Ramen Izakaya @ NanChuu

Michael has been raving about this Ramen place for the longest time since his friends had took him there once. I was only prepared to be amazed when I see this oh so great ramen place.

Ramen Izakaya is located at 8391 Alexandra Rd., the Rodeo Drive of food in Richmond if you will, all the great diners, restaurants and cafes are located on that tiny strip. I honestly didn't know what to expect of this place except what Michael has told me.

I loved the interior of the restaurant, it really did look like the ramen restaurants I have been to in Tokyo. It was loads of fun walking through the restaurant to our table, you can just feel the authenticity come through from the environment and the staff.

A whole row of condiments to choose from at each table

Ramen Izakaya creates everything from scratch, especially the pork bone soup, which is boiled for hours before serving. When we sat down at our table I loved that there was a guide to how to eat ramen, and there were the exact condiments that we can put in to our bowls to accommodate with our noodles. My mom loves ramen with fatty pork with soup, so I know good ramen when I see it. This one was fabulous.

Fried chicken with garlic sauce and salad

I had a crave for chicken so Michael decided to order one of their specials, the fried chicken with garlic sauce and salad ($6). The chicken was like summer on a plate, it tasted citrusy with a touch of garlic, just enough not to overpower the chicken's flavour. The chicken was fried and you might think fried chicken is oily and greasy but this was far from that. It was very light and the salad was very refreshing just like summer should be. Michael thought it had a bit too much of the garlic sauce on it, which took a bit of the crunch out of the fried chicken, but he thought the flavour was perfect.

Takoyaki

Michael ordered the Takoyaki (four pieces for $3.75) and it was so delicious I'd have to say it was best I've ever had. The exterior was lightly crisped and the inside just oozed out with squid. The sauce was so good it had tang and gave the takoyaki a little zing.  In hindsight, Michael wishes he ordered the larger portion with eight pieces.

Tonkotsu Ae Soba

For entrees I had the Tonkotsu Ae Soba ($8.75), ramen cooked in their signature pork soup and then drained. What caught my attention was not only because it was soupless but it was also the staff favourite. Sold! When my noodles arrived, I found out it wasn't technically soupless there was some soup on the bottom but it didn't bother me. Of course I was keen on following the how to eat ramen 101.

First I didn't allow it to cool down. Second I tasted the ramen without any of the condiments. Third was to add whatever condiment you wanted, for me that was a hint of garlic and the special vinegar and soy for ramen and goyza. I loved that I got to add the condiments in to the noodles because I have never tried that before. It's definitely not packaged noodles. Along with the noodles was a half a boiled egg with the yolk oozing out. My one problem with my bowl was that there was bean sprouts with the noodles. I thought they gave a nice crunch but there was a little earthy taste for me that  I thought it didn't go well with the noodles and broth. That's just my own judgment though.

Tonkotsu Miso Ramen

Michael had the Tonkotsu Miso Ramen ($8.95), a full bowl of pork broth with lots of miso added to cover a bed of ramen noodles. His dish didn't come with as many toppings as mine but there was a decent serving of pork slices in the bowl, chopped green onions, bean sprouts and a thick slice of seaweed included. Anything involving miso soup usually gets Michael sitting up so it wasn't that surprising that he wolfed down his noodles and started drinking the soup, too.

I actually can't wait to return to this ramen place, there are so many other things I can't wait to try on the menu. Everything must be delicious!


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Cheesecake Etc

Got room for dessert? Well come on down to Cheesecake Etc! I have always thought about going to this place but then Michael read online reviews a lot of people said that the cheesecake had no buttery graham cracker crust. So Michael had thought it would be a terrible idea to go.

Fast forward two years later, we gave it a shot after scratching our heads about a late night dessert place to go to with a few friends. Cheesecake Etc is located at 2141 Granville St., right before the bridge entering to the downtown Vancouver peninsula. It's a pretty hidden location and when you go inside there is a strange curtain that separates the entrance and the actual restaurant. That curtain really just freaked us out, because the restaurant is so dim, having the entrance area behind the curtain kind of made me feel like being in a dark box.

