August 26, 2008 Archives

Ramen-Ya opened three months ago and has already been reviewed by the Montreal Hour and Mirror. It's invisible at street level, perhaps because its signage is written in a very cursive font, as I passed on St-Laurent on bike, walking, by car for who knows how many times this summer, and failed to notice it.

Cutting short the chase, I have been talking about Ramen noodles in Montreal since at least 2006 (see my two posts). Ultimately, I prepared my own noodles from frozen goods.

I don't know if they also make their own noodles, but a brand-new Chinese restaurant in Chinatown does, although I am not going to be reviewing it today - I'm in La Presse, btw. The chef at Ramen-Ya spoke Cantonese, so I assume that the owners might also be Chinese, very unsurprisingly.

Homemade or not, it was absolutely fantastic. As good as it gets from Montreal. I had the Cha-shu, sort of roasted pork, on ramen, in a spicy miso broth. I'm not sure if they've the names right, as another "tonkotsu" is with a fried pork cutlet, whereas "tonkotsu"... isn't that for pork bone broth? I got an extra serving of noodles for 75 cents and did not regret it (a bowl of noodles might not fill everyone).

Dessert was fried banana - two generous bananas split in halves, served with ice cream. Service was a little slow. The place is tiny, furnished in Ikea, and you should bring the address with you: 4274 St-Laurent, between Rachel and Marie-Anne.

A bowl of noodles is somewhere between 8 and 10$ without the taxes and tips.