Restaurant Reviews || Sho Bu Ramen, Coquitlam

A while back, David was planning to start a foodie blog, where he/we would photograph and review restaurants we tried. We took photos for a while of new places we went, but neither of us ever ended up using them or writing anything. Which is unfortunate, because that was years ago, and if we had kept it up, we'd have an impressive array of reviews because we have tried tons of new places over the past couple of years.

But, since I'm trying something new here, and not bothering about making this too regular or even promoting it, at least for now, I thought I'd give that another go. I decided this on a whim last night, after we/I decided we should try out a new ramen place.

Let me preface the rest of this review by saying that I had tried ramen before last night, but I had never enjoyed it. I've enjoyed various instant ramens, but fresh, proper ramen.... yeah not for me. I'd tried two places downtown that David had been suggested, but neither one worked for me. David really likes ramen, though, and since it's also just such a thing, I've still wanted to find a ramen that I enjoyed. So for my third adventure with ramen, I picked a place a little closer to home, which had some pretty good reviews on Google Maps and Zomato.

Sho Bu Ramen is in Henderson Place Mall in Coquitlam. An asian mall that has survived a surprisingly long time considering how dead and largely empty it has remained for many of those years. The ramen place is a fairly new edition, though, and is one of the many restaurants that now have storefronts on the outside of the mall, as well as enterances inside.

It's just a little place, done in a fairly average (but still cute) japanese restaurant style. There are very few tables, and it was pretty full when we got there around 6/6:30. All things considered, though, ramen is basically japanese fast food, and the wait wasn't long.

We decided to get a couple of appetisers alongside our ramen, as well. David picked takoyaki, I got an order of onigiri, and we split an order of pork gyoza (a personal favourite we share).

The onigiri I've had in the past were from T&T, were always cold, and were basically triangular rice balls with a little bit of meat or fish in the centre wrapped in a crispy seaweed wrapper. These, however (pictured to the left), were warm, soft balls of slightly sticky rice seasoned with bits of seaweed, sesame seeds, sesame oil, and some kind of lovely salty seasoning. They were not what I expected, but I would definitely order them again!


The gyoza (to the right) came with 5 pieces (I devoured one before I remembered to take a picture). This doesn't make them perfect for sharing between two people, but that is the only thing bad I'll say about them! They were excellent. Tender, lightly pan-fried, neither oily or soggy, and they tasted really really fresh. Again, something I would definitely order again.

I forgot to take a picture of David's takoyaki, but he didn't seem to have any complaints and they disappeared quickly, so I'm guessing they were pretty good, if you're into that kind of thing. Which I am not. (I'm realising now that there is a picture of the takoyaki below, behind my bowl of ramen!)

For ramen, I decided to go outside of the classic pork ramens, which I haven't loved, and got a BBQ Chicken ramen which came with a soy based broth, instead of the classic tonkotsu base I've disliked in the past. David, on the other hand went totally classic, and got the Cha-shu ramen with the tonkotsu base.

The BBQ Chicken Ramen, aside from being pretty to look at, was also delicious! I was actually surprised, at this point, that I could enjoy a ramen, but I am glad, as well. In the past, I've found ramen too salty, too greasy, too mleh (that's a technical word...), etc. But this was lovely. The soy base was lovely, not weirdly creamy like tonkotsu bases seem to be. Instead, it basically tasted like a mild miso soup, which I guess is probably what it is, in essence. Aside from the crispy breaded chicken cutlet with a teriyaki-esque bbq sauce and the obvious ramen noodles, my ramen came with a big pile of sliced white onions, bean sprouts, a half an egg, corn, and green onion. I don't love white onion, but David reminded me the soup was really hot, so I just pushed them down into the broth to cook and soften, and they really didn't bug me, and I didn't feel any need to pick them out. The noodles were tender but also chewy; basically they were perfect. The corn added a nice sweet zing to some bites, and the bean sprouts and green onion flavours just made sense. I'm not sure I needed the egg, but it didn't offend me at all. All in all, I would definitely order this again, but I would also like to try some of their other flavours, now that I've found a place where the ramen doesn't offend me! Maybe I'll get more adventurous!

I didn't get a picture of David's Cha-Shu Ramen, but he said it was pretty standard and he really liked it. I tried a bit of the broth, and it didn't seem as greasy and rich to me as others I had tried, which to me is a compliment, but obviously he had a lot more of his own ramen than I did! The cha-shu ramen contained corn, green onions, bean sprouts, and half an egg (just like the BBQ Chicken), but instead of onions, it had bamboo pieces. I really dislike bamboo, myself, but David wasn't offended, and said that there was very little in his bowl.

