Hokkaido Ramen Santouka

Phone: (604) 681-8121
Address: 1690 Robson St., Vancouver, BC
Hours: N/A, Open Lunch to dinner
Website:  http://www.santouka.co.jp/
Date of Visit: Feb. 28, 2013
Parking: Meter parking along street.

Hokkaido Ramen Santouka is another extremely popular ramen restaurants in West End, Vancouver and , a popular chain of ramen restaurants in Japan. Urbanspoon currently has Hokkaido Ramen Santouka as the highest rated downtown ramen restaurant. Ramen Santouka has a wider selection of items on their menu than most other ramen restaurants. Each bowl of ramen can be customized from the amount of lard and salt in the broth to the doneness of your noodles. I’ve been meaning to try the place for a while to find out if it is in fact arguably the best ramen in the city. However,  nearly every time I walk by, there’s a queue, so I keep on walking. I took the next opportunity to try this restaurant as soon as I saw no line-up with pretty high expectations. Here’s a quick review.

Check out my review of  Kintaro Ramen here.

 

Ramen

Kara-Miso Ramen & Ikura Gohan Combination 8/10

• The broth was indeed rich and flavourful, the saltiness was accompanied by a distinct pork flavour. While the broth on its own was very salty, it was fine with the ramen. It was not however, very spicy.
• The chasu (pork) had a good balance of protein and fat.
• The ramen could have been chewier.
• Fair amount of toppings on the ramen.
• Ikura gohan lacked ikura.

I ordered the Kara-Miso ramen while Shio, Shoyu, and Miso ramen is available at any other ramen restaurant in Vancouver, Kara-Miso is not. The menu describes it as a spicy version of the miso ramen. I didn't opt for any other customization options.
When the bowl arrived, the first thing I noticed was that the portions are smaller than other ramen restaurants nearby. Nonetheless, with the side, it was still enough to fill me up. Another thing was that the broth was served cooler than what I’m used to. Santouka claims this is the optimal temperature to enjoy the broth.
I was impressed at the balance of fat and protein on the pork. Unlike some other ramen restaurants where the pork is either too fatty or not fatty enough, Santouka seems to have had found the perfect balance. Flavour and texture wise, the only comment I have to say is that it was delicious.
The ramen it self was a bit of a let down. I thought it was a bit overdone and would have benefitted from some bounce in the texture.  Note, the ramen is not fresh, they arrive to the restaurant wrapped in plastic. However, I don't think there are any ramen restaurants that serve fresh ramen in Vancouver.

As for the ikura gohan, well, it wasn’t impressive at all. It’s a very simple dish but the balance is all wrong. The ratio between ikura is way off, there simply was not enough ikura to accompany the blandness of the rice. There enough ikura there for maybe one and half pieces of nigiri sushi, two if served with slices of cucumber. This was for a bowl of rice.

Miso Ramen 8.5/10

I ordered a bowl of miso ramen too as a comparison for the Kara-miso. I actually enjoyed the flavours from dish better than the previous. I found that the addition of the spicy components actually took away from the broth.  

 

ATMOSPHERE

• Crowded.
• Seating was uncomfortable, and spacing was cramped and limited.

SERVICE

• Service is quick in order to maintain their high turnover rate.
• Water was refilled regularly.
• They enforce a minimum charge per person rule.

VERDICT

I’ll have to agree, the ramen here is pretty good, no better ramen in Vancouver comes to mind. However, I would say its debatable whether its worth standing in line outside for (from what I’ve heard) an average of 30 minutes only to be squished in cramped seating. I would recommend dining strategically in the mid-afternoon. Of course, do definitely give Hokkaido Ramen a try if you love ramen, but with so many other well-reviewed ramen restaurants nearby, your options for ramen aren’t limited.