Benkei Ramen

  I was feeling a bit sick the other day - so the only answer to my woes was...ramen!! Ramen does wonders for sore throats ;D Not sure why it took me this long to try this place, I go to Whole Foods twice a week and Benkei Ramen is right next door!! I'm pretty much a Whole Foods fiend, so if you want to stalk me, Whole Foods would be a good place to start looking...jk ;)

  There's been a slurry of new ramen shops opening in Vancouver lately: The RamenMan, Hapa Ramen, and Sanpoutei Ramen! Benkei is one of the older ones, they use to have 3 other locations, but they all closed, this is the only one left!! There's another ramen place nearby, Menya Noodle, which is just a few minutes away!!

  Benkei was surprisingly busy the day that I went (noon on a Thurs,) there was actually a lineup...I'm guessing it's due their location! They have a stamp card so be sure to ask for one when you pay!

Shio Ramen

$1 for extra noodles, $1 for spinach!

2.5/5 stars

  Compared to other ramen joints in the city, this was just okay. The broth had distinct elements of shio, but it didn't have a lot of depth. I was disappointed that this only came with two tiny pieces of (dry-ish) char siu. The char siu didn't have the right amount of marbling on it. The noodles were properly cooked though, they were bouncy and al dente!

My steamed spinach came on the side! 

I really dig their interior!! I like how they have communal tables in the centre of the room (for solo diners like me!)