Marshmallow mocha

Inside the restaurant it was actually quite big with a singing piano player. The ambiance was quite the romantic one that's for sure, every table had a candle lit up. I am actually not the biggest cheesecake fan, I just find it strange that cheese in a cake form for dessert is strange. I actually prefer the ordinary grocery store made cheesecake. Now thats delicious! My order was pretty much diabetes waiting to happen - the cinnamon sugar French bread ($4.50) with their drink special, the marshmallow mocha (about $3).

Cinnamon sugar French bread

I love love love cinnamon, but I really did wish that they'd use a softer bread instead of having the cinnamon sugar sprinkled on top of a hard baguette. It was baguette and sprinkled with cinnamon and then toasted again. A little too much toasting for me. I had a pretty tough time cutting it into pieces to eat the thing. Michael ended up helping me out. The cinnamon sugar taste divine, exactly what cinnamon sugar should taste like - sweet with a hint of spice. Everything was perfect except the crusty old baguette.

As for my drink yum! it was chocolaty with extra whipped cream on top, could a gal ask for more?

Chocolate cheesecake

Michael got the chocolate cheesecake ($5.75) and ended up changing his mind about the whole crust thing. It really wasn't a big deal. He was surprised by the serving size, the portion was a bit bigger than  expected, but that's a good thing. As for the taste, thought the cheesecake was super soft and wasn't so sweet that he had to constantly hit his beverage, which was a plain ole cappuccino ($3). I had a little taste of his cake too. First of all, I thought it was strange that there was no base to the cake at all. I actually thought the cake was a little too sweet for my liking. Perhaps it's the cheesecake tartness.

I don't mind Cheesecake Etc maybe because I had such a great time with friends, but I think for a dessert restaurant its pretty mediocre. I think I am still up in the air about the place.


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Chef Hung Beef Noodle

Midterm? Check. Term paper? Check. Now on to the fun stuff! We decided to check out Chef Hung Beef Noodle at Aberdeen Center after I heard some of my friends mention about the place. The restaurant is on the second floor of the 4151 Hazelbridge Way mall.

The restaurant has always attracted me because they have a moving chopstick on a bowl as display in the front. There is a big window for people to see how they make their noodles, so you know everything is handmade. The restaurant was very spacious and I loved the big windows that looked down at the mall entrance. The restaurant also had a DYI menu similar to one of the restaurants we've gone in the past Deer Garden.

Chef Hung's Taiwanese-style chicken nuggets

When Michael and I go out for bubble tea one of his favourite dishes is to eat is to get taiwanese chicken nuggets. We decided to share Chef Hung's version, for one it tasted much more different from the usual bubble tea chicken nuggets. Although it was fried chicken, it didn't taste so greasy that it felt like our hearts were going to stop beating. It was lightly seasoned with salt, covered with a light, crispy bread coating. While it wasn't heavily seasoned, the chicken was very moist and juicy.

Flat noodles with ground pork sauce and veggies

I usually don't like noodles in soup because I feel the soup dilutes everything. I decided to pick the noodle with ground pork sauce option instead ($6.95). I loved the texture of the noodles, it was thick with a rich natural flavour of the dough. I loved the taste of fresh cut noodles. As for the ground pork sauce, I love this sauce in rice or in noodles, either way with this heaven made sauce it wonderful. It's like an Asian gravy and goes well with everything. It's also not as heavy as gravy but it has a strong soy sauce like taste. The noodles went super with the pork and sauce together, very smooth and with distinct flavour.

Michael had the beef brisket with five types of veggies in broth ($7.95). The broth itself was clear, not oily and perfectly suitable to sip on. He really liked the flat noodles, since they were made by hand, the noodles have a irregular shape and thickness. The flat noodles were wider than most noodles he was used to. There was plenty of beef brisket in the dish and enough veggies to give the bowl a little variety. His only complaint was that he wished there were more noodles.

Milk tea with grass jelly

We also decided to get bubble tea for the fun of it I got the oolong milk tea ($4.20) and Michael got the grass jelly roasted milk tea. Michael and I both agree that the bubble tea is less sweet than the usual kind we get at other places. It tasted more crisp and sat lighter in the stomach, which made the drink more enjoyable. I thought the drinks were a lovely balance to our meal.

We both think that Chef Hung, whoever he is, really knows his noodles! I for one can't wait to go back and try more of what his award winning menu has to offer!


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