G-MEN Ramen Shop - Review 2

Restaurant: G-MEN Ramen Shop - Review 2
Cuisine: Japanese/Ramen
Last dined: October 30, 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: 2
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 (only served at dinner), Wasabi Nori Ontama Mini Don, half cooked free-range egg (Ajitama), Special ToriGara Shoyu Ramen

This was my second time at G-Men Ramen shop and this time I came for lunch. It was more busy this time and they changed the wait system. It's now basically self-service and you write your name on the clip board hanging outside the door and wait until your name is called. This place is getting ever so popular and if you're not there earlier you can guarantee a 15-20min wait. It's fine for small groups and don't expect to stay long because there's a constant line-up at the door. Nonetheless the food was once again worth the wait, and I'll still go back.

To see my G-Men Ramen Shop - Review #1

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

On the table:

• Mentai Mayo Mini Don 4/6
• Salted cod roe with mayo on rice $4.50
• Their mini dons are mini, but they're still very filling as an appetizer. I really like these. One of the few items where the dish looked better than the picture. I like their wasabi nori mini don better, but this one is still very good.
  
• This one is perhaps more traditional Japanese than the other one.
• The orange ball you see is the salted cod roe. It's almost like masago, but even smaller and the texture isn't crunchy. It's more soft and bitty and the flavour is more mild than masago - it's not as salty or strong.
• It was quite rich and creamy and the mayo they use is a Japanese mayo mixed with something else which I'm not sure of. Japanese mayo is made with apple cider and it's a lot more flavourful than American mayo. It's not as oil based too. I'm not sure what they mix it with here, but whatever it is, it works.
• They give you a lot and you mix all the ingredients together before you eat it.
• I loved the texture of this dish. The seaweed melts down from the hot Japanese rice and the mayo makes it all creamy. It can be thought of as the Japanese version of risotto...almost. The rice is nice and sticky and there's a few salty flavours going on which makes the dish delicious! It's not fishy tasting either. It's simple and so good.
• 
• Not how it was served, but someone started on it already =/

• **Special ToriGara Shoyu Ramen 5.5/6
• Authentic light "torigara" chicken soup thin noodle seasoned with housemade shoyu flavour, topped with BBQ pork, half ajitama (egg), yuzu (citrus Japanese fruit similar to tangerine), seaweed, black wood ear mushroom and green onion. $8.50

• This is pretty delicious! This is a soy based soup and it's sweeter and more flavourful than the other ramen bowl they offer at lunch - the ToriGara Shio Ramen. Unlike Kintaro's you can't select the richness of your broth, or the fattiness of your BBQ pork; but I think this Shoyu broth in particular tastes better than Kintaro's.
• 
• The broth is a dark colour and it's more like pork/beef broth. It made the ToriGara Shio Ramen taste like chicken broth.
  
• 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.
• I love the textures of all the toppings here and they give you a decent amount.
  
• 
• Special ToriGara Shio Ramen 3.5/6
  
• Authentic light "torigara" chicken soup thin noodle seasoned with shio (salt) flavour, topped with BBQ pork, half ajitama (egg), yuzu (citrus Japanese fruit similar to tangerine), seaweed, black wood ear mushroom and green onion. $8.50

• This was the other option for a ramen and soup bowl at lunch. I was able to compare the broths side by side and the colour and taste is quite different.
• 
• This one was definitely saltier and lighter in colour. It wasn't sweet and the flavour was more one dimensional. It wasn't bland, but just not as rich or strong as the Shoyo ramen bowl. Neither of the broths were oily but this one was clearer and more light.
• I liked adding the minced garlic condiment to the Shio ramen bowl. I didn't need it for the Shoyu ramen bowl because it would have been overpowering and you would have lost the natural flavour of their homemade broth. However for the Shio ramen it added another layer of flavour as well as a little garlic spice that helped enhance the soup base.
  

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.