Cheap Eat of the Week: a piping hot bowl of Japanese noodles at Kenzo Ramen
By Gizelle Lau
Kenzo Ramen's netsu ramen (Image: Gizelle Lau)
Winter is here to stay — even though it hasn’t quite arrived yet — and when guarding against the biting cold weather, there’s nothing as soothing as a steaming hot, hearty bowl of Japanese ramen.
(Ok, I may also be on a bit of a ramen kick after digging into the first issue of Lucky Peach by Momofuku’s chef David Chang — and if there’s anything you’ve ever wanted to know about ramen, it’s in this magazine.)
While New York City’s ramen options include Momofuku Noodle Bar, Ippudo or Totto Ramen, here in Toronto we’ve got the formidable Kenzo Ramen Japanese Noodle House, with bowls for $10 or less. Three locations serve up bowls of soupy, rameny goodness. (The owners have bought and sold a couple of other Kenzos in the Markham/North York Area, but now own three, including a recently-opened location at 522 Yonge Street).
At Kenzo, the netsu ramen ($8.95) is a hot Sapporo-style ramen with ground pork and vegetables. The spicy scale ranges from one to three. Sapporo is considered the birthplace of miso-based ramen, as opposed to the soy sauce base of Tokyo ramen, the salt base of Hakodate ramen and the tonkotsu base of Hakata ramen.
The flavour base is made from a blend of miso, vegetables and seasoning; it’s then mixed in the now-popular double soup method: a chicken and pork bone stock that’s combined with a vegetable and seafood soup — both which have been simmered for at least six hours, though usually made the day before. Noodles are cooked separately and added at the last minute, to be served and eaten while piping hot for the best flavour and chewy ramen noodle texture.
Kenzo Ramen Japanese Noodle House, 138 Dundas St. W., 416-205-1155; 372 Bloor St. W., 416-921-6787; 522 Yonge Street, 647-340-2112
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