Blustering Snow, Warming Bowl

For lunch on Saturday, I had planned on checking out a few of the Cheap Eats profiled in alt-weekly Now Toronto. But after wandering around for the better part of 40 minutes, I still hadn't eaten. One restaurant was inexplicably not open despite the sign, though there was someone behind the small kitchen. Another was not to be found, since I had looked in the wrong spot. With the wind, snow, and slush, I was getting both hungry and chilly. I then remembered a sign about a new noodle house in the window of a short-lived vegetarian place at College and Bathurst.

It turned out to be Isshin Ramen, a new joint by the owner of Kingyo Izakaya. The decor was typical of these places, though the full-length mural of an Asian dragon was eye-catching. Prices were on the low-end of the scale with the takiyaki being under $5. I ordered a ramen + rice combo ($10.95 + $3.50). The bowl was fragrant with ground pork, slightly seared fatty cha su pork, bean sprouts and wood-ear mushrooms. Their specialty was "twisty thick noodles", which were more substantial and chewier than other spots. The rice came with 3 halves of soft-boiled eggs over a bed of rice, onions, and tiny slivers of seaweed. It was a rich and satisfying lunch in a convenient location. Given the reasonable prices, I will have to return for the fried chicken, octopus balls, tofu and other dishes.