Vancouver, Canada (The Joy of Food) — In the great melting pot of Vancouver ramen joints, Marutama stands apart from the pack by focusing on the chicken instead of the pig, not to mention a divinely superb egg.
Cutting into this egg, you get a slow trail of perfect bright orange lava that leaks into the bowl. It’s marinated in soy sauce and mirin through and through, so even the egg white is stained a golden color, delivering a salty and sweet flavor in every bite. There’s a magical color-texture-taste combination with the egg that makes it incomparable and umami-central.
Marutama stakes their claim on a perfect chicken-bone broth (tori pai-tan) over a more traditional pork broth (tonkotsu), the end result a creamy but mild, aromatic, and arguably lighter bowl. If you’re typically a tonkotsu eater like me, you’ll notice the broth here is a yellow hue from the chicken base instead of your typical brown color. It’s delightfully full of flavor from a six-hour simmering process, resulting in a broth that’s rich without being salty, an all-too-common problem with many tonkotsu broths. You get a choice of spicy or mild broth.
Slices of chashu play second fiddle, competing with the chicken-centric broth, but also suffering from a texture issue. Another notable flavor in the bowl is from the Japan-sourced ’sea lettuce’ (aosa), soaked thoroughly into the broth and delivering a muted ‘ocean’ taste.
The noodles are made daily in-house to complement the balance of broth textures and tastes. Delicate, thin, and light, the noodles here provide an elegant counterpoint to the broth, coming together in perfect harmony. You can select a firmness when ordering, in my case kata-men or hard noodles, and thus arrived al-dente noodles in my bowl.
A side of yaki cha-shu, or grilled pork belly, has excellent flavor, but also suffers in terms of texture. If you happen to get this when it’s crisped up more on the outside and tender on the inside, this dish could be a winner.
There are no reservations to be found, but customers cycle through quickly. Tables are familiarly ramen joint-esque so expect to be sitting elbow-to-elbow with people you don’t know, or seated on a stool with a view of the wall. Either way, your time here will be limited. The entire process to order, slurp, and pay typically takes no more than 30 minutes.
Written by Joy
Thanks for reading. The Joy of Food blog celebrates eating well, traveling often, and living la dolce vita. San Diego, California is home base, but thoughts are from all over. Reviews and photos help to highlight wonderful (or not) food experiences from around the world.
Leave a comment below or get in touch with me via my About page.
Marutama Ramen provides a good lesson in how to navigate food in a new city. If you’re wandering around town and you see a huge line waiting for an obscure hole-in-the-wall, you should seriously consider taking a closer look!
Actually this is a fool-proof method only in decent food cities (like Vancouver). For those visiting San Diego, a mob of people (usually drunk and not wearing shoes) outside of a restaurant means no bueno.
Nice! I think I’ll be visiting Vancouver next year…
Yay! I remember you were supposed to go last year but then COVID happened. Vancouver is one of the world’s great melting pots and an excellent food city.
Yes. I was bummed as I’ve never been to Canada before. April is looking good as I don’t wanna die in a heat wave or get frozen in winter.
Yes Spring should be a lovely time of year to visit!