My friend invited me to see the visiting Broadway show, Newsie, at the Jubilee on Sunday. I was task to finding a lunch place before the show. After excessive questioning and pondering, I had narrowed down my 2 choices a couple days before, and on that day, I would spontaneously choose. Yes, this is as spontaneously I get. Usually, I plan first before doing anything. On that day, I chose Muku as it was close to the Jubilee, and my friend only had ramen once before. Also, Muku was on my list of ramen places to "try". I have been to Muku a couple times before but it has been a while. We arrive a little before 12:30pm and had managed to snag the last table. This place, like the other ramen places in Kensington I find on the weekends, fills up pretty fast once they open, and this place is small.
Located down the hill on 10th Street in Kensington, Muku is part of Globefish. However, don't look for them to serve sushi as the signs posted everywhere in the restaurant said. Muku is one of the few original ramen places in Calgary before the ramen trend started more than a couple years ago. I haven't been to Muku in a couple of years, and it seemed that they have streamline their menu but kept their main components. They still have the butter ramen. When I was in university, all I hear about this place was the butter ramen and how it made the broth creamy and taste better - the more butter the better. I think I had it once and didn't really see what the hype was all about, but then again I'm not really a fan of butter unless it is on popcorn or corn. I don't like buttered toast and sometimes I only lightly butter my buns. Anyways, I glad they kept their basics and have their specialties as well - original and ninja soups and men (non-soup ramen).
My friend and I opt to order an appetizer and a ramen each. I wasn't really hungry but was serious debating about getting a set - where they add a small rice bowl of chashu, sukiyaki, or unagi - for an additional price. However, I didn't really want to be over-stuffed for the show. As I mentioned earlier, my friend only had ramen once before, about 2 years ago, and thought it was ok. She had it at a place that I haven't try their ramen yet so I don't know what she didn't like about it, but she was enthuse to try it again. I gave her a brief run down on all the different types of broth there were and the typical toppings that come with ramen. She played it safe and ordered what I ordered.
Shrimp Dumplings $6.50
This cute appetizer come with 8 little dumplings. They are steamed and arrived at the table while it was still a little hot. The dumpling consist of one shrimp wrapped in rice wrapper. It was very good, and the dumpling had a little bounce to it. The dipping sauce is a diluted version of soya sauce which is nice since it wasn't overly salty.
Tonkotsu Ramen with Chashu $12.60 (?)
I'm not too sure of the price but I know is it around that mark. This ramen comes with 5 extra piece of chashu in additional to the 2 pieces that usually comes with the ramen. It was chashu overload which was fine. However, out of the 7 pieces of chashu, only 1 piece was fatty and the rest was lean. The broth is not the typical tonkotsu broth where it is milky due to the fat and bone marrow. This broth is clear with small amount of fat floaties. The broth is good as you can really taste the pork flavour. It remains me of a Chinese soup from my childhood. I didn't order any extra toppings so my ramen was just the basic of noodles, green onions, baby corn, and a slice of colourful fishcake. The noodles were soft to my liking.
All in all, I think my friend really enjoyed her ramen, but I think she would prefer the spicier ones. The service here is ok because once we got our food, the server did not check up on us until we finished and left the bill which is understandable since it was busy. Muku has not changed one bit since I first ate there. I forgot to check on their hours since different sources say different hours. I would definitely recommend this place as they offer different types of ramen from the other places.
Muku Japanese Ramen
326 14 St NW
403-283-6555
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