Mr. Bowl

We've all seen our share of hidden restaurants in the city including ones in alleys, interior walkways and even ones that don't have actual signage.  Now here is another that is found near UBC.  You would never know it was there unless you were actually in the know or were looking for it.  Once inside, the place is quite large and spacious, especially for a restaurant near a University.  Mr. Bowl, as the name implies serves up rice and noodle bowls with a variety of components. In addition, the menu is a collection of small snacks and larger Northern Chinese, Szechuan and Taiwanese dishes.

We began with the smaller items including the Fried Chicken Wings and the Fried Pork Cutlet.  Nice touch with them being served on a wire rack as it kept things crispy.  The wings were golden brown with crispy well-rendered skin.  The meat was nicely brined being juicy and well-seasoned.  As for the cutlet, it was crunchy despite sitting for a bit (while we took photos).  The pork was moist and tender.  It was served with a tangy sauce that was akin to BBQ sauce.

We had a few more small dishes in the Braised Wheat Gluten and Braised Pork Trotters.  The wheat gluten was more or less pretty standard where they were rehydrated and then braised in a sweet sauce.  Each piece was tender and fully soaked.  As for the pork trotters, they were also tender, but still had bite.  The skin beautifully gelatinized and flavourful from the braise.  The meat was also tender.

We also ordered a small bowl of Hot & Sour Soup.  Although served in the size of a rice bowl, the soup was packed with ingredients.  There was more of that than the actual soup!  The usual bamboo shoots, carrots, tofu, wood ear, pork and egg drop were all there providing texture.  The soup itself was balanced with a good spice level.  To go with our dishes, we had the Scallion Noodles and the Soup Noodles as well.  I would say that both of them weren't particularly flavourful, but again, we were pairing it with the dishes that did have plenty of flavour.  The noodles were al dente with a nice chewiness, especially the scallion noodles.

Onto the biggest item we had, the Pickled Fish Soup was massive where the slices of snakehead fish seemed endless.  They were cooked perfectly being buttery and soft with a slight bite.  The broth itself was pleasantly tangy with a touch of sweetness and spice.  In addition to the mustard greens, we also found some bean curd strips and luncheon meat (aka Spam).  Normally, I don't really drink the soup because it can be salty, but this was quite nice.

 

Another large dish was the Tomato Braised Beef Brisket with Chinese Fried Dough Stick.  We added another dough stick for good measure!  It was a good idea because the dough stick (Yau Tiao) was excellent.  Light and fluffy inside with just the right amount of chew while the outside was crispy and not overly greasy.  It was also perfectly salted.  As for the stew, it was tomatoey but in a sweet way where the sauce was relatively thick.  The beef was fatty and tender.

 

We ended up ordering the Sweet & Sour Pork Ribs and these were quite good except it was on the greasier side.  Despite that, the meaty rib pieces were tender with minimal fatty portions.  The ribs seemed to be stewed before they were deep fried and then wok-tossed in sauce.  Hence, it would explain the fall-apart texture.  On that note, the ribs had an inherent flavour already that was complimented by the sweet and sour sauce that had the unmistakable taste of black vinegar.

 

As much as it didn't look overly impressive at first glance, the 3-Cup Chicken was rather delicious.  It was aromatic, tangy and sweet.  The dark meat was moist and juicy.  There was enough wok hei for caramelization as well.  Deceptive in size, the Cumin Beef Fried Rice didn't look like a lot in its modest-sized bowl.  However, there was actually lots of perfectly wok fried rice.  Each chewy and nutty grain was discernible with aromatics from the caramelization and earthy cumin.  This was one of my favourite dishes!  In fact, the food here at Mr. Bowl was super surprising.  We thought they were merely a place for rice and noodle bowls (like Dragon Bowl), but they are much more than that.  It is a full-blown restaurant dishing up classic dishes that are both well-portioned and well-executed.

 

*All food and beverages were complimentary for this blog post*

 

The Good:

- On point food

- Large portions

- Reasonably-priced

 

The Bad:

- Location is not obvious, hope the word spreads

- Drinks are so-so 

Kinton Ramen

When all of the social media posts hit the internet awhile back about Kinton Ramen, it got me intrigued.  However, there was a major stumbling block for me to try it - it is located at UBC.  You see, I live near SFU, which is pretty far away.  I've never shied away from traveling for food, but driving for almost an hour to grab a bowl of ramen isn't the best use of my time. Once again, having time off allows for such time-wasting adventures.  So we headed off to UBC to eat ramen, oh and to visit the Beaty Museum while we were at it...

We actually took a break from the museum to grab some lunch, so we made the short walk over and grabbed a seat outside.  We ended up getting the Meal for 4 ($67.00) that included 3 appies included Chicken Karaage, Takoyaki and Fried Gyoza.  The food came out lightening fast and wasn't exactly hot.  The best of the 3 was the karaage as it was deboned drumstick.  Lots of tender and juicy meat with well-rendered skin that was crispy.  Takoyaki was a bit dense and mushy, but it tasted fine with plenty of octopus inside.  I wasn't too fond of the gyoza as they were lukewarm and a bit hard.  Filling was good though.

For my choice of ramen, I went for the Chicken Miso with soybean paste, chicken breast, nori and white onion.  I chose thin noodles and they were al dente and not clumpy.  There was actually more than the amount of broth in the bowl.  I found it quite indicative of the name as it did taste like chicken with the fermented saltiness of miso.  Not the best I've ever had, but solid especially for the price.  The 2 slices of chicken breast were not exactly juicy, but still tender nonetheless.

Viv had the Pork Spicy Garlic with chili pepper, pork, grated garlic and scallions.  Despite the addition of spice and garlic, I could still taste the base pork broth.  There was plenty of pork flavour.  I thought it could've been silkier, but it was still decent.  There was a balanced amount of spice and sharpness from the raw garlic.  The combination of fatty and lean pork allowed for contrast of textures.

My son decided on the Pork Shoyu with soy sauce, pork, garlic oil and nori.  Without the spice of the previous bowl, the pork flavour was more apparent.  With the addition of garlic oil, there was aromatics and umaminess at play.  He added an egg and it was perfectly custardy inside and well-seasoned.  Once again, there was enough al dente noodles.  A solid bowl of ramen.

For my daughter, she went for the Pork Miso with soybean paste, pork, corn, garlic oil and scallions.  This was my favourite out of the 4 where the pork broth was nicely accented by the fermented flavour of the miso.  Plenty of depth  and body in this one.  The sweet pop of the corn added sweetness.  Overall we were quite satisfied with ramen at Kinton.  Is it the best?  No, of course not.  But for the price they charge ($12.95) per bowl, it is a good bowl of ramen for a great price.  Definitely caters to their core customers - students who are studying at UBC.

The Good:
- Solid bowl of ramen
- Fair pricing
- Decent portion size

The Bad:
- Appies were not hot