Kenzo Japanese Noodle House

My friend and I were craving ramen that day, and since it was hard to find ramen places in Coquitlam, we ventured out to Burnaby.
I've noticed Kenzo Japanese Noodle House a few times while passing by, and the place has always been on my mind. I mentioned Kenzo, and my friend was willing to try the Korean-owned ramen restaurant, so that's how we ended up at Kenzo.

Both of us have frequently visited Japanese-owned Ramen shops on Robson Street such as Santouka and Benkei, and so we were subconsciously expectnig our orders to taste as good as those offered in Downtown. As you may expect, we were quite disappointed!

I ordered Tonkotsu Ramen and my friend ordered Shio Ramen. We shared kyoza as well.

Kyoza

There was nothing really special about the Kyoza. Both of us didn't really like it especially because their kyozas were way too oily. The kyozas were literally dripping with oil, and there was oil oozing out from the kyozas everytime I took a bite! Not a very pleasant experience...








Tonkotsu ramen

I kind of liked their Tonkotsu ramen. The broth was alright, but lacked the deep flavour ramens from other ramen shops such as Santouka and Benkei usually have. Then again, I guess it's not really fair to compare the place with Japanese-owned places. Anyway, I liked how it was creamy, and looking at my friend's Shio Ramen (which did not have any flavour at all!), I was glad I ordered this one!  I liked the noodles, as they were chewy. Overall, it was not great, but not bad.


Shio ramen

The first thing we noticed when it arrived was how clear the broth was. As for the taste, it was very bland and watery... and just slightly salty. As with Tonkotsu ramen, I liked the noodle in Shio ramen as well. But overall, this was pretty disappointing. Maybe it was a bad day for the restaurant, because I have seen several reviews that liked Kenzo's Shio ramen.