Review: Muku Ramen
Muku Japanese Ramen
- Location: 326 14th Street NW
- Food rating 4.5/5
- Ambience 4/5
- Service 5/5
Disclaimer: As ramen can be a very personally opinionated subject, the ratings and views are of my own personal preferences. Yours may, and probably do, differ.
Initial impressions:
I've driven by this place a few times, always wondered what it would be like. I was driving by going South today to drop off my friend, and she suggested we stop by to have some ramen, because she was curious as well.
Parking can be a BIT of a bitch as there's a small lot for Muku and a large lot for Globefish, although you can park at Globefish to go to Muku if the Muku lot is full. Walking in, we were immediately assaulted with a wave of friendly hello's in both English and Japanese, and everyone was grinning ear to ear. Within seconds, a host had arrived and we were quickly seated at a nicely made, if not a tad small, table. The overall restaurant is actually pretty small, with about 10 small 2 person tables and 1 big family booth. There is also a bar-seating area overlooking the cooking area for 8 or so more people.
The reastaurant is warm and inviting, with lots of little Japanese touches here and there. Lots of art, lots of little sculptures, everything adding to the atmosphere instead of overwhelming it. It is well lit, but not all all overpowering. I particularly liked that the cooking area, as in most Japanese restaurants, is wide open and visible, meaning that you can watch your dish being made from start to finish if you wish. Of great note is that everything, even the little corners of the kitchen where you don't usually look, was clean clean clean. A good sign.
Food:
We were presented with menu's within 30 seconds of being in the door. While sparse, there are a lot of combinations and options you can do with your ramen, or you can get one of the pre-made combinations. My friend had a $9.95 Spicy Miso Ramen, and I ordered the Tonkotsu Chashu Ramen for $11.95. We both had water to drink, so no drink prices are available for this review.
Despite the restaurant being hopping busy for a Saturday night (all but 4 seats in the house were filled with bodies), our ramen was in front of us within 5 minutes.
The tonkotsu chashu (pork marrow broth ramen with sliced pork belly) smelled glorious, not a heavy, wet scent but a light, pleasant scent. The spice in the miso ramen was apparent even across the table, which made my eyebrow rise as it did overpower the scent of the miso a little. The broth for my tonkotsu was appropriately brown-white, and had the lovely little flecks of pork fat floating in it along with a nice speckling of oil.
The ramen noodles themselves were perfectly done (to my preference of just past katamen, or "cooked but still firm"), and the chashu (pork belly slices) were thin but well done and not at all dry or stringy. The broth was decently rich and somewhat complex, nothing as powerful and "knock you on your ass complex" as what you get in Vancouver, but still very flavorful and pleasing to the palate. I could definitely discern the multitude of flavors that comprise a tonkotsu broth, and I think it's the best tonkotsu (so far) I've tasted in Calgary.
My friend thoroughly enjoyed her spicy miso ramen, but pointed out that the spices were very slightly overpowering. I tried a bit of the miso broth and found it a little weak (again, personal preference, I like my miso to be of a stronger mix), but still tasty, and balanced really well with the spice despite the misleading scent of more spice than miso.
Service:
Service was incredible. Full stop.
Okay, to describe, from the moment we walked in the door and were assailed with the hellos, to the moment we walked out the doors to a wave of "Arigato!" and "See you again!," it felt like we each had our own personal servant. While we were attended to by one host, she was a bloody fireflyShe was zipping around the restaurant, taking orders, bringing out bowls of ramen, checking up on people, and she was never more than a look away. I slurped a bit of very hot broth with my noodles at the beginning, and winced just slightly as it burned the tip of my tongue (my own stupid fault for not letting the noodles cool a bit before slurping). Instantly, and I mean from across the restaurant with her back to me, she was at the table asking if everything was alright.
As soon as we had both finished our bowls, she was there again, smiling and asking how the meal had been as she picked up our bowls and brought us the bill. I have never, and I do mean this, had service that present and quick. And from what I saw, the other host girl was exactly the same. Like freakin' worker bees, they made sure EVERYTHING was spot perfect with everyone's meal, and they did it in a way that they let you know there were there if you needed them, but never made you feel as if they were hovering over you.
Overall:
We both cleaned out our bowls to the last drop of broth, and both had full bellies and happy smiles. The ramen was spot on, and I only knock it down a half point because of the slightly less-than-personally-preferred rich tonkotsu broth. It was still, let me say again, the best tonkotsu I've had in Calgary so far.
My companion thoroughly enjoyed her spicy miso, despite the slight nitpick about the spice (her personal taste).
Simply excellent service, and worth the 15% tip on the bill of $22 for a final total of $25.30 all told.
Final verdict:
Definitely a recommended visit, and definitely will be returning there again in the future. Two thumbs up d(^^ d)
(Again, I must reinforce that ramen tastes vary wildly across the spectrum and that this is an extremely subjective review based on my own personal tastes)
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where the heads cooking were sandy blonde, saw that and walked out
