Just a bit of history about Santouka - They're a chain with restaurants all over the world. Santouka opened its first restaurant in Hokkaido in 1988 by a Japanese family. So they have been around quite some time!
I have an on-going love affair with Japanese Ramen. There's so many Japanese ramen restaurants popping up everywhere in Vancouver that it's kind of hard to try them all and figure out which ones are worth visiting again. Well Santouka definitely made the list for me. I have a Japanese co-worker who adores Santouka and convinced me that it's worth lining up for because their bowl of ramen reminds him of home.
T and I went to Santouka with our two friends for dinner and they just got back from Japan not too long ago. T had the Tantanmen which was a peanut-base broth with chilly oil and ground pork (very similar to Chinese Dandan noodles). The Tantanmen was quite unique, not your average bowl of Japanese ramen. T quite liked it, but I found the broth to be a little bit too thick. I ordered the Miso Ramen, where the soup-base is made from a mixture of pork broth and miso paste. The broth was well seasoned and had just the right consistency and the noodles were fantastic!I am quite picky when it comes to having noodles or pastas cooked perfectly. You can say it's kind of a pet-peeve of mine when the noodles/pastas are either over-cooked or under-cooked. Surprisingly Santouka did a great job cooking their noodles considering how busy they were that night. Now I totally understand why so many reviewers mentioned how yummy the noodles were! I think I can definitely add Santouka to my list of favourite ramen restaurants. They are a bit pricier then some of the other Japanese ramen restaurants in downtown and the place does get quite busy so do expect a bit of a wait.
I would probably go back again, but I might try to go there for lunch instead of dinner. Any suggestions for other good Japanese Ramen places?
Happy eating!
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