Kintaro – The Best Ramen in Town
Kintaro has the best ramen in Vancouver. It’s also my favorite restaurant. I’ve eaten here countless times, but have never blogged about it… until now.
I blogged Kintaro’s sister restaurant, Motomachi Shokudo, back in February. Loved it. But Kintaro is still king. Kintaro’s located at 788 Denman Street, steps away from Motomachi, and just off the busy Robson-Denman intersection.
This is actually one of my favorite areas in Vancouver. Head northwest and you’ll hit beautiful Stanley Park; northeast brings you to Coal Harbour. Walk southwest along Denman and you’ll be heading towards the beach @ English Bay, passing numerous mouth-watering desserts along the way. Stroll southeast along Robson, pass by some of the best Japanese Izakayas and Korean BBQs the city has to offer, and you’ll be at the heart of downtown Vancouver in minutes.
In contrast to its great location and beautiful neighborhood, Kintaro’s decor is downright bland. The restaurant is small. There are 4 tables that seat two people, 1 big communal table that seats strangers next to each other, and a few bar seats around the kitchen. The restaurant seats no more than 25 people. The limited seating, combined with its great reputation, usually results in long lines at the door. Expect to wait 0-15 minutes for a seat. Parties of 1 or 2 won’t wait long; trying to get 3 or 4 seats next to each other (either at the bar or at the big table) might take longer.
I like to sit at the bar and watch the 2 chefs do their thing. They work in perfect harmony. As one chef portions out the fresh homemade ramen on a table, the other checks on the large pots of soup. When the ramen reaches perfect al dente state, chef 1 will take it out of the boiling water whilst chef 2 fills a bowl with the flavorful soup. Chef 1 drops the ramen into the bowl, chef 2 adds veggies and meat, and then chef 1 sifts delicious grease over the bowl. They do all this and still have time to greet entering/leaving customers with loud Japanese shouts.
Watch them for a few minutes and you’ll realize that the ~25 seating capacity for the restaurant is ideal. Any more seats and these 2 guys wouldn’t be able to pump out your ramen order in a speedy 5-10 minutes.
And that would be a shame because you don’t want to wait for ramen this good. Besides, ramen should be a quick and comforting meal.
Kintaro offers a few different types of ramen (menu). I ordered a bowl of their Miso Ramen ($7.95), with lean BBQ pork meat and medium soup. If you look closely, you’ll notice clumps of grease on the bowl. That grease is skimmed off the boiling pots of soup and sifted into your bowl before it’s served. Ask for rich soup and you’ll get more grease, more flavour; light soup is less fatty and a bit healthier; medium is self-explanatory.
Sound unhealthy? It probably is. But it’s damn good. No ramen place has better soup than Kintaro. Kintaro, in my opinion, has the best noodles too: they’re the perfect amount of chewiness. Instant noodles these are not.
Daniel threw down a perfect score recently.
I’m gonna have to do the same tonight.
Kintaro gets a 9 out of 9.
Filed under: Downtown Vancouver, Japanese, Ramen, Vancouver | 9 Comments
Tags: denman, kintaro, ramen, robson, Vancouver
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Just to reiterate.
You won’t like Kintaro as much as I do if you’re the type that doesn’t eat the skin on your chicken. Kintaro’s ramen, even if you get the lean meat and light soup, is a very rich meal :)
If you still want a great ramen experience, do check out Motomachi Shokudo just next door. Their noodles taste nearly identical but they use a less greasy soup and healthier and organic meats and veggies.
Have you tried Benkei Ramen? It’s relatively new and just down the street on the north side of Robson, but wasn’t super-crowded when I went there. I was pretty impressed, having eaten at both Kintaro and Motomachi Shokudo — inviting environment; tasty ramen; good prices and decent service.
I’ve been to Benkei once. It was pretty good. The noodles were chewy and the soup had lots of flavor; it was a lot less fatty too – dunno whether that’s good or bad ;) I think one area where Kintaro can improve is its meat and veggies. They’re okay, but nothing special. The meat isn’t grilled or anything, just defrosted.
Kintaro’s interior is really cramped and plain too, but I think that works in its favour. The energetic chefs do a great job filling the place with an authentic feeling.
Benkei, on the other hand, didn’t give me that authentic feeling. My waiter actually noticed that I was Chinese and took my order in Cantonese. I know its minor, but that kinda bugged me =P
Still, I hear a lot of people praise it so I’ll probably try it again one of these days!
Good post Ed, nice to see a current review. I remember how not too long ago, Kintaro was the only real ramen joint in town, but now that corner has three options (albeit two are owned by the same guy). I’ve only ever had Kintaro once, didn’t come away totally blown away, and have been at Benkei as well. Not yet to Motomachi so need to give that a try and probably more meals at the other two as well to make my final decision. Agree with you that this is one great location for the best sights and eats in all of downtown Van.
shokutsu
@ http://foodosophy.wordpress.com/
I totally agree with the perfect score on this one.
Though I’ll always remember Kintaro as the place where I saw Vivian Chow in person, many years ago, sitting at the bar, slurping on the same delicious ramen as they have today.
While I will never be able to go back in time to see my boyhood crush again, I can still go down to Denman to enjoy these noodles.
I ” discovered ” Kintaro during my recent vacation to Vancover in June 08. I had read a postive article about this place in one of the local free newspapers. The author seemed to like it very much so I thought that I would give it a try. I arrived around 3:30 on a delightful Sunday afternoon after participating in a yoga class nearby. I took a seat immediately inside the door at the bar so I could watch the two cooks work their “magic “. I felt as if I were suddenly transported to a small restaurant in a Japanese city! I believe that I was one of the few customers at the restaurant who was not of Asian descent but that was a good thing. I knew that I was in the right place for the ramen noodles and felt perfectly comfortable with my fellow patrons who were politely enjoying their meals. I don`t know of too many places like this in my home town so it was a great and somewhat exotic experience to have such a tasty meal at a resonable price at a restaurant like this in such a cosmopolitan city like Vancouver. The place is small but I think that this adds to its charm/ambience. Sitting at the bar and watching the cooks prepare all of the various orders while feasting on my own bowl of noodles added to my pleasure. By the time I left it was approaching the traditional dinner time and a line was beginning to form outside of Kintaro. As I walked back to the B&B where I was staying I knew that I had found a delightful gem of a place. I will return to Kintaro during my future visits to Vancouver that`s for sure. Its been over a month since I have returned home and I can still smell the cauldrons of broth steaming away and the noodles being prepared to perfection. Yummy!
Thanks for sharing your experience with us winerunr!
I agree that the small and simple decor actually enhances the experience :) Kintaro spent a few days renovating earlier this year. I was a bit worried that they would make everything shiny and glitzy, messing up the charm, but all they did was slap some new paint on the wall :)
Thanks ed! Could you suggest some other restaurants that might be similar to Kintaro in terms of quality of food and size of restaurant? It does not have to be similar type of food. I did enjoy a French bistro style of place off of Robson Steet about a brisk ten minute walk from Kintaro that is also small yet of top quality food and preparation. I plan to return there as well! Since I am usually a single traveler I tend to favor smaller places rather than larger restaurants.