Santouka Ramen Comes To Toronto

Santouka is doing ramen right in Toronto. Yes!

Things have been busy with NaNoWriMo going on - I apologize for the lack of blog posts this month! I did, however, want to say a few words about Santouka Ramen, the new shop that soft-opened last week on Dundas East. A friend of mine works here and she recommended it very highly, so I made an effort to check the place out before word had gotten around too much. I wasn't even thinking about writing a review on it, so I never stopped to take any photos, but after we walked out of the shop, I began jotting down notes -ah, blogging life! It looks like I was just in time, too - in the week since I visited, at least a dozen food bloggers have gotten to Santouka and the lines are apparently around the block. Their grand opening is today, and I can guarantee that it's going to be quite a lot harder to get in there without a wait after this.

The shop is just a little east of Yonge-Dundas Square, and initially I imagined that it would be competing with Kenzo and possibly Kinton for the customers in the area, but it looks like that isn't the end - buzz is starting to get around for a new shop on Gerrard called Raijin (also specializing in tonkotsu ramen) and of course Sansotei (which I haven't been to yet) is doing quite well for itself. A far cry from when I first moved to Toronto and only had Kenzo and Ajisen to choose between - and that was barely a year and a half ago!

Santouka looks to be a fierce competitor, though - they are a branch of a chain that has been operating in Hokkaido since 1988, whose owner was apparently inspired by the famous ramen film Tampopo. Apparently, there was a branch right in my town in Japan, at a shopping centre I visited often, but I wasn't nearly as much of a ramen fiend then as when I returned to Canada and started missing Japanese food! The fact that Santouka is Japanese-run is really encouraging (not knocking you, Ajisen, but those Chinese chopsticks are awful to eat noodles with) because I know Toronto is inching more and more toward authentic Japanese food. They have the same menu in all their overseas shops - the first Canadian branch was in Vancouver.  

Toronto's version of Santouka appears to be very close to the original as well, of course. My shio ramen (salt-broth) came topped with menma (bamboo shoots), kikurage (jelly ear mushrooms), char-siu pork, naruto, and a single umeboshi - pickled plum. The umeboshi came as a bit of a surprise to me, as I'd never seen one topping off a bowl of ramen before. Many of the "usual" toppings you'll find at local ramen places (corn, egg, etc) should be ordered separately at Santouka, as each type of ramen has its own set toppings. The shio is the only broth that comes with an umeboshi.

According to Santouka's website, they simmer
their broth for 20 hours!

Notably, Hakodate is famous for its shio ramen (conversely, Hokkaido ramen is usually known for miso-based soups topped with sweetcorn), and usually shio is a clear, light soup that is chicken or vegetable-based, so this is what I originally expected, having not done my research on Santouka before turning up there! However, Santouka's broth most definitely was pork-flavoured, and when I asked, my server told me that all of their broths were actually tonkotsu. Their specialty is a blend of tonkotsu with the other three traditional types - not quite representative of Hakodate ramen, nor Hokkaido ramen, but their own experimentation. The four types of broths available at the Toronto location were shio, shoyu (soy sauce), miso and kara (spicy), which covers all the traditional types of ramen available. (Sadly, tomato ramen doesn't look to be going mainstream anytime soon!)

I found my bowl very hearty, but a tad too salty in comparison to other broths I've enjoyed - even for salt-broth ramen, it was a bit overwhelming for me. I hoped it was an isolated incident, but other reviews seem to indicate that this is characteristic of their recipes. My companion, enjoying the kara miso version, did not have the same complaint. That is not to say that I didn't enjoy it - it was excellent, and the size of the meal was pretty much perfect, but I might go for a different type of broth next time. And definitely their specialty, tokusen toroniku - wish I'd given this a shot the first time!

I also ordered as part of the set menu, which meant that I also received a rice bowl, pickles and egg on the side. The egg is my favourite part of a ramen meal, so this was an obvious choice for me, and I went with the char-siu donburi; succulent char-siu and greens atop a bed of rice. The egg was more hard-boiled than soft - it was even a little bit cold, but after spending a few minutes in my soup, it was delicious. The taste was perfect. Somehow I even ended up with two eggs - I think I have one of the kind serving staff to thank for that!

It's a real relief to see the ramen competition increasing in Toronto, and Santouka is doing it absolutely right. The atmosphere of the shop is perfect - I loved the wooden bench seats. The food was excellent and the staff friendly and prompt. I had a nice conversation with our server, who was from Kyushu - now there's some quality ramen! My only issues were the price (a little steep, but that's my complaint about just about every Japanese restaurant in this city except Okonomi House) and the amount of seating. The capacity is definitely going to be an issue for this shop, as there weren't nearly enough seats, and even though we walked in without a wait at 4:30 on a day before the opening had really been made public, by the time we left the line was out the door. It's going to be awhile before you have any hope of slipping into any downtown core ramen restaurant without a wait, though - be patient, because when that bowl of steaming noodles is set in front of you, it's all going to be worth it!

Tokyo Grill's Hiyashi Chuka

Last week I was in downtown Toronto for some errand-ing and I thought I'd pop over to Tokyo Grill and grab something quick to eat. This homestyle restaurant is a great, authentic little spot, that I don't eat at often enough because it's just too close to my favourite Japanese restaurant, Okonomi House. (Should probably write up a review of them sometime!) But in the blistering heat, it really wasn't an okonomiyaki kind of day, so off to Tokyo Grill I went, in search of something lighter.

And I was not disappointed.

Hiyashi chuka! Yes!

