In Sapporo, there’s a sanuki-udon restaurant (a type of noodle made out of flour, quite popular in the Shikoku area) that I would visit once in a while just because the taste was actually pretty good (is it still there?... maybe). The noodles were extremely “tight” and chewy -- I don’t know if this is a good explanation. The name of this restaurant is Sanuki (I believe), next to Junkudo book store in the underground area... a bit tricky to find.
So one day I was talking to a student at the school that I worked at who claimed to be a big sanuki udon fan and he bluntly told me that he didn’t like going there. He said that he just couldn’t justify paying the prices that this place charges. He had gone there once, looked at the menu, ordered whatever and decided to never go back again.
In Shikoku, where this stuff is ever-so popular, a bowl of udon is dirt cheap... 200 yen, 300 yen... I’m guessing, but very very cheap. This shop called Sanuki charges between 500 yen and up and it doesn’t exactly “fill you up”.
Now let’s consider ramen. Is this a food that you would serve in a posh restaurant? I don’t feel so.
Ramen is oily and extremely unhealthy. It’s extremely difficult to eat it cleanly, unless you don’t slurp, but where’s the fun in eating noodles if you can’t slurp (supposedly, if you slurp, it makes the noodles taste better)? Generally speaking, ramen tends to be a “man” food... many Japanese women don’t have the courage to go by themselves to one of these restaurants (maybe times are changing though). My image of the stuff is of business men wanting to get some grease in their stomach late at night before going to bed to prevent a hangover the next day.
I’d say the price of a bowl of ramen in Sapporo goes for about 700 yen. With the exchange rate, that would be a bit over $8, I think. In Japan, you don’t have to tip and the tax is usually included in the price.
Well, today, I decided to eat ramen in Vancouver. The price for the cheapest bowl is $10. Add tax and it become $11.30. Add a tip and it become $14. Cough, cough... things are getting expensive in this world.
The restaurant which I visited today is called Santouka on Robson Street... I’ve been to the main branch in Asahikawa which is actually extremely small. If you visit the website, this place is all over the place in Japan except Kyushu (I wonder why?). There are santouka restaurants in other countries too.
Here’s the webpage: Santouka
I arrived at the place at a bit past 2 o’clock in the afternoon. The interior is clean and modern (probably too modern for a ramen shop). The staff is all Japanese and they speak with a combination of Japanese and English. For example, I’d order in Japanese and when the waitress came back to pour water into my glass, she would say “Would you like some water?” in English. You want a “Japanese atmosphere” but it’s always crumbles to pieces when they speak English... ah, well. That’s life.
The food was good. I didn’t notice a big difference from what it tasted like in Asahikawa but the last time I went there was many years ago. I’m not a professional food critic. I eat it and either it tastes good or bad.
One good things about this restaurant’s ramen is that it’s not as greasy as other places. My stomach sometimes can’t handle the amount of lard that some of these places use in their ramen.
One thing I didn’t like about the restaurant was the bowls that they use. The spoons don’t hang on the side of the bowl... you’ll know what I mean, once you finish all of the noodles, seaweed, etc.
Well, I drank my greasy soup (not all of it... I don’t want to get fat), slurped my noodles, ate a bowl of meat mixed with leaks on top of rice along with two pieces of pickle and a half cut hardboiled egg.
It was check time.
I opened up the check booklet and realized the grand total for all this was $17.38. Factor in the tip and I just had a $20 lunch, which I ate in about ten minutes. When did life get this expensive?
Well, I suppose the rent of this restaurant much be astronomically high since it’s on Robson street and that they employee several waitresses and chefs.
Will I go again? No, because, like the person that I described at the beginning of this write-up, I can’t justify paying that much for something that should cost half the price. Those are my feelings.
But for those who have never tried ramen in Vancouver, the taste of this place is satisfactory enough.
