Edmonton’s ramen scene is slowly growing; welcome Ramen Misoya!
Now, I’m no ramen connoisseur and I haven’t been to Japan yet… but I know what I like when it comes to ramen!
And to be honest, my first visit to Ramen Misoya didn’t quite hit the spot. That’s not to say the ramen was bad or anything – it just wasn’t for me. There were still some noteworthy things to point out about their ramen, I’ll get to that in a second.
Ramen Misoya is a chain restaurant with many locations internationally, being recommended by the Michelin Guide even. What differentiates their bowls from others is that their broths are miso-enriched. Miso is is a soybean paste that is fermented with salt and other seasonings.
On the menu, you’ll find a few different miso options. There’s “Gold Kome” and “Silver Shiro.” There are also vegetable options and house special bowls, although these too are miso-based broths. When I asked about the difference between options, the server mentioned the biggest difference was in their fermentation period. While the Gold Kome is fermented for a longer period (i.e. 6 months as our server described it), the Silver Shiro is fermented for a shorter period (i.e. 3 months). Essentially, the Gold Kome broths would be stronger and more savory, due to the longer fermentation period, and the Silver would be lighter.
If you had over to YEGCravings blog post – she also explains that the miso comes from different regions of Japan, hence the different tastes too.
To start and accompany our main dishes, we tried Chicken Kara-age (1/2 order – $4.75) with miso mayonnaise and Agedashi Tofu ($4.25). Both dishes were reasonably priced but I preferred the chicken kara-age over the tofu. In particular, I liked the miso mayonnaise and the kara-age itself was super crispy! I found the tofu to be too chunky with the broth being a bit too sweet for me.
In terms of ramen – I, unfortunately, did not try the silver option so cannot speak on how it tastes. However, I did get a chance to try the Gold Kome Bowl ($16.75) and the Spicy Miso Tonkatsu Bowl ($15.75). Spoiler alert: it didn’t taste anything like the tonkatsu ramen I was craving for… but let’s not dwell on that.
The ramen bowls here are large so portion size is a big bonus! I would honestly even consider sharing a bowl. The noodle to meat ratio is also stellar and I particularly loved the noodles themselves. Cooked to perfection, they had just the right amount of chewiness to them.
The char siu was okay – it seemed a little inconsistent as my bowl had a super fatty piece while my boyfriend’s bowl had really nice charred slices. One thing that also stood out to me was the potatoes in the Gold Kome bowl, I had never seen potatoes in ramen before!
Although the menu has great pictures, they don’t describe the toppings in each bowl so make sure you are aware of that when ordering. There are, of course, options to add different/additional toppings too.
I find the broth to be a big determining factor in taste for ramen – or for any type of noodle soup really. The broth for the Gold Kome bowl was very rich in flavour but it was almost a bit too savoury for my liking. I enjoyed the broth of my Miso Tonkatsu Spicy more, although it was overly savoury for me too. It was creamier than the Gold Kome Cha-Shu bowl but still, it was not what I had in mind when I thought of tonkatsu. While there were some positives to our ramen bowls, I found both bowls to be overly rich and salty overall. We both felt very bloated by the end of our meal!
So all in all, Ramen Misoya was unfortunately not quite what I was hoping it to be. While it’s nice to see a different specialty, it’s just not what I prefer, personally. However, this is not to say you shouldn’t go… After all, everyone has different taste buds. I know I have some friends who don’t like creamy, rich tonkatsu broths, for instance, so this place would probably be a great alternative. Either way, you’re gonna have to be okay with miso if you’re coming here!
Ramen Misoya
10146 104 St NW, Edmonton
Eat with Sharon 