Jinya Ramen Bar

Ramen is one of those what I would call comfort food. It is something that will satisfy sudden cravings not just for the stomach but for the soul too. It is emotionally calming and exciting at the same time when tasting mouthful of flavours and tummy is full of warmth. A bowl of ramen does not need to be packed with expensive ingredients, just need to feel the chef’s genuine desire to please by focusing on the core of it all - hearty and flavourful soup, variety of veggies, mouth watering proteins (like ajitama and chashu), and lots of handmade noodles.  Therefore, anything that cannot hit that sweet spot would be quite disappointing.

Autumn is here, downtown Vancouver was drizzling.  We were working on our blogs while sitting in the lobby of Telus Garden.  The place was a very nice relaxing place to work - there are trees, wood interior structural elements, a little water feature and a grand piano.  It is spacious and clean; there is something about watching people walking by that can be quite inspiring. It is some sort of an escape for me from the tiring rat race (Have you read Rich Dad Poor Dad?). Being able to be excluded from the reality of it all - even if just for a moment - is quite a calming meditation for me. However, drinking a very watered down Americano I got from Nosh (not sure how they managed to do that), we were in desperate need for some warm-me-up. “I want ramen.” I said, as we were walking back to our car that has been taking us places for over 8 years.

In the spirit of trying something new, we started lining up at the very posh looking Jinya Ramen Bar on Robson St. They got a feel of those trendy restaurants - with a hostess stationed right at the front door, dim lights, and chic decor - the feel reminded me of this restaurant in New York that I went to over 10 years ago that I mistook for a nightclub. I am a sucker for the contemporary trendy look - especially when there is a bar visible from the street.

Our server was quite friendly and energetic, however, she was clearly following an SOP (not perfectly I might add) when welcoming us and introducing the menu items to us. To me it is a customer service strategy that would only work if the person is genuine.  The minute that the server starts focusing on remembering what to say it just feels disconnect to me.  To our left, a manager in a suit and pointy shoes was also going over things to do with someone who seems to be newly hired. While I applaud the management’s focus on service, they seem somewhat micromanaging.  I may have just observed from only one perspective so perhaps I was too quick to judge. I do hope people love working there.

We ordered their signature Jinya Tonkotsu Black, Pork Gyoza, Side Salad, and Brussels Sprouts Tempura.  At first I was not going to order any drink, then I saw this very Japanese name on their wine list - Kanazawa. ”I gotta try this.” I thought somehow Jinya was able to bring in red and white wines from Japan. It turned out that it is a winery based in Naramata, BC owned and operated by Richard Kanazawa. This Jinya only had two wines in their offering, the rest were beer, sake, and plum wine. I ordered their Ronin, which is a Red Bordeaux Blend. More on that later.

Tonkotsu is basically the soup base prepared by boiling pork bone and other ingredients over a long period of time to achieve a rich, deep, and full bodied broth. I really like the Jinya’s version of Tonkotsu, it was quite full bodied with some additional flavouring oil added. I normally would add some chopped garlic but you do not need to do that for this bowl. However, the chashu - the mouth watering protein - was thick cut and tasty, but small for what I would expect from a ramen. Another thing that was disappointing was that they used thin noodles and not enough of it - like they want you to pay to add more. It would be great if I was offered a choice of the kind and amount of noodles for my dish in the beginning. Server came later to ask me if I wanted more noodles, but that was after I had finished the whole bowl and the moment was gone.

The Pork Gyoza is made in house and pan fried. I got no problems with the filling - it was flavoured the right way. However, even though it had the right pan fried color on the bottom, it had none of the texture that is supposed to come with it.  I was expecting it to be crispy on the bottom, but instead it felt soft just like the rest of the gyoza. Seems like it was pre-fried and microwaved just before serving for the sake of time.

One highlight was actually the Brussels Sprouts Tempura. They were fried to the right texture and also added white truffle oil to give it a nice savoury taste. A little miss however, It wans’t thoroughly mixed well with the seasoning so I could not taste the truffle on some of the pieces. Secondly, the truffle is a nice touch that they really should have mentioned it on the menu - it might bring them more sales that way.

Now, back to the wine pairing. It is not easy to pair wine with ramen - or with the atmosphere of a ramen bar. It is more of a pints-of-beer kind of a place. My wine came in a glass with thick rim - like those you can buy in IKEA and see in a family buffet.  Maybe they just don’t want them to break as easily. The Kanazawa Ronin wine - I forgot to ask for the vintage - somehow worked in this occasion. Let me elaborate.  This wine had faint fragrance of red and black fruit but on the greener grassier side. Mouthfeel was medium body with light grainy tannins and very straightforward flavour profile. It was a simple wine.  Traditionally, tea is served to help cleansing the palate after having that hearty, and savoury bowl of ramen. Some people have beer to more or less achieve the same thing - with some more celebratory purposes.  This wine kind of did the samething to the ramen - contrary to what I had hoped when it comes to wine pairing - instead of elevating the whole meal, it washed down the heavy soup quite effectively like tea and beer would.  Even though the wine did not offer any more than a palate cleanser, I did not mind it too much considering the whole business model.  All the drinks were not offered to elevate anything, but they existed only for the sake of completeness. Just that with all that modern decor and approach, I just wished they put a bit more attention to the whole dining experience.  Perhaps one day I will do some experiments on wine pairing with ramen.