G-MEN Ramen Shop

Tonkotsu Miso Ramen

Restaurant: G-MEN Ramen Shop

Cuisine: Japanese/Ramen
Date dined: July 20, 09

Area: Richmond
#1101-3778 Sexsmith Road
Price Range: $10-20

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 5
Service: 3
Ambiance: 3
Overall: 5
Additional comments:

• Specializes in big bowls of authentic Japanese ramen noodles
• Serves mini donburis and gyozas as appetizers
• Can't select richness of brother/fattiness of BBQ pork
• Small/limited menu
• Not homemade noodles
• Started by owners of Gyoza King Chicco Cafe & Naan Chu,
• Japanese servers, Japanese chefs, popular to Japanese diners
• Closed on Tuesday and Wednesday
• Line-ups, whole party must be in attendance in order to be seated
• Busy/crowded all the time
• Extra charge for green tea
• Free parking

**Recommendation: Tonkotsu Miso Ramen, Special ToriGara Shoyu Ramen, Wasabi Nori Ontama Mini Don, half cooked free-range egg (Ajitama)

It took a long time to try this restaurant because it's closed on Tuesday and Wednesday and there's usually a line-up. They make the broth on those days and they make enough to last the week because it's a very time consuming process to cook such a rich and flavourful broth. The broth is definitely not from a can, box, or powder.

Unlike the ever so popular Kintaro in Vancouver - you can't choose light, medium or rich stock, or fatty or lean pork - each ramen bowl kind of comes with its own standard broth. The Japanese "char siu" or bbq pork they serve is the standard fatty pork. G-MEN's standard broth is comparable to Kintaro's "Rich" broth. If you want something lighter go for the "Special ToriGara Shio Ramen" which is a light chicken based stock or try their summer special "Summer Hiyashi Ramen" - a cold noodle dish with all the fixings and a light shoyu aka "sweet soy sauce" based vinaigrette or dressing.

To see my G-Men Ramen Shop - Review #2

To see my G-Men Ramen Shop - Review #3

On the table:

• **Wasabi Nori Ontama Mini Don 6/6
  
• You must try this! It's mini, but still filling as an appetizer. I'd order it anyways because it's so good. The free range egg is AMAZING and completes this dish! It's half cooked and it takes a true chef to make it this perfectly.
• To eat: Mix everything together...break the egg and mix until everything is thoroughly combined. I like mine when the egg is in smaller pieces, but not bitty either. The rice becomes creamy with the help of the egg yolk and seaweed sauce - it's almost like a Japanese style Risotto. I love the hint of wasabi you get too. Salty with the wasabi kick!
• Note: For the photo, I accidentally started mixing it before I took the picture - so the presentation is not representable of what was originally served. My bad!...I was too excited to eat it! After you try it, you won't blame me.
• Gyoza 2/6
• Ok these are their "Famous Gyozas" - but to be honest I don't really know why. I thought they were quite standard. I was really excited to try them because they're
  "famous" and its on all the menus at each of their restaurants...so I was a bit disappointed.
• **Tonkotsu Miso Ramen 5/6
• The soup base is really good. It's comparable to the rich stock at Kintaro - the bowls are just as big. The toppings include bbq pork (fatty), seaweed, black wood ear mushroom (a crunchy mushroom that comes in thin black strips), and green onion. It is a hearty bowl of ramen - I do like it with an egg (Ajitama) and bamboo shoots, but the bamboo shoots isn't an option there. You need to pay extra if you want the egg too. The focus of this is definitely the pork broth.
• Summer Hiyashi Ramen 5/6
• This is great on a hot day and only available during the summer - so don't miss it, because its still worth a try. It's a cold ramen dish marinated in a sweet soy sauce known as "Shoyu" with all the fixings: julienne ham, half the soft boiled egg (ajitama), fried onions, seaweed, black wood ear mushrooms, cucumbers, and green onion.
• 
• I love the texture of this dish. Nice and crunchy, almost like a salad, but you still get full because of the noodles and the egg! The cucumber and dressing make it refreshing. Note: it's only half an egg though, so savour it! Mix everything together and make sure you have a bit of everything with every bite. They cut everything into the same size, which is how it should be done for a dish like this. It makes its easy to enjoy all the textures and the flavours match really well.
• Note: Before mixing this dish you may want to keep the fried onions separate or they get soggy quickly.

