Calgary, Alberta — Last Thursday evening, I had the pleasure of visiting one of Calgary’s BEST restaurants, Ramen Ichinen. Not only was this restaurant delicious, but the establishment also served authentic Japanese food. Ramen Ichinen has been in Calgary since 2016. Let me tell you — it was superb.
As soon as I arrived, the restaurant stunned me with its authenticity, beauty, and cozy vibes. Thursday evening, I was greeted by Meg, the owner. She sat me down as I began to peruse the menu. There were tons of unique things about Ramen Ichinen right away. First, they make all of their broth in-house with a four-step process.
First, the cooks place the pork bones in a stock pot where the bones boil for at least 12 hours. After that, they strain out the broth before adding flavorings and umami to the broth.
Absolutely delicious! Oh yeah, did I mention – there is NO MSG added! We love that. Good, clean, authentic Japanese food – CHECK!
“We opened Ramen Ichinen in 2016 in hopes to deliver a delicious AUTHENTIC ramen consisting of a broth with no additives,” expressed Meg. “We take pride in making most of our products by hand in our store.”
Ramen Ichinen brings the spice
There are also items to spice up your broth; each is very customizable, so you can have your meal the way YOU want. There are ten levels of spice, ranging from a Scorpion BT Pepper right to the Carolina Reaper Pepper.
I am personally not a spice baby, so I didn’t go for any spice. However, I can imagine for those spice lovers that it is fantastic!
In addition to customizing spice, you can also customize your toppings. There are oodles of choices (and yes, oodles of different thicknesses of noodle choices too). They also have a few options to purchase some authentic Japanese goodies: some yummy candies, t-shirts, and even some sake!
I was lucky enough to try a few different items from the menu. I enjoyed the Premium Organic Sencha Hot Tea, Japanese Organic Oolong Hot Tea, Chicken Karrage, Tonkotsu Black Ramen, and Tonkotsu Red Ramen. Let me tell you, they all did not disappoint. The teas were beautiful, with such delicate and blissful tastes. The karrage was one of the best ones I have ever had; it wasn’t super deep fried like a lot of karrage I have tried in the past, and it was perfectly crispy with melt-in-your-mouth chicken. Delicious.
The ramens were impeccable. They were full of flavor, both incredibly savory and beautifully plated, and as I write this, I still crave more! I cannot wait to return to Ramen Ichinen, and please do yourself and me a favor – go to Ramen Ichinen too!
I will be back, and until then – thinking of all these mouthwatering flavors day in and day out.
