It was BC day. Nanzaro had gone to Playland with his friends. The three of us went out for lunch. Ben wanted noodle soup. We kind of debating on whether we should go for Vietnamese Pho or Japanese Ramen.
We ended up at Continental Plaza. G-Men was still closed as we had noticed sometime ago. Our second choice was New Asia Deli which is a Vietnamese Restaurant. Unfortunately, it was closed too for summer vacation or something like that. Then, we were attracted to this quite new Japanese Tapas restaurant which took over the Purity Vegetarian Restaurant. There were colourful posters of ramen on their door. That’s it, we will take it.
The interior is clean and neat. There are banquettes that line one side of the wall while booth seats on the opposite side. The flat screen tv on the wall was displaying some of the Japanese dishes and it shows how it’s made, etc.
There were Japanese written menu on the wall too.
Service was prompt. We were served green tea after we sat down.
Ben ordered the Hell Fire Ramen. The name of the dish sounds very intimidating. As the name indicates, it is very spicy. The Hell Fire Ramen has Japanese style char siu (BBQ pork), half an half boiled egg, bamboo shoot, bean sprout, corn and green onions. On the menu, the price of this is $8.99 but … when the bill came, we were billed $9.50.
There were 3 large pieces of the Japanese style char siu. The Japanese style char siu is prepared by rolling the pork shoulder into a log and then braising it at a low temperature which gives it a softer and moister texture.
This restaurant practices the stick your order sheett on the customer table and strike the item off when it’s delivered. It’s a good practice as the customer can verify their order before the item is delivered.
Arkensen ordered the Ramen with Deep Fried Panko Breaded Chicken Cutlet. This is $9.50. The chicken cutlet is very crunchy on the outside. We can hear the crunch when he bites into it. The chicken cutlet is served separately with a mayonnaise dip and a few strands of cabbages.
Arkensen’s ramen is served in a milky broth. There is nothing else in the ramen; just some green onions. The ramen is QQ i.e. it has a bite to it, not too soft. I like the broth which is not too salty. I drank some of his broth since mine does not come with a broth. Arkensen does not mind if I drink his broth at the end of his meal; not at the beginning as he does not like other people to contaminate his food.
I ordered the Traditional Japanese Ramen in Dipping Sauce. This is also $9.50. The ramen and the sauce is served separately.
My ramen is served cold with some crunchy tempura batter bits, seaweed slivers and garnished with a few strands of pickled ginger.
My dipping sauce is served warm. In the dipping sauce, there are Japanese style char siu, half an egg, bean sprout, corn and bamboo shoot, just like what Ben had. The sauce is a little spicy and tangy.
The dipping sauce gives the ramen the flavour which otherwise has no flavour. The sauce is too strong flavour for drinking. That’s why I had some of Arkensen’s broth. Overall, this is a satisfactory meal.
I was surprised that nobody touch the condiments. If Nanzaro is around, he will surely sprinkle his noodle with the red pepper mix. He cant have a meal without some sort of chili.
The total bill came to $32 before tips. The price is slightly higher if we compare it to Ajisen Ramen. Yuu Japanese Tapas only accepts cash.
BUSINESS HOUR
12:00PM to 3:00PM
5:00PM to 11:00PM
Closed on Tuesday
This place serves some decent food. I’ve been there with my family twice.
Btw, G-Men has merged with Nan Chuu on Alexandra Road. I went there a week ago. Their noodles still taste the same. Yummm
Hi, you may want to fix the typo in the sentence about the order “chit” or “sheet”. LOL!
You can order soup (broth) after you finishing noodle then you can enjoy your dipping sauce as soup. It is usually at no charge.
Hi Suanne,
That is one beautifully cooked egg! I think the prices are a little bit high for ramen. I had ramen at Santouka recently where the prices are comparable to Yuu, and I’m still thinking about their char-siu pork. So good!!!
Went here this afternoon with my kids. I ordered the Hell Fire Ramen because it looks so good here. But alas, it wasn’t even spicy. I asked the waitress if they have like mild, medium or very spicy. She said no; just spicy. Nothing really special about the dish. The char siu was pretty tender. The ramen was ok. My kids shared the same ramen dish except they chose a miso based soup. Very salty and thick. The best dish was the deep fried tentacles with spicy mayo (they were very stingy with the mayo!) for $5.99.
I’m a Japanese Curry nut and highly recommend their Tonkatsu Japanese Curry with Rice. Compared to others at Yoshoku Ya, Kingyo, Tenhachi, Ajijiman. Yuu’s version is one of the best in Vancouver and competes well against Coco Curry House Ichibanya in Japan and Hawaii.
Thanks for the tip, Test ! I looove tonakatsu, and with curry too. I have two local favorites in Vancouver to get my fix:
– iCafe
(Ben reviewed here): http://chowtimes.com/2011/01/03/i-cafe-food-was-pretty-decent-the-crisp-cubic-toast-was-fun/
– Clubhouse Sushi
– Kimura
– Guu
And I sought some other opinions here:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/758917
Wow the Hell Fire Ramen sounds soo good, I’m definitely going to give that a try the next time I go there.
probably best place in richmond besides nanchuu
Wha, Hell Fire Ramen. What a name! Generally I find the soup of the ramen in SG kinda salty though I don’t mind the thickness of the broth. Hmmmm, haven’t had ramen for a while. Must go for one bowl one of these days
their ramen has changed and the chashiu isn’t naruto-ly round anymore *sad panda
I’ve been there too, I love everything.(Especially the KatsuKare: it’s heaven stuffed into pig and rice) the tonkatsu ramen is probably the tastiest ramen in my opinion. Next time I’ll try the Hell Fire ramen. Yuu is the best in richmond, and I’m not biased because it’s Japanese. Now I prefer it over my old favorite, the taiwanese one a few stores down.
Source: experience and being half japanese