I wanted ramen at Kintaro, Vancouver’s famous ramen shop, but I was dissuaded by the line. Apparently there’s always a line. I’m glad there’s a ramen place so good that it always has a line, but shouldn’t someone should open a competing ramen place across the street? I’m not broken up about missing Kintaro now that we have our own real ramen shop in Seattle, Samurai Noodle. One of my new year’s resolutions is to visit Samurai Noodle once a week.
So instead I caught the number 5 bus and got off at H Mart, the Korean supermarket. We have an H Mart in Seattle, but it’s in Federal Way, which makes it a very occasional trip at best. The Vancouver H Mart is on the second floor of a building at Robson and Seymour. It’s not an *hypermarché* like some of their locations, but that just means it focuses more on Korean foods. There’s still a full aisle of kimchi, and many brands of sweet potato starch noodles for making *jap chae*. And there’s a food court with Korean, Chinese, and Japanese stalls, plus a “snack” stand with fried chicken. I got *dolsot bibimbap*, a nice rendition, though made with ground beef rather than bulgogi, which is the wrong way to go in my book. I ate it at a table overlooking the madness of Robson Street on Boxing Day.
They also had a fine selection of Pocky sticks, including black and pineapple.
Do you like Korean roasted seaweed? I think it’s my favorite snack right now…
I do like it, but I didn’t think to get any on this outing.
The line goes really fast at Kintaro, you really have to back.
I think you’re forgetting that waiting in line is part of the expected ritual of ramen-eating. Nobody wants to go into a place that doesn’t have a line, which is why ramen shops are so brutally competitive in urban Japan.
Granted, I’m not a carnivore so I haven’t really played out this ritual, but I’ve done the equivalent at soba shops. One time I was scolded for not ordering fast enough (my Japanese menu reading skills are about as efficient as a slighly mentally impaired 6 year old, and it was a long menu for a soba shop) because they were expecting a rush any minute.
I was too worn out for a ramen line. I shouldn’t have headed that way in the first place. But I’ll go back at some point.