A few months ago, yet another ramen place opened in Vancouver. Ramen Gojiro wasn't in the usual ramen hotbed of the Denman/Robson area. As with most new ramen places, there are lineups down the street. This was no different. Fortunately, Sean arrived early enough to beat the crowd and when Sherman and I showed up, our table was ready.This is the Basic Bakamori, (with Chashu) but there is nothing basic about this gigantic bowl of noodles. The broth is a blend of pork and chicken, and their slightly thicker than usual noodles are made in house. Essentially, bakamori just means "more", and as their menu says, it's more meat, more noodles...more everything!
The Chashu was sliced quite generously, and wasn't overly fatty. What surprised me, despite the picture on the menu was the abundance of bean sprouts! I was also overwhelmed at the size of the bowl, almost toppling out of the bowl. The broth had a sweet flavour, but it was overpowered by the garlic topping. It really was just too much.
Once you manage to get to the ramen itself, they were cooked just to my liking. Since the noodles seemed a bit thicker, it was chewy yet tender. This is the normal sized Spicy Chashu. As you can see, the chili in the broth is apparent and there is considerably less bean sprouts as well. However, it was still pretty garlicky and seemed to overpower the spiciness that the could have been there. There is heat, for sure, but not overly so. The egg was cooked to a nice soft boil, and the yolk helped to thicken the soup. This is the Spicy Karaage, with the same soup with as the Chashu one, just replaced with Karaage. I'm not a huge fan of crispy food served in soup, sort of like cripsy BBQ Duck in noodle soup. I always request it on the side. I like my cripsy food to stay crunchy, for as long as possible. However, once it arrives, if you take the chicken out, you might just be okay. Or, you can order the Chicken Karaage as a side order, which is what we did. I found it just a touch oily and he batter was very crispy. It was a bit bland and could have benefited from a heavier hand with the seasoning. The chicken was tender and juicy, and makes a nice side dish. Our other side dish was the Gyoza. These were decent but actually oilier than the karaage. It was juicy and had a nice crispy skin. Nothing spectacular, pretty average but with a good filling to wrapper ratio.
This is the Basic Bakamori, (with Chashu) but there is nothing basic about this gigantic bowl of noodles. The broth is a blend of pork and chicken, and their slightly thicker than usual noodles are made in house. Essentially, bakamori just means "more", and as their menu says, it's more meat, more noodles...more everything!
This is the normal sized Spicy Chashu. As you can see, the chili in the broth is apparent and there is considerably less bean sprouts as well. However, it was still pretty garlicky and seemed to overpower the spiciness that the could have been there. There is heat, for sure, but not overly so. The egg was cooked to a nice soft boil, and the yolk helped to thicken the soup.
This is the Spicy Karaage, with the same soup with as the Chashu one, just replaced with Karaage. I'm not a huge fan of crispy food served in soup, sort of like cripsy BBQ Duck in noodle soup. I always request it on the side. I like my cripsy food to stay crunchy, for as long as possible. However, once it arrives, if you take the chicken out, you might just be okay.
Or, you can order the Chicken Karaage as a side order, which is what we did. I found it just a touch oily and he batter was very crispy. It was a bit bland and could have benefited from a heavier hand with the seasoning. The chicken was tender and juicy, and makes a nice side dish.
Our other side dish was the Gyoza. These were decent but actually oilier than the karaage. It was juicy and had a nice crispy skin. Nothing spectacular, pretty average but with a good filling to wrapper ratio.
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