My friend Edward is leaving for Hong Kong for two months, so we decided to have a little dinner meet-up at Ajisen before he leaves. What better place to acclimate his eating habits to Hong Kong-style than noodle soup? (Just kidding, our eating habits are always acclimated to Hong Kong-style. It was actually a pizza vs. noodles debate.) I ordered the assorted seafood ramen, which includes scallops (the white mushroom-looking things), baby octopus (the little red asterisk-looking things), seaweed, a shrimp tempura, and a mussel in a milky broth. It was good, but not my favourite — I actually prefer the seafood ramen at Pixel 8 (that comes with lobster broth!). Come to think of it, I prefer the actual noodles themselves at Pixel 8 or Niwatei. The ones are Ajisen are delicious, don't get me wrong, but I find them to be a bit too firm for my liking. The broth is also good, though not as rich or flavourful as Pixel 8's or Niwatei's. Overall, I'd say Ajisen is decent, but not the best. If you're in the area (and Pixel 8 is too far), I would check out Niwatei first, unless you like to grab dinner at 10:00 like us, in which case Ajisen does the job (they close around midnight on most days).
I LOVE Ajisen!! The ones in Hong Kong are SO amazing and flavorful but the ones here are kinda MEH. :( Hmmm Ramen!! I love it when its nice and chewy...
ReplyDeleteI've been to Ajisen in HK before but I don't remember anything about the food, lol. I probably ordered noodles and it was probably tasty... :P I'm not sure how it compares to the ones here, though! I like my ramen slightly softer and chewy as well -- I don't like really firm noodles, at least when they're in soup!
DeleteNiwatei >>>> Ajisen in my opinion... and Shiso Tree is really good too (Japanese/Italian fusion) - it's in the same plaza as Niwatei. :)
ReplyDeleteyour pictures are really pretty though <3
Yeah, I totally agree that Niwatei is better than Ajisen! It's in a really hidden-ish area, though, which kinda sucks. I will be sure to try out Shiso Tree sometime, though! Thanks for the recommendation. :)
DeleteAnd thank you!
I've never eaten at an Ajisen. I wish Ramen noodles would be more available here. I think I need to work on becoming the next Ramen Girl.
ReplyDeleteI need to come visit you and Mary in Canada one day. I shall starve like two months before so I can eat as much as I want when I'm there, then have the bf just roll me home from airport to flight to airport and home.
Is there an Ajisen where you live? WHY YOU SO DEPRIVED??? :(
DeleteAnd yes, please! to visiting us!!! :D So much eating and make-up shopping, lol!!! I'm already getting excited for your hypothetical visit. ;)
No Ajisen. There are like two restaurants here that might serve Ramen. I've eaten fried ramen here but haven't found the soup type. Only udon soup in two restaurants. I think people here just don't want variety. It's a relatively new city compared to other cities. They only discovered oil in the late 60s I think. The variety has improved a lot in the past 5 years I have been here but I still think there's room for improvement. I just have to keep traveling once every 3 months or so and I'll be alright :)
DeleteI cannot believe you can't get ramen in soup there. Like, how hard is it NOT TO FRY the noodles and put them in broth instead?! Or getting ramen noodles instead of udon??? They're like, the thinner version!
DeleteOkay, I think, to be fair, that Toronto offers a ton of variety of everything just because it's so multicultural. I'm pretty sure you can get like, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Indian, American, Greek, Italian, and Ethiopian food on the same street here... :P
Denise - lets go to this Shisho Tree and/or Pixel 8. Maybe one after the other.
ReplyDeleteI have a noodle problem :(
Lol, me too. :(
DeleteI really want to try Shiso Tree! We need to have two noodle dates. I am off next Tuesday and Thursday. :D