Vancouver, BC
What's a better way to cure the winter chills than with a nice steaming bowl of ramen? One evening in early January of this year, my boyfriend (and eating partner haha) W and I went to Hokkaido Ramen Santouka for dinner. After reading excellent praises from another food blog, I really really wanted to try the toroniku (pork jowl or pork cheek) ramen.
We had a choice of soup base for the ramen and I ordered the miso, wanting something more hearty, and W selected tonkotsu.
The toroniku came on a separate plate along with bamboo shoots, wood ear mushrooms, the pink swirly fish paste slice, and green onions. You could dump everything in with the noodles but I opted to leave the toroniku on the plate so I could dip each slice in the soup before eating.
It was my first time having toroniku at Santouka and my first impression was literally OMG. It was melt-in-my-mouth meaty goodness!! The pork wasn't very fatty per-se but the richness of the meat and the soft texture made it seem like it was. The miso soup for the ramen was also equally rich with some sesame and a thin layer of oil floating on top. However, paired with the toroniku, I found it a bit too rich and fatty for my liking. I thought W made a better choice in having the lighter tonkotsu with his toroniku.
It's definitely one of the pricier ramen shops in Vancouver but I would endure the long line-ups and double-digit prices just for the toroniku ramen.
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