Motomachi Shokudo is a magnet for those seeking to buck up their spirits with ram
Mia Stainsby
Sun
Daiji Matsubara, owner of Motomachi Shokudo restaurant, displays a noodle dish. Photograph by : Bill Keay, Vancouver Sun
It’s the time of year when the sky turns grey, gets deeply depressed and cries its eyes out, drenching us with tears.
No better time, I say, than to buck up our own spirits with bowls of steaming noodles. In the West End, Kintaro Ramen has been a magnet for noodle-seeking souls. But of late, they’re discovering that a block away on Denman, there’s a place called Motomachi Shokudo and people are vacuuming up big bowls of ramen there, too. (And as if that’s not enough, on nearby Robson, I noticed there’s another noodle shop about to open.)
Surprisingly, Motomachi is run by the same guy that runs Kintaro. It’s small like Kintaro but a little more than the plain box of a place. A large communal table sports a line of dried wheat cutting a swath down the middle length, kind of like a Mohawk cut. That way, strangers aren’t face-to-face as they slurp hot noodles and noses ceremoniously start to run — an inevitability. As a nice touch, you can slurp to the beat of jazz.
At Motomachi, the ramen has an organic chicken stock broth while Kintaro’s is pork-based, accounting for slightly higher prices at the latter. The ramen — which is further enhanced with vegetables, egg, meats — costs an average of $8 to $10.
Other differences — Motomachi has three kinds of ramen noodles. Kintaro has one. And Motomatchi serves one ramen dish where the broth is an unexpected grey and that’s due to the inclusion of a few pinches of charcoal powder, known to be good for digestion and toxic cleansing. (Hospitals, I believe, use charcoal powder to treat some forms of poisoning.)
Apparently, the charcoal-in-ramen concept is owner Daiji Matsubara’s own. He doesn’t speak English well so he’s not able to chat with reporters or customers unless they speak Japanese. Manager Tak Kawashima says the Japanese are aware of the cleansing effects of charcoal and customers are interested and want to give it a try.
“It’s pretty subtle and you won’t see quick results,” he says. “But if you keep eating, the body will change.” For the better, that is.
The next time you’re chilly and moist, try ramen therapy.
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MOTOMACHI SHOKUDO
740 Denman St., 604-609-0310
Open for lunch and dinner
© The Vancouver Sun 2008
