647 476 3833  |   $9 Bowls + Extras

It’s noon, your office is freezing, you have a ton of noodle options around, but you want THE bowl of noodles. You turn to a coworker, your go-to-foodie, looking for a nugget of wisdom. She tells you, “if it’s ramen you crave, Sansotei’s the place”. Jovial with this surefire recommendation, you race to the elevator, bust out the doors of your building, and make a beeline to 179 Dundas West.

Your problem? You’re already too late. There’s a huge line, it doesn’t move particularly fast, and you’re going to freeze your ass off outside.

Moral of the story: you can’t just show up here. I know you’ve heard it’s awesome, but so has everyone else, so plan ahead, leave early, and you too can enjoy a bowl of warm goodness.

Food

OK, enough with the narrative, let’s talk food. The menu is very focused on a few key variations of ramen. Wikipedia has a great description of all four: shio (salty), shoya (soy sauce), miso, and tonkotsu (pork bone). With each one of these you can add some extra egg, pork belly, veggies if you want to pack your soup with even more goodies. In addition to ramen, Sansotei also offers some sides like seaweed salad, gyoza, and a couple rice dishes.

I’m a big fan of seaweed salads, so we started with the one above. It should be exactly what you’re looking for: fresh, clean, and a tiny bit chewy for texture.

While Sansotei is known for the Tonkotsu ramen more than any other, I figured I might as well order another kind just for variety. Enter Miso (above).

Miso ramen originated in Hokkaido, Japan (see Bourdain video above for more) and has the familiar taste you’ve come to love, just amped up and combined with complimentary flavours like pork, green onion and corn (generally not found in other ramens). I was a big fan of the bowl myself: noodles had great chewy texture, the broth perfectly salty, and the portion was satisfying. 

I’m no ramen connoisseur, but I very much enjoyed these.

For the hell of it, I also ordered gyoza, and found them to be steaming hot inside their thin crispy noodle exterior and full of pork flavour.

Service and Ambience

Once you step inside the restaurant space, you realize why there’s a line outside: it’s tiny; my best guess is around 20-25 seats max. While a hole in the wall, the interior’s very unique with an intricate rock wall lit from above and a giant rope that looks to have once been used to secure large ships to shore.

From a service perspective, the first thing to know is that you’ll be given a number when standing in line. Servers will pop out from the restaurant and call you in from the cold when it’s your turn for soup. 

Once inside, best to ask your server to help you understand what comes in each ramen, as the menu isn’t very detailed in that regard. Your server may not have an awesome command of the English language, but she’ll do her best with a smile on her face, and you’ll eventually be able to make an informed choice.

The Reco?

I waited in line for about 15 minutes, and thought the meal definitely justified it. The purpose for your visit is straightforward, the menu is good value, and if you’re informed enough to arrive early, I’m certain you’ll have a pleasurable experience. Enjoy!

Other Reviews? 
 Where Jess Ate   |      blogTO

 Posted by: Jacob, Visited Nov 1, 2012

647 253 8000  |   $12-16 Bowls

Having already reviewed (and enjoyed) Daisho, it was only natural that I stop in to Noodle Bar to sample what continues to draw lines of folks outside the Shangri-La hotel. 

We ended up waiting about 20 minutes on a Friday - not bad - and got to sample a few things off the menu. I won’t call this a complete review since we just didn’t try a lot, so consider this a mini-review.

Food

If you do any review reading about this place so far, you’ll start to see a consensus: ‘I came here with exceedingly high expectations, ordered the ramen, wasn’t blown away, and came away disappointed’. I’m not gonna argue with everyone, so I decided to sample some of the other menu elements.

The menu itself is pretty small with some buns (or baos), bowls, and extras. Since I’m a complete sucker for these fluffy steamed buns, that’s where I started.

We went the chicken versions (above), and thankfully they were some of the best I’ve ever had. I’d say they stack up well with Baohaus in NYC and those served at Chang’s Ssam Bar and Noodle Bar NYC. The texture is beautiful and fluffy, the chicken flavourful, and the crackling a special textural contrast. I’d highly recommend these.

Next up were the ginger scallion noodles (above), topped with shiitakes, cabbage, cucumber and a ton of scallions. A really clean, fresh, flavourful bowl for sure with noodles curled underneath. My friend really enjoyed it, but was hoping for broth of some kind to add another layer of flavour. Thankfully, the squirt bottle of awesome hot sauce was nearby.

My lunch main was the kimchi stew bowl with pork shoulder and rice cakes (above). I really enjoyed this dish with a bunch of hot sauce added to give it some spice. Match that spice with some of the sharpness from the kimchi and piece of tender shredded pork shoulder, and you’ve got a giant bowl of home.

Service and Ambience

I’ve already commented on the design of the three-storey edifice in another review, so I’ll describe the organized chaos you’re likely to walk into during weekday lunch. Almost all seating is communal, so be ready to rub elbows at the long wooden tables and bar. There’s some seating upstairs in Nikai while you’re waiting, but it’s not serving until dinner hour unfortunately.

As for service, I’d call it friendly and mostly efficient. They try to turn the tables quite quickly given the lunch rush, so you’ll get your food easily within 10-15 minutes. Our server did forget the beer we ordered, but small slips like that are likely to occur every now and then given the speed and noise level in the room.

The Reco?

Go to Sansotei or Kinton if killer ramen is your hankering. I know it’s called Noodle Bar, and everyone expects mind-blowing ramen, but I encourage you to check out some of the other options on this menu. I did, and I’ll definitely be back to check out a few more. I hope you do the same. Cheers.

Other Reviews? 
 Kiki’s BFF   |      foodpron

 Posted by: Jacob, Visited Oct 19, 2012