PANDEMIC PLATES - DINING OUT (BUT IN!): DORINKU

RAMEN ENTRY 3: DORINKU

Welcome to our newest series: Pandemic Plates! Since dining out is no longer an option in YEG due to a certain Miss ‘Rona, we’re on a mission to find the best dining in experience that our city has to offer. Our high-stakes investigation will focus on DIY meal kits from local restaurants that we can whip up at home! Why? For starters, take-out and delivery doesn’t always travel well - plus, it can be pretty fun to get a little hands-on with your food, while supporting a local business in these crazy times!

Each post in this series will feature a review from one of us about our experience with a take-home DIY meal kit. Given the chilly weather, we thought - what better way to kick off the New Year than with some delicious ramen? Originally called shina soba (“Chinese soba”), this staple of Japanese cuisine has a surprisingly complex history with Chinese origins. Ramen noodles are distinguished by its kansui (a “mixture of baking soda and water” responsible for ramen’s chewy texture and distinct colour) and are typically served in a savoury broth with a variety of toppings. At least 22 styles of ramen exist, and fun fact - ramen has even been touted as a new “prison currency of choice”!

Our third ramen entry is all about Dorinku, reviewed by B!

Locations:

Dorinku Tokyo: 10205 82 Ave NW, Edmonton, AB, T6E 3X8 (this is where the frozen ramen for this review was purchased)

Dorinku Osaka: 10328 Jasper Ave, Edmonton, AB, T5J 1Y7

Items on the menu: Dorinku’s take home ramen “kits” are different than our first two ramen entries! The entire ramen entrée comes frozen in one bowl. At the time of writing this review, they have shio ramen, miso ramen, tonkotsu ramen, spicy miso ramen, chicken shoyu ramen, and vegan ramen. There’s also an option to purchase all 6 kinds of frozen ramen together for a cheaper price rather than buying each one individually!

Tell me more:

Dorinku Tokyo opened in 2016. It’s a Japanese pub style restaurant that has added Tokyo Street Culture to the world of dining in Edmonton. I have been able to dine in at this restaurant in the past (pre-pandemic times) and it has a very unique setting and environment.

Dorinku Osaka opened after Dorinku Tokyo. As the name implies, Osakan inspired cuisine is what you will find here and the menu reflects a passion for Osaka street food culture.

Ordering Process:

I chose to get the tonkotsu and spicy miso ramen (the packages have the Dorinku Osaka location printed on the label, but I did get them from the Dorinku Tokyo location).

These frozen ramen bowls can be ordered online through their website (https://tokyo.dorinku.ca/order OR https://osaka.dorinku.ca/order/ ). It was an easy process. I placed the order online through the Dorinku Tokyo website and picked up later that day. You can select the pickup day and time that you want. Alternatively, there is a delivery option available as well (check out their site for more details). Pick up was very smooth from the restaurant.

So, how was the ramen? I had the easiest ramen preparing and eating experience among all of us during this DIY take home ramen meal kit journey (I felt kind of guilty watching as my frazzled crab counterparts swam through their kitchens putting this all together…while I literally waited for the contents of a pot to boil).

My ramen was already frozen so I put it into the freezer when I arrived home and did not take it out until I was ready to eat. Hence, this would vary drastically with my Crab G and Crab C’s experiences as theirs were not frozen ramen and leaves my entry, with no disclaimers to make. So let’s go straight to it!

For our rankings, we’ll be looking at a few categories: preparation, taste, presentation, and value!

PREPARATION:

4.5/5: It really doesn’t get any easier than this. The only thing stopping this from being a 5/5 is that I’m not entirely sure I can label this as a DIY meal kit as I did not have to really DIY anything. So yes it was a super easy preparation step, but did this crab really prepare anything is the ultimate question…

The ramen bowls came labeled with instructions for microwave and stove top cooking options. I went the stove top route (I want to guess that will taste better than the microwave). I took the frozen ramen out of the package and placed into a pot (frozen broth side down). Then I cooked it on medium heat with the lid on. The package states to cook for 10-15 minutes.

What’s the opposite of frazzled? Silently perplexed questioning how I got so lucky with the easiest option as I watch the other crabs running around the kitchen? That would be this crab here…it really wasn’t fair to them.

I made both frozen ramens at the same time in separate pots on the stove.

TASTE:

3.75-4/5 - The tonkotsu ramen was decently flavourful without being too overpowering. The vegetables met expectations and the meat was decent. The spicy miso had a nice kick to it but wasn’t quite spicy enough for my taste (but this is a personal preference thing). The ground pork and cabbage that came with it met expectations as well. I found that the noodles in the tonkotsu bowl were nice and soft but almost too soft. I would have personally enjoyed more texture or bounce to them. But I am also wondering whether I accidentally had this boiling on the stove for too long since I found that the noodles in the spicy miso bowl were chewier and had more texture too them. If it would be possible to have the noodles frozen separately from the broth and other ingredients, I think that would be really nice so that once can add in the noodles when they want to depending on how soft or chewy you want your noodles to be.

PRESENTATION:

3/5 – The entire bowl of ramen came frozen so it’s somewhat hard to judge presentation for mine. After reheating it, it looked appetizing enough. I cannot say I put in a lot of effort to rearrange everything in the pot to make it look all pretty hehe!

VALUE:

4.5/5 – I paid $21 total for two frozen ramen bowls. I think it’s a great deal and worth getting if you have a ramen craving, want to eat “fresh” ramen at home, and don’t want to spend too much time putting it together. It was also the least expensive of the three ramen bowls we tried on our journey. We weren’t able to be together for this journey with the pandemic going on, so I cannot say for certain whether this frozen ramen was smaller than Crab G and Crab C’s ramens. Looking at the photos, I will estimate that Crab G’s Tokiwa ramen was the largest and had the most ingredients.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Would you get these kits again?

Yes! It was super easy to put together and satisfied my ramen craving. It was also easy to purchase and pick up. A smooth process the whole way from ordering to preparing to eating.

Disclaimer: This review is not affiliated with or sponsored by Dorinku Tokyo or Dorinku Osaka - views expressed are solely our opinions!