I’ll admit that when I think of Japanese food my mind tends to go to sushi first, often over looking the soup-noodle combination that is the ramen.  As with a lot of other Asian flavours Vancouver is a great city for getting top drawer ramen and of the multiple noodle places in town it’s always been Kintaro Ramen that’s had the people lining up outside of it.  In fact trying to get into Kintaro will either require arriving shortly after opening or a lengthy wait on the Denman Street sidewalk.

The quickest and most obvious test to determine if an ethnic restaurant is good is whether or not the clientel can draw in the people its food is meant to represent.  Don’t trust an English Pub filled with French people drinking wine, a burger joint filled with Lululemon clad fashion models or an Asian place where the only customers are German tourists, at least if authenticity is important to you.  Kintaro Ramen has always had a strong Asian clientele and thus for ramen novices such as myself it’s got an initial bit of credibility that other places don’t have.

Opened just down Denman Street by Daiji Mastubara the owner/chef of Kintaro [evv], Motomachi Shokudo lacks the simple Asian kitchen feel of Kintaro but is every bit as good.  The food tends to be lighter, focused more on healthy alternatives rather than the somewhat heavy and fatty meat of Kintaro. 

The meals are filling, a single order of the ramen is basically enough to fill an adult stomach; so while the appetizers like the rice sushi (pictured above) are excellent you’re quite able to get by without them and still leave full.  Make that full and satisfied.  Though Motomachi Shokudo has yet to draw the long lines that Kintaro Ramen does, I actually enjoyed it more.  Perhaps that was because it’s less traditional, focused more on healthier fare or because I found eating there a more relaxing experience.

If you’ve been avoiding Kintaro because of the lines, then give Motomachi Shokudo a try.  If you already love Kintaro, then give it a try.  If you’ve never heard of Kintaro but are just looking for some good noodles in Vancouver, then there’s now two great restaurants within a few yards of each other on Denman to satisfy.

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