Edmonton has been very late getting on board with the ramen trend, but some notable spots are opening up. Kazoku Ramen has been open since last autumn and proves that it’s worth the effort to try and find it off a one-way street in a west-end strip mall.
A sesame mix is served in a mortar before your soup arrives, and it’s your job to take a pestle and grind it down so it’s ready to add to your meal when it arrives. This is good, it helps you work up an attitude and the toasty scent of the smushed sesame is an appetite enhancer. The bowl of tonkatsu is huge, and the broth is thick and creamy, with plenty of pork flavour. Inside are pieces of very fatty pork belly (you can ask for a leaner pork shoulder, but, really why would you do that?), corn, sprouts, chewy wood ear fungus and enough golden noodles to feed you and the person next to you. The thickness of the broth might seem a bit strange at first when compared to other ramen spots you may have been to, but by the third and fourth slurps, the layers of flavour really shine through.
16518 100 Ave., 780-483-0448, kazokuramen.ca
