What does a locally owned restaurant look like, from the outside? What features distinguish it from the run-of-the-mill chain restaurants? Do the chains just have signs that look a little too graphically designed?
I ask because all this time, I thought Nomiya was a chain restaurant, and in our never-ending search for delicious local fare to share with readers, dismissed it as such. But it turns out my anti-chain bias has caused me to miss out on great, locally made meals based around my favourite ingredient: salt.
Nomiya is a family owned restaurant based off of Head Chef Jeff Chan’s 45-plus year experience, and his homemade broth that takes eight-plus hours to make (daughter Wing continues his legacy today). The menu has all the spicy and savoury ramen you could want (I had the Buta Kakuni — not the most adventurous choice, but it fit my mood and filled my stomach), with plenty of tempura, sashimi and sushi to go with it.
But the standout dish for this salt fiend was the Wild Salmon Skin Chips. We doused them in lemon juice and they still almost overpowered my salt tooth (almost). Each bite reminded me of a nature documentary I saw, in which spawning salmon hit a dead-end river, leaving a flopping feast for hungry bears. The narrator explained that the bears stuffed themselves to the point that they actually started stripping the salmon and discarding the flesh, savouring the salty skin and leaving the meat for the birds.
As I finished my healthy helping of ramen and saw the remaining salmon chips in the bowl, all I could think was: same, bears, same.
Nomiya
Macewan | 11160 Ellerslie Rd SW, Edmtonon | 780.988.0989
Calgary Trail South | #646, 3803 Calgary Trail NW, Edmonton | 780.462.1300
nomiyarestaurant.com
