LUNCH AT MENYATAI JAPANESE RAMEN - Kensington

I love going down to Kensington on Sunday mornings, mostly due to free parking. This is my last trip down on the weekend till April since I have volunteered to work weekends during the whole month of March. I'm so nice. Since this is the last week of YYC Hot Chocolate, I had a couple of hot chocolates left that I wanted to try in the area. There are also two more ramen places in Kensington left for me to try. So I stopped by Menyatai a few minutes after it opened. I was greeted at the door with a friendly hi and smile. There is no yelling of Japanese greeting here which is okay me. The place was almost full with one table and the bar left. I sat at the bar. The servers there all seemed very nice and attentive, and the place is very small but modern.

The place doesn't solely sell ramen. They had the typical Japanese appetizers, tempura, udon, and Don (rice bowls), but no sushi. Judging from all the people around me, everyone ordered ramen. The service here is great but getting the food takes time. I noticed it did takes a while to get food, but I wasn't in hurry to be anywhere, and they come out in groups. My order, I saw, came out at the same time as two other tables. All the waiting was made up for how delicious the ramen was.

Tonkotsu Ramen with Onigiri Set $12.95 + $2.00

I usually get the miso broth as a comparison to the other ramens I have had, but I just wasn't feeling the Miso at the moment. So, I opt to go for a plain pork broth. Upon having an initial taste of this broth, all I can say was "Oishii!" This broth is so rich and full of flavour. I can just drink this up which I did. In Japan, if you enjoy what you eating, you usually show it by making slurping sounds. Oh, I wish I could make loud slurping noises, but I was pretty sure the people beside me will give me weird looks so I slurped quietly. Everything in this ramen bowl was excellent. The noodles were tender and soft to my liking, and the cha siu was just perfect with the right amount of fat. I didn't opt to get extra pork slices. Further, there was crispy raw bean sprouts, corn, seaweed, half a boiled egg, green onions, red ginger, and black mushrooms. There was different flavor and texture in every bite.

When you order ramen or udon, you get an option of making a 'set' for an additonal few dollars. You can add an onigiri, inari sushi, negi meshi. I know I said they don't serve sushi, and it is true. Inari sushi is sushi rice wrapped in a bean curd sheet, and negi meshi is rice bowl with green onions, fish flakes, bean curd, roe, and seaweed. I opt to get an onigiri for $2.00 extra. Onigiri is a rice ball. Menyatai has their flavoured with fish flakes. The onigiri was big and tasty. You can easily pick it up by the seaweed and eat it. This rice was pretty packed so it didn't lose its shape or fall apart when you bite into it.

Overall, I whole-heartedly recommend this place for ramen. The service is top-notch. The food may be a little slow coming out but the food was well worth the wait. The prices are on-par compared to the other restaurants in the area.

Menyatai Japanese Ramen
24-12 St NW
403-263-3666