I don't think I've mentioned before how indispensable hiyashi chuka was in getting me through those hot Osaka summers. When it was pushing 30 degrees Celsius for days on end, I had no motivation whatsoever to eat. Cooking in my tiny, un-air-conditioned kitchen was a nightmare and while I did occasionally put my poor bentou-making skills to use, lunches were very often forfeited on the worst days. Until I discovered hiyashi chuka, that is - a lovely Chinese-style cold noodle dish, with strips of ham or chicken, bean sprouts, slices of egg and julienned cucumber mixed together with a sweet vinegar-sesame dressing. There were times when I ate hiyashi chuka at lunch for days on end. I craved it.

And now, here it is, at Tokyo Grill in Toronto!

I'll admit, the price was a huge turnoff. $11.99 is on the expensive side when you've been kicking ¥400 Lawson lunches for as long as I had. When the dish came, I immediately knew why the price was so high - this plate of noodles was enormous. It was certainly more than I could finish myself, even after an afternoon yoga class and walking all the way to their location near Wellesley from Broadview Station. On top of that, it was too much food to be comfortable for a summer lunch - one of the things I loved this dish for. If it were up to me, a half-plate at half the price would have been perfect.

I'm told that Ajisen Ramen also does hiyashi chuka, though I haven't tried their version yet. I'll be sure to do that soon. As to whether I would recommend this, I would - the ingredients were great, the dressing tasted perfect, and the noodles (while I was surprised to find them white) were just the right consistency. My only advice to you would be to come with a very big appetite, or bring a friend!

Taiyou no Tomato Ramen Recipe

I developed an affinity for a particular ramen shop in Shinjuku; a type that is quite difficult to find elsewhere - tomato ramen.

Tomato Cheese Ramen

You may have heard of tomato nabe, but ramen is a much rarer thing.

The restaurant in question is called Taiyou no Tomato Men (Men meaning 'noodles'), and it's located on the food court floor of the Mylord building in Shinjuku, part of Shinjuku Station. After just one taste I knew I had to recreate this at home, lest I leave Tokyo and never be able to eat it again. Well, as it turned out, it's a small chain and they have an Osaka location - in fact, a huge number of shops have opened since then! - but I still returned to Shinjuku with my friend Gen-chan to get her help in figuring out the ingredients (and also to hook another person on Taiyou no Tomato, natch).

Between the two of us and the Taiyou website for some ingredient tips, we came up with the following easy recipe that you can use to make your own tomato ramen at home!

Taiyou no Tomato Ramen

Serves 4 

Ingredients
4 portions fresh/frozen ramen noodles (cooked, 3-5 minutes)
(please avoid freeze-dried 'Mr. Noodle'-types here; if you must use pantry noodles, use Chinese chow mein noodles or angel hair pasta)
1 tsp olive oil
1 large (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes or tomato sauce*
2 cloves garlic
Handful of baby spinach leaves or mizuna, if available
3 cups chicken stock*
2 chicken thighs, cubed or sliced
1 celery stalk or small amount of bok choy (if desired)**

1 tsp basil
1 tbsp onion powder/dried onion

Toppings
8 tbsp fresh grated parmesan (if no fresh is available, substitute shredded mozzarella cheese - you want it to melt)
chili oil, to taste
red pepper flakes, to taste (optional)**
salt & pepper, to taste (optional)**

Directions
Sautee garlic, tomatoes and spinach in olive oil. Add the stock, chicken and greens, then seasonings, and simmer for 20 minutes. If you prefer your soup a little thinner, add more chicken stock or water.
Cook the noodles in a separate pot and serve into 4 bowls. Add soup, then cheese on top and allow cheese to melt into the soup. Eat with chopsticks and a ramen spoon if available.

If there are leftovers, you can use the soup stock, cheese and some bread crumbs over rice in a buttered dish, and bake it for a delicious rice casserole!

This recipe was adapted from a tomato nabe recipe to closely resemble Taiyo no Tomato’s Tomato Cheese Ramen dish. Marked differences are:
*Taiyo Tomato broth uses a stock made of a pork/chicken/salt mixture
*Taiyo uses tomato sauce rather than diced tomatoes
*Taiyo does not use the ingredients marked by double asterisks
*The website cites 小松菜 (mizuna) but the leafy vegetable at the restaurant appeared to be spinach

Taiyou no Tomato menu selection

Taiyou's Cheese Ramen Official Ingredient List:
原材料： ナチュラルチーズ (natural cheese), 鶏もも肉 (chicken thigh), 小松菜 (mizuna)
【国産】  ：無農薬サラダ油 (organic salad oil), にんにく (garlic), バジル (basil), 塩タレ (salt dripping?), 鶏のパイタンスープ (chicken ‘paitan soup’), トマトソース (tomato sauce), チャーシューのタレ (char-siu [roast pork] drippings), 豆乳麺 (soy noodles)

Eggplant Variation (remove basil, cheese and mizuna):
なす (eggplant, sliced), 江戸菜 (edona - Japanese mustard spinach) 根深ねぎ (green onion, finely chopped)

Egg Variation (remove basil & cheese)
鶏卵 (raw egg, scrambled and stirred into the soup at the very end), 江戸菜 (edona), 黒こしょう (black pepper)


The restaurant also sells a make-at-home version of their dish, Eggplant & Vegetable Ramen. It includes some extra ingredients you may want to try with the recipe above. Translation is mine, so if you have any corrections, please leave a comment:

Sautee garlic, eggplant, green pepper and zucchini in olive oil, add a dash of salt & pepper. Add the soup broth and bring to a boil, then simmer 10 minutes before adding noodles and chopped scallions.太陽のなす野菜麺
    オリーブオイルでにんじん、なす、ピーマン、ズッキーニを炒め、塩・コショウで少々。十分に火が通ったら、スープの素とお湯を加える。ひと煮立ちさせたら、ゆでた麺と合わせ、きざんだ長ネギを添えてできあがり！