Restaurant Review
Ramen Gojiro
If you are in the mood for a LOT of ramen, you won’t find many places in Canada that can hold a chopstick to the Jiro-style of ramen that Ramen Gojiro in Vancouver serves up.
Japanese
Cuisine
4.5
star rating
$
cost
History:
The Jirorian style of ramen was born in Japan at a restaurant which due to their proximity to Tokyo Metropolitan University attracted a younger vibrant crowd. The Jirorian style of ramen evolved with the collaborative efforts of a neighboring Chinese restaurant. The dish changed the traditionally lighter and thinner ramen noodles to a more full, thick dense noodle. The delicious soup broth also became more flavorful with a description of being at it’s heart a tonkatsu soup base with some salty shoyu topped off with lots of fatty pork chunks. Finally Jirorian style ramen emphasizes quantity which was a massive success among the hungry young university generations. It wasn’t soon after that Jirorian style ramen places were open all across Japan.
Menu:
Ramen Gojiro keeps their Jiro-style menu extremely simple with only a couple of decisions to make.
Size: Basic Ramen (small) or Basic Bakamori (large)
Topping: Karaage (fried chicken) or Chasu (pork)
Soup Base: Rich or Light
They also have a spicy version which allows you to choose from three different levels of spice. Of course they do have on offer a couple of other ramen types. But let’s be honest, no one comes for those. Of course all the ramen’s can be ordered with varying sides for the sumo-sized appetites.
Ramen Jiro is the first Jiro-style ramen restaurant in Canada.
Experience:
If you are used to a more traditional ramen experience, then the first glimpse of the shear size of your meal coming out at Ramen Gojiro may be quite intimidating. The dish comes STACKED with bean sprouts and fried chicken (if you went that route) overflowing from the already large bowl. As a North-American who has grown up eating fried chicken one way (crispy) it can seem unusual to let your chicken soak in the bowl. However, that uneasiness will pass once you start to experiment with varying the amount of soup-base-soak for your chicken and discover a new preference. Finally a cold Asaha is served to complete the meal and allow for you to truly unwind with your ramen companions. When visiting Ramen Gojiro, you will never leave with an empty stomach.
Location
Written by Kimberly Y
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