Oh! I almost forgot to mention the tea! I'm pretty sure it was the free tea that most japanese places will just give you if you ask for it, but I really enjoyed their tea here! It was that lovely sweet, toasty grain tea, if you've ever had that. Sometimes made with rice, barely, or a mix of the two, I'm pretty sure this one was a barley tea. And I have to say, I'm a huge fan of the light, toasty sweetness that is barley tea!

So if you're in the Coquitlam area and looking for some good ramen, personally I would highly recommend Sho Bu Ramen in Henderson Place mall. If you've been, let me know what you thought in the comments, as well as if you have any ramen restaurant suggestions in the tri-city area, or anywhere in the GVRD, really.

 

Easy Vegetable Soup (Recipe)

Canned soup is surprisingly expensive, and since paying rent and stuff is also expensive, David wanted to try making soup to take to work for his lunch every day. We decided to start with a very simple vegetable soup, and it was delicious and filling! So here's what we put together:

Ingredients:

1 medium onion
3 celery stalks
2 large carrots
1 red pepper
2-4 medium potatoes
1 carton of vegetable stock (~1 litre)
0.5 carton of chicken stock (~2 cups)
2 cups water
whatever herbs you want your soup to taste like. (I used thyme mostly, with some rosemary and sage)
salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Chop onion into small pieces and fry in large soup pot with some vegetable oil until translucent and soft.

2. Add chopped celery to soften before adding other ingredients, adding a good sprinkling of salt now can help.

3. Add all the other chopped up vegetables now: carrots, pepper, and potatoes. Feel free to add in anything else you think will be nice. This is also the time to add your stocks and water. You can also add your seasonings now. I probably used a tablespoon or so total, but use more or less to your taste.

4. Simmer until the flavours are blended, and you have soup!

Homemade oven fries (Recipe)

So the other day I wanted fries but only had potatoes. I didn't wanna fry anything or do too much work, and these fries turned out perfectly!

It's not scientific, the numbers or amounts below are estimations or my experiences. Your results may vary. Also, feel free to play around with different oils and seasoning for different flavours.

Ingredients:

1 medium to large potato per person/serving
A splash of vegetable oil
Salt, pepper, and other seasonings to taste

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 420 degrees. Wash potatoes, peel if desired (I left my skins on and really liked them that way).

2. Cut into fry-shaped rectangles. Make sure they're evenly sized, or they won't all cook the same.

3. Pile fries onto a foil-lined pan, and pour a bit of oil over top. Use less oil than you think you need, you can always add more if you need it. If you really need measures, start with a tablespoon or two. Use your hands to mix the fries so they're evenly coated in the oil. Arrange in a single layer on pan.

4. Season with a good sprinkle of salt. All other seasonings are optional, but I also used some black pepper, garlic, and dried parsley. The parsley just looks nice, to be honest, and it came with my spice rack.

5. Bake fries for about 20-30 minutes, or until they look how crispy or soft you like your fries to look.
Enjoy!

So, I've been thinking...

I know no one actually reads this blog right now, but that's alright, at least for now. I've been thinking of doing some kind of life blog for who I am now. I miss blogging, but I don't feel much like taking my beauty blog back up. I'm more interested in talking about living on our own (me, David, and Brit), witchcraft, work, reading, tarot, and other things in my life.

I thought about making a separate blog for this, something new, but I still love the name of this blog, the reference to The Fault in Our Stars, and also how it kinda works for witchy things as well. I dunno how regular this will be, I'm not going to put any pressure on myself to do it daily or weekly or anything, but I'm going to try to do it sometimes.

I hope to post life updates, witchy things I've learned or am learning, tarot spreads, book reviews, recipes, rants, house things, etc. Basically, whatever the fuck I feel like. I guess that makes this a lifestyle blog? But it isn't going to be aesthetic. It's going to be mine, and I'm not going to worry about readership or views or courting brands to send me things to review. I did that. It's exhausting. I'm over it.

Hopefully, I can also use this as a place to post photos taken with my bigass expensive Canon DSLR, because that baby is beautiful and expensive, and I need to use him more, even if I'm not filming.

If you read all this, thanks for reading.