
My five-year love affair with Alpha is well documented, but one long-standing complaint is that they’re not open for lunch. I literally squealed with delight when they told me at one evening that they were offering lunch service during the Winter Games: 1-4pm Wednesday through Sunday until Feb 28th. We made reservations for lunch the next day, where I just had to order the $20.10 Olympic Combo, featuring three kinds of sushi and sashimi, mackerel, meatball stew, fish cakes, and other goodies. Next time I’ll try the $18 Vancouver Combo: chicken kara-age, breaded ebi mayo, pumpkin croquettes, three kinds of sushi, tuna garlic pepper and more.
Again, the stroller containing the little one was welcome during this less frenzied meal time, and our servers gushed over her newness as we ate.
If you are a fan of Alpha’s dinner menu, you won’t be disappointed at how many of the regular items are still available at lunch time. The only glaring omissions (to the chagrin of my lunch date) are the Grilled Toro Pork and the Miso Teriyaki Beef.
Alpha Global Sushi & Bar
1099 Richards St | Yaletown
(604) 633-0355
Hapa Izakaya’s Olympic lunch menu
Yaletown’s newest izakaya entrant normally has post-5pm service, but they similarly decided to be open for lunch during the Olympics. 11am-2pm Sunday through Thursday, for them.
Unlike the wide selection they have during regular service, Hapa’s lunch menu tallies at six mains. It wasn’t a problem for my dining companion, who had ordered the $12 tekka donburi combo like I had, but if you have a discerning palate you may be disappointed by the limited choice during the day.
If, however, you come equipped with a baby in a carrier or stroller – like I have on several occasions, both lunch and dinner – be assured that your family will not be turned away. Even if a Canada hockey game is on and you have to navigate said stroller to the back booth through a sea of people belting out our national anthem.
One word of warning: don’t come here if you are avoiding restaurants that have added auto gratuities for the Olympics. Hapa Yaletown has an 18% rate. I for one have had consistently attentive service at this location worth at least 18%, so I don’t mind. But you might.
Hapa Izakaya
1193 Hamilton Street | Yaletown
(604) 681-4272
Categories: Downtown, Events, Food, Restaurants, Yaletown
Twelfth annual Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner at Floata
1 Comment Bruce NguyenFebruary 9, 2010
Mosaic.
Growing up a young immigrant in Canada, ‘mosaic’ was the catch phrase my school teachers would use to define the country’s cultural landscape. Mosaic; by proudly juxtaposing different cultures, my adopted country would create an altogether new composite Canadian identity.
I’m still skeptical on the extent of it all in reality, but what’s clear is with today’s popularity of the california roll, Japadog, and ninja turtles, cultural borrowing and fusion has become rather commonplace. However, I can’t remember when it’s ever been as explicit and downright fun as Gung Haggis Fat Choy.
We even covered the event live on twitter. Missed our live tweets? You can catch up on the conversation here
The event
A portmanteau of the traditional Cantonese new year greeting and that prototypical Scottish sausage, Gung Haggis Fat Choy combines Chinese New Year with Robbie Burns Day to create a new composite celebration of song, poetry readings, and food in order to celebrate the two heritages and raise funds for various charities.
This year marked the event’s twelfth year running and, with over four hundred attendees to this year’s dinner, the costumes, bagpipes, and sing-a-longs were in full swing.
Hosted by “Toddish McWong” and Tricia Collins, the night started with a full bagpipe band, transitioned to poetry readings, both original works and those from Burns, and just kept going from there.
Audience participation was encouraged, with sing-a-longs of “When Asian/Scottish/Chirish Eyes are Smiling” – yes, “Chirish ” – and echoing along with a rap version of Burns’ “Address to the Haggis”.
The menu
The drink list consisted of a variety of Scotch whiskies and Chinese beers. Wines were available too, but understandably none from Scotland or China.
Hosted by Floata Seafood Restaurant, the menu would sound familiar to anybody who has been to a Chinese wedding banquet, with a few key differences of course:
- Appetizer plate of haggis siu mai, BBQ pork, jellyfish, and turnip cakes
- Deep-fried haggis wontons
- Mixed vegetables and winter melon soup
- Haggis lettuce wrap with diced vegetables
- Pan-fried prawns with spicy salt (shell in)
- Peking style gold coined beef
- Buddha’s Feast vegetables with deep fried tofu
- Deep fried crispy chicken
- Vegetarian fried rice
- Coconut or mango rice pudding
The Deep fried haggis wontons being a clear stand-out. In fact, I personally loved all the haggis infused dishes served this night. Yes, I know what haggis is. But I grew up eating chicken feet, tripe, and Hot vit lon / Balut (readers with tender stomachs, do not click that link).
Haggis? No problem, and really very pleasantly savoury.
‘Good food and good fun’ sums up our experiences at this year’s Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner; I’m sure we’ll be back next year.
To learn more about Gung Haggis Fat Choy: The Robbie Burns / Chinese New Year event, visit their website here.
Categories: Chinatown, Events, Food, Restaurants
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