Restaurant: Ramen Raijin
Location: 3 Gerrard Street East, Toronto, ON M5B 2P3
Price Range: $$
[wp-review]
Ramen Raijin has been opened since 2012 and it is conveniently located around Ryerson University area. Back when I was a Ryerson student, I would frequent here a lot, but have stopped for a while due to the abundance of Ramen joints in Toronto. I decided to come back here one night to see if the menu has changed since.
The main menu is still the same, however Raijin have changed their combo over the past years – most likely to accommodate students. For more details of their combo sets, click here. My friend and I decided on the dessert set, which consist of a small ramen; salad; dessert and coffee/tea/pop for $14.50.
I got the chicken ramen and the overall ramen is flavorful, not too salty and the broth is clear! I don’t understand how chicken ramen at Kinton or Touhenboku is always oily and rich, I felt like I was drenched in oil after having their ramen. I also liked how the soft boiled egg is not an additional cost in Raijin. At other ramen restaurants, they always charge extra for the egg and since it is an essential ingredient for ramen, I always get the egg even when it’s extra…sighs.
The noodles was a bit different than the normal ramen and I actually enjoyed it. The noodle is more chewy with a rougher texture, similar to Ryu’s noodle bar but that’s just my preference lol. Chicken was soft and tender, and HOT, which is unlike the Kinton’s version here.
This cheesecake isn’t like the Japanese cheesecake where it has a fluffy and sponge-like-cake texture. I thought it was okay, the cake was a bit dense and those 3 dots of raspberry sauce on the plate were a bit awkward lol. What am I supposed to do with it? Why not pour the sauce on top of the cheesecake, or at least give me more sauce on the side!
I didn’t get to try T’s ramen, but he said the broth was not oily and very creamy. He also preferred the Kinton’s cha siu over Raijin, as at Raijin the pork meat was a bit tough and didn’t have that nice seared on top like Kinton :(.
The bottom layer is a milk pudding, which is really sweet but it had the layer of dark coffee jelly to bring down the sweetness. I actually liked this dessert as it was a refreshing way to end the meal after a heavy bowl of ramen :).
The Japanese poutine is a bowl of french fries with some cheese curds, drizzled with a teriyaki mayonnaise sauce and topped with some seaweed. I used to like this dish, however the quality have gone down.. I mean, look at those blocks of cheese curds, they didn’t even melt at all, this cannot be called a poutine!! The fries are decent, not greasy and still soft on the inside with a nice crunch.
Overall I found the food quality of Ramen Raijin have declined over the years. With the abundance of ramen joints around the area, there are simply better options out there to have a hot bowl of ramen. With that said, Raijin offers special discounts and budget friendly combos for students, so if you are looking for a quick and cheap meal, I recommend Raijin! The servers here have always been friendly and they never rushed you to finish your meal. The atmosphere in Raijin tends to be busy and lively, but not overcrowded. It’s a nice place to have lunch or a casual date since you won’t have servers or chefs shout at you constantly :).