SHIBUYATEI JAPANESE RESTAURANT - MISO LARMEN & CHARSYUMEN
Quirky, delicious, authentic; a Richmond gem
SHIBUYATEI JAPANESE RESTAURANT is probably one of the best ramen places we’ve had so far. A small corner shop in the middle of a decaying industrial area in Richmond that brings the presence of home. Looking at previous reviews of the restaurant, A was initially intrigued that it was a one man shop. So we decided to visit Sexsmith street to see this (lovely) old man in action.
When we walked in, the chef immediately accosted us: “no sushi.” The place does not serve sushi. But I could see how ignorant whites would walk in and demand the most stereotypical ‘Japan’ food.
But the man, dressed neatly in Japanese chef gear is a softie at heart. When we walked in, he was chatting up some regulars. He’s a traditionalist and tallied up our order with pen and paper.
“I think he has some sort of tragic backstory,” A theorizes. “That’s why he’s running this restaurant.”
It was no nonsense, no frills dining from the get go. MJ realized that he’d actually been here twice before, but he’d never tried the ramen. (The sign in front prominently advertises katsu curry, and that’s what he had the last two times he was here. He remembers it as excellent.)
As seen from the exterior photos, the place is tiny. I think we counted four or five tables total in the shop - and that’s without any COVID restrictions.
Hoélune was not hungry and was satisfied with ice cream ($3.5). Warning: remember to order more than $5 worth of food per person. We managed to get past this by ordering gyoza. (MJ did not like the gyoza, but A did.)
So the kicker is that our chef only serves 40 servings of Shibuyatei ramen per day. 20 servings during lunch, 20 servings for dinner. We managed to get one of the final servings of day. (A person who came in later than us didn’t get any.)
A ordered the miso larmen with a side of giff-don. The names of the dishes are quirky and unGoogleable, but I trusted the old man. He knew what was up.
MJ got the confusingly named charsyumen, which I assume is ramen with char-syu. According to Google, it’s a Shibuyatei-only romanization.
The five generous pieces of char siu tasted heavenly. For some reason, charsumen didn’t come with an egg. A’s did, and she liked it. It wasn’t a traditional ramen-style egg. It reminded her of how her grandma made her eggs.
The ramen itself was springy and flavorful. What cinched it for A was the spice - a secret ‘pepper’ that appeared on our table after we talked about how we wished for more spice. (Like I said, the old man is magical.) For MJ, the soup was nourishing, tasted MSG-free, and deeply satisfying to drink. Sometimes you get ramen soups that are too dense, or just too watery to enjoy on its own.
This one was just right, a goldilocks ramen. Its so hard describe what made it good. Was it the homeliness of the cooking? The extra sauce of love? The kindly, warm countenance of a chef that looked like he had lived a full life and was retiring to do only forty bowls of ramen (and an unknown number of katsu curry dishes) every day?
We don’t know.
All we know is that almost all of us walked out deeply satisfied and ready for our next destination.
The only criticism that MJ could think of was the portions. It felt a little too slim, but the price was good for what you got. The gyoza is overpriced for what you get, and we’ve definitely had better, but the ramen, man. The ramen.
We fully recommend it.
Overall (9/10)
A unique dining experience. Top notch ramen served by a kindly old man? Say no more.
“I trust him with my life. I would die for him.” - A
“I’d come back again.” - MJ