Sherman's Food Adventures: Motomachi Shokudo

Motomachi Shokudo

With so many Japanese ramen shops opening up as of late, it's quite a chore to keep up with them. After all, there are practically none close to where I live; therefore I need to make an effort to try them. Case in point, I had to tag along with Kim when he visited Hokkaido Ramen Santouka a while back. Fortunately, I've already been able to make it out to Kintaro, Benkei, Menya, G-Men, Shoryumen and Kawawa. There are a few more that are on my list and probably the most important is Motomachi Shokudo. Located in the hub of ramen on the lower portion of Robson, Kim highly recommended that I give it a try. Being that I was in West Vancouver already, I made the short jaunt over to Downtown.

Joining me for lunch today was my son. Yah, that's right, just him, the pickiest eater on Earth. Well, at least noodles are one of the food items that he eats. I got the Shio Ramen with extra pork for myself and a Shoyu Ramen for him. As expected, I ended up eating practically both of them. Luckily I was hungry (no breakfast) and the portions were modest. Unlike the Shio Ramen at Santouka, the broth is more standard being a bit clear and a tad salty. I'm still not sure why the one at Santouka is even called Shio since it more resembles a Tonkotsu broth to me. I digress. As mentioned, the Shio broth was light while still being plenty flavourful. It's probably due to the use of chicken rather than pork for its soup base. I liked this way more than G-Men where it was greasy. I really enjoyed the thin al dente noodles, probably one of the best I've had. As for the pork, I got 2 kinds with one being fatty and the other lean. Both were tender and "porky". Of course the fatty one was more delicious!

As expected, the Shoyu Ramen broth had a soy sauce flavour to it; yet it wasn't too salty. It's not really my preferred broth choice, so I'm a bit biased. So it was alright. The thicker noodles were good; but I still prefer the thinner ones in the Shio Ramen. Overall, I really liked the 2 bowls of noodles here (yah, imagine that, 2 bowls...). Guess which drive-thru we visited for grilled cheese afterwards? A decent value considering the quality, quantity and price. I still like the unique Shio broth at Santouka; but Motomachi Shokudo is more than acceptable in my books.

The Good:
- Good tasting broth that is not greasy
- Really good noodles
- Great service

The Bad:
- Broth is a tad light for those who like heavy (go over to Kintaro if you do)

Motomachi Shokudo on Urbanspoon

9 comments:

KimHo said...

Kim highly recommended that I give it a try.

It is not that much I recommend you. I am really nervous I recommend you a place and it ends up being a bust!

Yeah, Motomachi serves quite well when you want something lighter compared to Santouka or Kintaro.

Sherman Chan said...

Yah, it is a good option. I guess any ramen shop down there better be decent, otherwise, they won't be in business for long.

Anonymous said...

I have been to Motomachi twice and although it is tasty, I have always found the broth in the Shoyu ramen to be consistently salty which is why I haven't gone back. It's great they use organic ingredients but I don't enjoy having to drink four cups of water after my meal/salt-lick.

J

Sherman Chan said...

Yah, strangely, I found the Shio to be salty. I guess we agree that something was salty there. It's funny though, some people consider Menya to be salty, but I didn't find it so. Personal preference I suppose?

Anonymous said...

Interestingly I found Menya to be salty, too. The ramen at Motomachi is much better than Menya in my opinion.

J

Sherman Chan said...

Yah, I can understand different tastes. Salty to some, not salty to others. That's the way it goes. Although my Japanese friend does say it's supposed to be salty, so I guess some places water it a down a bit for mass appeal.

Jenny said...

You know, I haven't never even noticed this ramen shop before. I think I heard it being mentioned a few time because of the special charcoal ramen. Btw, have you tried it?

Saltiness is not something I like in ramen, I found the ones at G-men to be really salty. Just like you mention, preference plays a big roll, I guess I will have to check it out myself soon :)

Anonymous said...

u said santouka's shio soup is more like a tonkotsu soup and dont understand why they call it shio soup.

u are right :)
if u read their menu,they wrote something about their soup.something like
"all our soup are tonkotsu base.."

:D

I only like tonkotsu soup!!
shio and shoyu is nothing special to me.

I live in calgary..and there is NO decent ramen shop here AT ALL.
they taste like crap and still ask for $10 a bowl!

so $12 for a REAL ramen isnt much to us who live in calgary!

>v< cant wait to try kintaro and santouka!!the other ramen shops seems not as good as this two after I read tons of reviews about ramen shop in vancouver

RAMEN,i will come get you in july yea!!

and,Thanks for your sharing:)

wing

Sherman Chan said...

Wing, you're right, everything is relative eh? Yah, the pork broth for everything at Santouka makes everything more rich. Which I prefer as well!

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