Isshin Ramen

I hadn't seen my bestie Tes and her main man Marky in over a year and, damn it, I missed them. We did what we did best: ramen! Isshin ramen is on many of Toronto's best ramen lists. Hello. AND hello. The ramen quest continues...in Toronto!!! Hey, a ramen quest is a ramen quest!

We went there during prime lunch time, last Saturday, at around 1PM. It was FUUULL. Fortunately for us, the turn over is very high. I loves me a good turnover. That sounds weird, but I'm sticking to it. That's actually what I put on my Tinder account to get all the ladies: 'I likes me a good turnover'. And I get them ALL. I'm totes kidding, unfortunately. Or fortunately?

 

Moving on. The place is cute, with small tables, very close to one another. An open kitchen at the front made for a nice welcome: all those smells and kitchen hustle and bustle. Just what I like! A big painting of a dragon on the long wall completed the décor of the place.

We were there for the ramen, but we wanted a little somethin' somehtin' extra, too! We started with Takoyaki. Or deep fried octopus balls. Hehe, octopus balls. Balls. I shall stop being 12. It was supes hot. The way every hot dish is supposed to be. Not cold, not luke warm, hot. Hot god damn it! Can you tell I have a thing with my dishes' temperature? I dso. I HATE it when the actual plate is cold and I LOATHE it when something that is supposed to be a certain temp, is not that temp. Aaaaaanyway, moving on! Those were little balls of heaven. Heaven in a ball. Mmmm! They were meaty and moist and all that good shtuff (the h ain't a mistake, people).

Pork gyoza. I loves me a good gyoza. Or dumpling if you prefer. They were marvelously crispy and juicy. OK, juicy enough. No one likes a dumpling burn. Dipped in a nice little sauce that screamed umami, they were even bets (better... no I will not stop abbreviating words)!

And now, la pièce de résistance: el ramen! They have a bunch of different types of ramen and they ALL look so awesome! It looked soooo good!!! I had the miso ramen. As soon as it hit the table, I felt my mouth watering. The broth was on the thicker side, which is what I love in my ramen. I had ordered extras like a marinated egg and nori: the nori is, well, nori (always good), and the egg was right on par. I gots to try making my own marinated eggs. Yaassss!!! The noodles were a bit meh. I mean, they were not not good, but I found them way too large and there were too many in my bowl. They serve up different types of noodles (which, by the way, are made specifically for Isshin Ramen by a Japanese noodle manufacturer, and delivered every other day) in different ramen. I just felt like my noodles, since they were larger, were heavier and I got full way quicker than I should've. The meat was supes taste and just fatty enough. I just wish there would've been more of it. I want more of everything, god damn it! Oh, except noodles. Less noodles please.

Service was quick and efficient. You know what I'm gonna say: Asian restos have the quickest and the most efficient service. ALL. The. Damn. Time. They checked up on us and they refilled our water. No fuss no muss.

And now, the scores!

Food: 8.5
Service: 8.5

I really enjoyed this ramexperience (change approved!), but there are SO many ramen restos in Toronto!! I think it's safe to say I'll go to another one before I go back to this one.

 

Noren

Noren was, wait for it, you guessed it, on ma list! Easter weekend, since my brother was in Toronto, my mom was in freaking Greece and my dad was in the Dominican Republic, my sister-in-law Chris and I decided to not let this bring us down and celebrate the right way: by going out to a restaurant. I gave her three choices and when she chose Noren, I gotta say, I would've chosen one of the two other restaurants first (Butterblume or Maison de mademoiselle dumpling).

Well, turns out Chris was totes right here. I ended up being uber happy with her choice. The place itself is super duper small. Think, the size of a closet. Or maybe a shoe box. Or perhaps a matchbox. And I've gone and exaggerated again. But it's oh so kawaii! That means cute in Japanese btw. Ya, I'm totes fluent. OK, I'm kidding. It holds 10 seats, including some at the window, with a marble counter and a small ass kitchen. You know, those small ASS kitchens? Mmmmright. It had high ceilings, including one wall dedicated to the menu on a black board. Also, some knick knacks/dishes/Japanese thangs on some shelves behind the counter. Very cute place :)

They brought the whole 'small menu' idea to a whole other level.  Two choices on the menu plus the dish of the week and some sides. Oh, and one dessert, of course. I LOVE small menus. I. LOVE. THEM.

Takoyaki. Or octopus balls. Hehehe: octopus balls. They made this with love, man. Love. The couple were both taking turns at the hot plate, turning them balls, makin' em perfect and shiz. You could choose your sauce and we chose sumthin yummy: ponzu. Ponzu is citrusy and, as previously mentioned, yummy. The balls were a bit too doughy for my taste but only slightly. I understand why the Japanese eat this as a late night-during/after drinking street food. The ponzu sauce was perfect on there and it was great to have something citrusy to balance out the fried stuff. The octopus was perfect, and not, you know, squishy. Bah: squishy octopus.

