Continuing his search for a great bowl of ramen, Johnson Kong steps into Sansotei Ramen on Dundas.
For me, one of the delights on a cold winter day in Japan would be to
step out of the cold and dig into a steaming bowl of noodles at a
corner ramen shop. Nothing fancy about décor or style necessary – a
personal touch of history here and there perhaps. My favourite finds
were the holes-in-the-wall places where you were pretty much sitting
in someone’s tatami living room; often there would be an old TV
perched in a corner wafting the bland voice of an NHK announcer
reading the local news.
While there isn’t a TV (or at least one that I could see, anyway) in
Sansotei, as one of the newest ramen shops on the Toronto scene, it
stands out for its little-ramen-shop feel that I’ve been looking for
here since returning from Japan. Located on Dundas between Bay and
University, the sign on the store is so small that I walked past it
twice and had to look at what the window-counter singles were eating
to enter. Whereupon, I had to wait in line for one of the 34 seats –
though theoretically more people could probably fit on the benches.
The main piece decorating the inside of the restaurant is a giant set
of ropes stretching the length of the restaurant – when I asked one of
the waitresses about its meaning, she laughed and told me she had
asked the same question when she first started there. According to
the waitress, the thick main rope represents Japan, while the thinner
rope curling around the main rope represents ramen. But what does it
mean?? Ramen is all around Japan? Japan is the backbone of ramen?
Japan is long and skinny, just like ramen…?
The menu is as minimalistic as the furniture – tonkotsu, miso, shio,
or tonkotsu shoyu ramen, with choice of thick or thin noodles. As
always, I went for the miso ramen with extra noodles; I also ordered
lightly-fried chicken pieces (karaage; although since the owner is
from Hokkaido, it is listed as the colloquial zangi instead). The
staff was hustling around the restaurant constantly, and my food was
served piping hot within five minutes of ordering. Though a little
salty to begin with, the karaage was light and moist, which
complimented the ramen that arrived shortly after. Ramen: bright
yellow, soft, and springy? Check. Sansotei’s noodles are deliciously
softer and slightly less springy than Kinton Ramen’s. Round hunks of
fatty chashu pork? Check. Corn? It’s Japanese; you bet! Egg?
Check… wait, my eggs were bleeding. Sansotei’s ramen comes with soft
yolk boiled eggs made to perfection. Though the ramen bowl was pretty
full, my lunch disappeared as though I was a salaryman stopping for
lunch while waiting on the train platform for the next train minutes
away.
The culinary and interior tastes of Sansotei are no-nonsense, simple
and subtle. Sure, soak up the experience and energy of Kinton with
ramen as a late-night snack while drinking on the weekend, but stop
into Sansotei for the straight-up Japanese taste to make it through
the rest of the work day or week. As the days grow short and the
temperature drops, this is one delightful little ramen shop worth
stepping into.
Sansotei Ramen
179 Dundas Street West
647-748-3833
Monday through Saturday, 11:00am – 10:00pm