The Ramenman opened last year but recently I’ve been seeing tons of posts on this restaurant. Since I’m always on the lookout for good ramen, I suggested to S we give it a try. It’s literally on the other side of Robson from Marutama.
You can watch the chefs in action by sitting right at the bar table. The other tables are communal tables with a few tables for four. It wasn’t very busy on a Friday night.
Water is self serve and comes in these glass bottles.
Chicken Ramen
Ramenman focusses mainly on chicken ramen with variations to it such as the clam, stew, and of course the original. S decided to go with the regular Chicken Broth which comes with your choice of pork or chicken or a mix, bamboo shoots, green onion oil, green onions, corn, garlic , ramen egg and black pepper. S chose pork and their pork char shiu is quite different as it is cooked with a sous-vide method. That’s why you’ll notice it is pink in colour, but it’s actually cooked thoroughly. I loved their meat as it is so soft! The chicken broth also had a lot of depth and was velvety smooth.
Vegetarian Ramen
For myself, I heard that the Vegetarian Ramen was really good so gave it a try and made it non-vegetarian by adding pork char-siu. I usually choose meat options if available, but this vegetarian broth blew my mind. Yes, it lacked the richness of what a pork broth would have, but the vegetarian broth was still very flavourful of shiitake mushrooms and kombu and was not too salty. It came with spinach, corn, bamboo shoots, green onion, cabbage, chili pepper, black pepper and some crispy lotus chips.
As for the noodles, they are the straight kind and were cooked to an al dente.
The vegetarian broth also comes with a 63 degree egg and upon cutting into the egg, the yolk just spilled out. So good!
Overall, I was very impressed with The Ramenman even though they don’t offer my favourite pork based broth. I highly suggest trying the vegetarian broth and adding the pork char-siu. It may not be your traditional ramen with the sous-vide technique, but is definitely worth trying.
Pros:
– Flavourful broths without being too salty
– Sous-vide pork is tender and moist
Cons:
– Not for you if you’re looking for traditional ramen
Price Range: $10-15/person
1: Terrible 2: Poor 3: Average 4: Good 5: Excellent
Food:4 Service: 3 Ambiance: 3 Parking: 3 Overall: 4