Okonomiyaki: omelet with cabbage, pork OR shiitake, okonomi sauce, seaweed, mayo, bonito flakes and ginger. We ordered it with pork. We don't believe we had any pork in there. But, you know, who CARES right now, because the rest of it was just, pretty much one of the best damn omelet I've ever had. And I'm serious. Both Chris and I thought it, and both our mouths went 'mmm'. Un vrai coup de coeur! The cabbage was still a bit crispy and not too, how can I explain it, cabbage-y?! The bonito flakes were just wow, adding umami to the dish. The okonomi sauce (ketchup, Worcestershire, honey, soy sauce) tasted almost like unagi sauce. It was nice and thick and oh-so-tasty. I could have eaten at least two of this moist, very flavourful  piece of amazingness.

The matcha financier and vanilla ice cream. Matcha WHAAAAT? They had us at 'mat'...or something clever. I was quite disappointed to know that this really great tasting vanilla ice cream wasn't home made. Especially when they told us that they usually make it. Damn it!!! The thing with financiers is that half the time they are too dry. To me, anyway. I need a MOIST financier and I got it here! There was just a hint of matcha and, although that was nice, I would've liked more! I know it's an acquired taste but hey, if you haven't acquired that taste, dson't dso Japanese!

Service was great throughout. Uber friendly staff and smiles all around. I believe the waitress that came in was one of the owner's sister. It's all in the family! We got water refills and the food came in a timely manner. It was just fun looking at them cook, pretty much right in FRONT of us.

And now, the scores!

Food: 8.5
Service: 9

You better believe I'm going back! 

Misoya

My token Asian friend Jer wanted to bring me to Misoya, so I could forget about Kinton Ramen. In hindsight, he should just have brought me back to Yokato Yokabai, but this one was closer :p

Misoya is located in a hole in the wall, on Bishop street. Seriously, you can still see dem rocks from the stone age in there. OK, I'm sure it was a bit after that. The resto is in a basement and when you enter, you get hit by a wave of not so lovely smelling cleaning products. Bah. For a second, I didn't see how I was going to eat in there. But obviously, I got over it.

The place is quite small, with 32 seats. There's no real decor: some diner type lookin' chairs alongside some Asian 'art', bricks, mirrors and wood. It's somewhat of a melting pot. Ya, I'm going with that. 

We started off with the takoyaki: or fried ball of octopus! Fried? Yes! Octopus? Used to be no but now, yes! Bonito flakes on top? Uhuh!!! It tasted like... fried stuff. Hahaha. Seriously... having not known what i was eating, I would not have guessed octopus! But it was a tasty, soft ball of goodness. Especially with a bit of mayo and bonito flakes to give more flavor to the bite!

Le ramen. Komemiso cha-shu ramen to be exact. It was their 'recommendation' on the menu and Jer's aa well, for my first time at Misoya. This was a miso-style ramen from the region of Hokkaido in Japan, located in the northern part of the country, which explains the ever comforting potatoes in there. The meat was pork and cha-shu basically means that it is rolled into a log and then braised at a low temperature (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Char_siu#chashu). It was double the meat, with cha-shu AND ground pork. I guess those northern folk really needed that extra fat! Hihihi. The ground pork was really good and full of that fatty flavorful goodness, but I found the cha-shu a bit on the dry side, although very tasteful as well. Miso based broth is my fave style of broth when it comes to ramen but this one was really salty. Like, really. Like, I could not have eaten this in a million years if I had a hint of a heart issue. A tiny little hint. The fermented bamboo shoots fit well in there but there was still  a little taste that I'm not uber fond of. I can't explain it. They weren't bad, but, for me, they weren't awesome either. Green onions always go well with ramen and they were there to add another layer of flavor and a nice little tang. Potatoes were way too much for me, and until Jer explained to me about the region and what have you, I was actually very clueless as to why I had potatoes in my ramen. Hey, you learn something every day! The noodles were thick and just rightly seasoned for my taste.

Service was Asian. Hahaha. I don't mean to be asianist here, but let's face it, that's the way they do things: quickly and efficiently. Hey, why am feeling bad here, this is a great complement! Quick like a cat! Anyhoot, water was on our table in 2 seconds and our dishes also arrived very quickly. I wouldn't expect anything less!

And now, the scores!

Food: 6.5
Service: 8

I'm totes going to try another ramen place before going back to this 'clean-smelling' restaurant!