CLOSED
A month ago, Chow Times hosted an event. A ramen event to be specific. These days, Ben & Suanne are hosting and setting up events left and right it’s amazing, it’s like Ben doesn’t have a real day job.
This specific event was an exclusive for Chow Times readers and a special menu worth $21 would be offered at $5.
Miki was a little difficult to find for a couple reasons, the street view on Google, as you’ll see below, was not updated as it’s a newish restaurant, the restaurant front space doesn’t occupy much space and there are trees blocking the view! If you are heading East along Kingsway, it’s JUST after Royal Oak Ave.
Small and with a unconventional triangle seating layout due to the shape and size of the building, the owners, Ben & Karen, have done their best to maximize every inch of space inside, and managed to fit 34 of us in for this event.
In attendance were two different kinds of foodies, those who are silent, who probably read or even post on Chow.com, and the vocal ones, such as Ed of EdEdition, TS&JS of eatingclub vancouver and Wendy of Eat ‘n About.
Below is the menu we were given. All this for $5, thanks to Chow Times!
Before the food started to come out, they warned us that because they are not a catering service and thus were not used to pumping out 34 orders at the same time, so there would be some delay. There was only 3 of them working the kitchen as well.
First was a small appetizer, edamame and seaweed salad with soy glaze drizzle, .
Before the event, we were also told that they would be rolling out a new bbq item, beef tongue. However..I feel they sliced it way too thin to really capture the delicious flavours that one desires to taste when eating tongue. The other items on the plate were fine, although served cold, but they can’t be faulted too much here as they had to cook, plate, and serve with only 3 in the kitchen.
L-R, Chicken, Pork, Beef Tongue, Green Beans, Tofu & bonito flakes and grated daikon and ginger in the background.
Shoyu Ramen – Where’s my toppings? I’m not used to not only a tiny amount of toppings but also missing toppings on my ramen! Where’s the corn? Egg? Bean sprouts? Though I suppose I shouldn’t be too picky here, they are offering full servings at only $5/pp.. that’s only $170 total for the night. I thought the shoyu had a good balance of saltiness and creamery from the pork broth, and the noodles were done well. I actually finished all of my soup because it was good, but I shied away from the miso and shio because I found them both equally too salty for my taste.
Sorry, but is strawberry coulis sauce just a fancy name for Nesquik strawberry sundae topping? I’m just being honest and perhaps a bit blunt here, but what’s the point of giving us a dessert like this for a Japanese restaurant/ramen place? Serve us something a little more in lines with the cuisine you represent, such as some matcha green tea ice cream!
I have not ventured far from the ramen epicentre of Vancouver (Robson & Denman) and I really don’t see much reason to if you’re looking for quality and quantity, in various ratios to each other, of course. There are places in Richmond, Burnaby, Coquitlam, but those are really only temporary fixes for your ramen craving. Go downtown, you will and should not be disappointed.