NU Restaurant + Lounge

Complimentary Mini Scone, Raspberry Jam & Hot Chocolate

Restaurant: Nu Restaurant + Lounge - Brunch review
Cuisine: West Coast/Pacfic Northwest/French
Last visited: June 6, 09
Area: Vancouver - Downtown
1661 Granville Street
Price Range: $20-30

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 5
Service: 5
Ambiance: 5
Overall: 5
Additional comments:

• Great view, contemporary and posh decor and furniture (futuristic/space-like/groovy feel)
• Relaxed atmosphere
• Creative dishes - West coast flavours, seasonal menus
• Housemade gelato & sorbets (seasonal/changing flavours)
• Complimentary mini scone with raspberry jam & hot chocolate for brunch starter
• Live Jazz music for Sunday brunch
• Free parking

**Recommendation: Dungeness crab benedict, Brioche French Toast

I've been to Nu a few times, twice for dinner and once for brunch (on my birthday). This entry will focus specifically on their brunch. I thought everything on the whole was really good. However they could have done a better balancing the sweet and savoury aspects of each dish.

On the table:

• Okanagan Apple & Pear Fritters with maple yogurt 4/6
  
• I liked this as a dessert. It had a cinnamon sugar sprinkle and a light batter which was nice, so I felt as though I was actually eating apples and pears rather than just batter. The yogurt was a nice complimen t too. Great presentation.
  
• Smoked salmon benedict 5/6
• This was really nice. The eggs were poached to a medium, if I was dining alone I would have requested it to be a bit slighter on the undercooked side. It came with a side salad.
• **Dungeness crab benedict 6/6
  
• This was one of my favourites. You get a nice amount of crab for what you pay for. A gourmet benedict
• Brie & Black Truffle Omelette 2/6
  
• Nothing too spectacular. I probably wouldn't order it again, although there was nothing wrong with it. Lacked a bit of flavour or felt like something was missing with the texture.
  
• **Brioche French toast 6/6
  
• This was another favourite! Brioche French toast served with caramelized pear wedges. A nice amount of pecans pieces - not crumbs - served on top! The maple butter and syrup was a great touch. Very rich and very moist. We enjoyed this as a dessert. Loved the texture of soft brioche with crunchy pecans. I think it would have been extra tasty is they spiced the pecans with one or two seasonings just to add another dimension in flavour.
• Tomato & red pepper frittata 2/6
• Good, but there's better on the menu. It came with a lentil and chick pea stew - tomato based stew. The stew was meh...but was a unique side to the frittata.
• Mimosa
• Standard, nice and refreshing with the fritters.
• Mint Syrup
  
• Nice complement to the fruit salad.

• Dessert:
• Chocolate souffle 4/6
  
• This isn't on the menu for the summer though. They replaced it with a flourless chocolate cake. This chocolate souffle was coked halfway so the inside was still gooey and lava like. Very rich and moist. It was served with a coconut gelato, which is a must otherwise its hard to finish it alone...it's really decadent.
• Frozen orange mousse 5/6
  
• Perfect for the summer! Nice, light and refreshing. Really unique dessert. Advice: with every bite of the frozen mousse make sure you dip it into the passion fruit coulis it comes with. That is really the part that tops off this frozen orange mousse. Really good with a Mimosa!
• Sorbets: They change all the time. Made in house too. About 7 flavours at a time. We had their red current (which was the fav), the pink grapefruit, and green apple. All were good, and REAL fruit flavoured!

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