RAMEN RAIJIN

One more stop on my Toronto ramen tour. Ramen Raijin is located near Ryerson university and the Eaton Centre and is one of the newer additions to the ramen clique in Toronto.

Atmosphere: We arrived at the restaurant just after lunch around 2pm. There wasn’t a line and only a few tables were filled. I opted to sit at the bar over a table to take in the happenings in the kitchen. The front room of the restaurant is great for small groups and I liked the communal table around the giant Raijin statue. There is also a lot more tables in the back of the restaurant including a private dining area. This was very different than other ramen restaurants as Raijin could easily fit large parties.

Service: Since we visited during off peak hours, the servers were feeding themselves as well as tending to tables, this didn’t hurt the speed or quality of service at all. Our food came quickly, the broth was still steaming hot and our server was very friendly.

Food: To be consistent with comparing ramen joints, I ordered the Spicy Miso Ramen. I really wanted to try the Tsukemen (cooked ramen noodles served separate from the broth, where you dip the noodles into the broth to eat, similar to how soba noodles are served), which I had tried at the Ramen museum in Yokohama and really enjoyed. Raijin is the only place I’ve seen this style of ramen on the menu in Toronto, so next time that will be a must-try.

The broth of my Spicy Miso ramen was good, flavourful but not overly salty. The tonkotsu wasn’t rolled though and while still tender, it wasn’t melt in your mouth soft. I liked the rest of the toppings (spring onions, corn, seaweed) but would’ve appreciated half an egg as well. The texture of the noodles were also still chewy. The BF ordered the Kakuni Ramen (topped with cubed braised pork belly and canola greens), which came with half a soft boiled egg (!!) that he was kind enough to let me eat. The pork belly on this bowl was amazing, fell apart, flavourful and the fat was wonderfully caramelized. We could have easily eaten a whole order of just the pork belly, two pieces disappeared too quickly. The broth however, was not as rich as other ramen places. Distinctly missing from both bowls was the yummy layer of oil.