This ramen place's claim to fame is that it was voted Japan's best ramen restaurant. Most Vancouver ramen lovers might be disappointed that they use tsukemen noodles instead of the familiar yellow ramen noodles. They use different kinds of broth from traditional pork, to chicken and even prawn this season. I believe this may even be imported frozen from Japan. The broth is thick, creamy and has a simple natural taste from boiling the right natural ingredients rather than using flavorings and spices. I really liked the chicken broth and traditional chashu pork. But the chashu chicken was excellent and great for people who don't eat pork. The rosu or pork tenderloin was so tasty and tender, I even had it as a side dish. The tsukemen noodles were just a bit over al dente giving a wonderful texture. Reasonable prices for the quality.
Arrived early to beat the crowds so we were seated fairly quickly. I ordered the classic tsukemen and smoked duck. Other at my table had a ramen, which I was told was kind of bland. And another had the spot prawn special. While it was very tasty, he felt sick later that evening. The different sliced meats were a bit underwhelming. One was chicken breast which was soft.. but it was just plain chicken breast. One piece tasted exactly like plain ham, and the final piece of meat was extremely salty. For the price of just under $20 before taxes I was expecting more. For 4 bowls and a smoked duck for all of us to share, the final bill was $80. A bit steep for ramen.
Authentic ramen straight from Japan. The broth was incredibly creamy and rich while the ramen noodles had a great chew and bounce to them. We ordered a chasu bowl on the side as well. Will definitely come back for their tsukemen and seasonal ramen.
broth was good but wasn’t served hot enough - you can enjoy about half the meat before the broth goes from hot to warm, the rest you’re dipping very cold noodles/meat into broth that isn’t hot enough to even remotely reheat(?) your foodother than that, the chicken balls in the broth is very good and the nori is an extremely good touch to the overall meal
We went today for Friday lunch. We knew they opened at 1130am so arrived a bit early. There was a lineup of 5 people in front of the window and the remainder of the line was in front of them to not block the other entrance ways or sidewalk.(see picture)After about a minute in line, someone came out and got our name, party number and said to scan the menu on the front window to get your order ready. A few minutes later she took our order. Everything is queued and the lineups are organized. I noticed they were watching from the window the people lining up and coming out to explain what was happening.This was all before they opened at 1130. They started walking people in slowly and seating them. It's quite a bit bigger inside I would guess they sat 30 people in the first sitting.The seating and ambience was nice we were all separated by 2 seats because I guess it wasn't that busy.Our order came in about 10minutes and was nicely presented. They asked if we had tried tsukemen and they explained it to my work colleague. There are also signs, a menu qr code and cutlery in front of you. They came and checked twice on us and removed the plates after we asked for the bill. Default tip setting was 18%, I guess that's normal now in Vancouver.Noodles were al dente and broth was thick and rich. I had no issues with it getting cold and it does say to eat it within 15min. Adding the dashi broth that is available per seating helps warm it up and dilute the broth to a pleasant drinking broth. I'm not sure why people are so critical of things but it was an acceptable experience I'm not sure why you would expect 5 star service everywhere because you are an influencer.Enjoy the food and your company.
At the first entrance, I wanna think that it is Deep seafood smell, but really smells like public washroom with strong ammonia.Servers are not trained well,( an old lady sit beside me and she asked about fish broth, and the server couldn’t explain it. So I explained for her). Never check our table that food is ok. They just double checked when they get payment.Tsukemen is not too good as I expected for over years.Noodle was too thick, dry. Soup was too much thick. I could not even get it with the spoon.Soup is to mild to taste with their thick noodle.Overall, I dont think I will go back.
一燈(ITTO) is one of the most famous ramen restaurant in Japan. I tried all of their ramen and they are all tasty and same quality in Japan too. I’m glad that there’s Tsukemen which has not many restaurant in Canada. My friend was surprised that Tsukemen’s noodle is cold but it’s how it is. I loved their Noko Gyokai ramen which has seafood flavor broth. I usually eat pork broth soup but I’m happy that I can eat seafood broth in ITTO. I wanna try their Lobster ramen(I heard it’s not in everyday and limited!)And also I highly recommend Japanese tea(LUPICIA) which is popular in Japan and my favorite!
Worth a wait for my first ever Tsukemen experience. Chicken chashu was smooth and soft, the noodles were thicc and delish. The fish broth helped heat the soup up time to time, so the dippings could be slightly warm. Music and ambiance were soothing and relaxing.
The tsukyemen is overall good and authentic.Honestly, it is not easy to find a good tsukyemen.But it does have room for improvement. I had the same thing before in another country and the chicken texture was so amazing because they slow cook it. It was just wow but here it was nothing like that. The chicken is still good but just not wow.Every components in the tsukyemen tasted nice on its own. The downfall of the tsukyemen is just the temperature of the broth. Probably because there was not too much broth provided so it got cold easily, especially when the ramen is cold.The tsukyemen looks small but once you finished everything and add the soup, it is actually very filling because the broth is heavy.Overall, I would definitely still come back. If all the things are improved, definitely would be a better experience.The staff was also very nice and explained how to have tsukyemen if you never had before. I guess just because of the queue, the rating was quite low. New opening may take some time to get smooth.
It was our first time trying tsukemen. It was delicious. The line up wasn’t too bad. We were seated in about 10 mins.