Life in the Lower Mainland (BC, Canada)

Kokoro Tokyo Mazesoba  has basically been my go-to for impressing out-of-town friends -- even my Japanese friend (albeit one who lives in the US) was interested in going and not disappointed. This time we even squeezed in a bit of dessert. Spicy Tonkotsu Ramen ($15.95) Pork Bone Broth or Chicken Broth, Spicy Minced Pork, Soft Boiled Egg, Green Onion, Garlic, Baby Corn, Dried Red Pepper, Bamboo Shoot, Bell Pepper, Kabocha, Onion, Kokoro Spicy Sauce, Thin Ramen Noodle Spicy Ramen comes with choice of chicken or pork broth; I opted for the pork broth. Deeply flavourful broth makes every bite and slurp delicious. Can't say I'm a big fan of their choice of vegetables, but the broth more than made up for it. I seem to remember only HALF an egg. Ebi Mayo ($14.45) Been a long time since I've had ebi mayo anywhere, and maybe I don't remember it well enough to compare, but this version was terrible. It did feel like they were freshly prepared and still slightly hot. You can see...

Just a quick update here on Kokoro Tokyo Mazesoba . I still recommend the place for all the same reasons, but I don't recommend the Cheese Mazesoba. Went again for lunch with another friend, and I thought I'd try something different-weird. And cheese mazesoba sounded pretty weird. Except it wasn't. They certainly did not skimp on the cheese, that wasn't an issue. And when you see the picture or the bowl that's brought to you, you don't see any cheese at all. That's because the cheese is already pre-mixed into the noodles beneath, and you can see it very clearly in white stickiness all over the noodles. No skimping there. The big problem though is there simply wasn't enough cheese flavour. If you isolate the noodles you can faintly taste some cheese. Whatever they are using just isn't a very strong cheese. Which for me was not just a let-down but felt really pointless. Why have an ingredient that you're barely going to be able to taste and that...

Brought my out-of-town friend to  Kokoro Tokyo Mazesoba  and it was good! My phone was on the fritz so these pictures are from my friend's phone which captures superior pictures. They have various offerings other than mazesoba , but of course this is what they are famous for. What you get basically looks just like the pictures on the online menu. Unlike fast food burgers, what you see really is what you get. The concept is simple - lots of ingredients you mix into noodles and eat. That's it. The ingredients and sticky sauce make them all gum together so every bite of noodle has some of the ingredients. Price point is decent especially considering not just the portion you get but the amount of toppings you get compared to noodles. And in addition to noodles, you can get about one cup of rice toward the end (at no additional charge) to mix into your bowl, to get at every last bit of food and sauce. Some have chili ratings, but even at two-chilies it wasn't particularly spi...