Touhenboku Ramen

The Ramen was nothing special. Soup was mediocre and certainly not worth the $ 10.50 a bowl. Or $ 12.00 a bowl if you want miso.
Tried two Ramens: the Garlic Pork with Miso and the Chicken Light.
The ramen and soup at Touhenboku is no where near the quality ramen from Kinton, Santouka and Sansotei in TO.
Garlic Pork with Miso was almost like a creamy Chinese meat based soup.
Chicken Light was similar to Swanson Chicken soup with noodles.
I was going to give this two stars, but I removed one more star for their pettiness in charging me for something I had not eaten. They need to work on their customer service.
Not much choices on the menu. This is the last for me and I will not return. I won’t be recommending to my friends and family.

I need to go kfc after, portion is too small for male and I think an instant noodle taste better.

This restaurant looked so promising but we were so disappointed! First off, the prices are kind of expensive. It’s an extra dollar to have pork instead of chicken broth, and another $ 1.50 if you want miso. So my boyfriend and I shared a ramen and don set — spicy pork miso ramen and ginger pork don. The rice for the don is your average Chinese rice that you make at home, and I couldn’t taste any ginger in the pork — only soy sauce. The ramen was even more disappointing — the noodles are like Chinese noodles and I don’t think are ramen noodles at all? All we can taste is the chili flavour in the soup, and none of the miso. Lastly the egg was not soft boiled with the jelly texture, it was just a hard boiled egg. Probably will not return again.

Came here for lunch on a Sunday. The restaurant was well staffed.
The food tasted decent, not the worse ramen we’ve had in TO but definitely wasn’t the best either. My meal (lunch combo) costed ~$ 19 after tax and tip.
The only complaint I have for this restaurant is the value/​portion.
I have heard much about the legendarily stingy portions of this restaurant before coming here and MAN this place really took no time to prove them right. The «iced water» we requested obviously didn’t come with any ice, and came half-​full in whiskey glasses which are gulped down in two sips. We ended up asking for 3 refills. The ramen came with ONE, THIN slice of pork. Not to mention the overall small portion. For $ 19 I was really expecting more.
If you’re looking for a ramen fix without breaking your wallet, this won’t be the place for you.

I went there this rainy Tuesday afternoon and was craving a warm bowl of comforting noodles. I had the pork belly with original soup and thin noodles. Noodles were perfectly tender and the egg was wonderful. The soup is extremely good and fresh. I really love this place and will come back again. Will try the spicy noodle next time.

Here’s the thing.
I have been to Japan and I know my ramen.
Texture-​wise, they were bang-​on. I have always liked a chewy noodle, cooked, but chewy.
The broth was bland and thank God I asked for miso otherwise it would have been very uninteresting. It was not terrible — and the vegetables were fresh.
I had the chicken-​don on the side and I did not care for the taste of it at all. I wish they had not even brought that as a special offering.
This place has one problem. My personal belief is that they may be «adjusting» their seasonings to the local palate. Keep it authentic — re-​adjust your seasonings! My spouse could not even taste the garlic in his «garlic flavored» soup.
The portions are small.

Finally, a ramen place in the suburbs.
This place has a student special; ramen with a pop for 10.99. This includes university students; not just high school students. For those of you who are still in school, you can take advantage of it.
It was not so crowded when my group went on a Sunday evening. Plenty of space which is what I like unlike the crammed, smaller ramen restaurants. Good lighting and décor.
The takoyakis and black ramen broth with the pork belly was delicious. In my opinion, there’s not much of a difference between the thin and thick noodles. They looked pretty much the same when we were comparing. Service was great and definitely willing to come back again.
Since it is near a high school, I would try not to go during the high school lunch and after school times.

For a ramen place in the suburbs (not comparing it to downtown places), this place isn’t good. Their menu is based on customizability, but the pricing for adding anything is really not worth it. The portions are extremely small and broth is pretty bad. The noodles are decent, but the broth tastes like they are using powdered chicken or beef stock as a base.
I would rate this place higher if their pricing more accurately reflected their food quality, which is low.

The ramen soup was very salty. The pork belly was a little tough compared to kinton and sansotei and didn’t taste as fresh. However this place given the location near Richmond hill servers well.

Food wise, I am comparing to all the other ramen places available, this place definitely just stands pretty average. It’s a very cute, spacious and clean environment. They have those awkward tables in the middle with the stools so you have no back support or a place to hang your clothes.
We got white soup ramen and the light ramen, first bite was incredibly oily! My lips felt like they were drenched in oil lol. The white soup base was flavourful but incredibly thick, not my thing but could be for others. The chicken soup base was very light and lacked seasoning. They usually just give a few slices of meat, but I have to say the portions are a little on the small side. Dessert was the Mille crepes and tiramisu, which tasted like its from a grocery store.

The soup was very thick and creamy as advertised in the menu, the thin noodles were firm, and there were a lot of wood ear mushrooms and green onions. I adored the smoothness and softness of the boiled egg. It had a very soft yoke that was to die for. It was so good and well boiled! I really liked the pork shoulder meat too — it wasn’t as tough as I was afraid it might have been. The pork shoulder texture was just right and not chewy either.

Similar layout to Sansotei Ramen in Markham.
I thought the food was pretty average. The pork belly was just too fatty. If the fat was melt in your mouth then it would be acceptable but for me it was just too much fat to swallow.
I got the meat lovers ramen $ 13. You get 4 slices of meat. I chose 2 pieces of pork shoulder and 2 pieces of pork belly.
A regular bowl of ramen goes for $ 10.50 which only comes with one slice of meat. They also charge you an extra $ 1.50 if you want miso soup as your base soup flavour and $ 1 extra if you want pork broth instead of the standard chicken broth. I really think this is just a money grab because I did order one bowl with the extra options and could not tell the difference.
Also tried the takoyaki for $ 5.50 — pretty average once again.

It doesn’t feel authentic like kinton or the many Japanese ramen joints near Dundas station. Definitely not Japanese speaking employees or owner (assuming). That being said, not many options in Richmond Hill.
The food was fine, the karage was good enough for me to eat to order it again in the future, crispy, nicely battered and not too salty. You get to choose the broth, noodle thickness, cut of meat for the ramen which is nice and it tasted pretty good. I would go again for the convenience and limited options on my area for ramen and But $ 11 a bowl seems reasonable enough for me!
Good ramen experience makes me drink the broth at the end, I didn’t do that here.
The service was quite good, they would try to greet and send you off Japanese style but the enthusiasm just isn’t there. Which the other ramen places downtown do, I expect it now!
TL /​DR: good but not great. Non authentic ramen experience. Few ramen options out of the city uptown.

Always excited for a new ramen joint in the area, but this one was a bit of a let down.
Came by on a Sunday night after work and the restaurant was completely barren. Not a single customer in sight. Granted I get that it was a Sunday night, but that was a new level of dead. The décor was quite nice, as it gave off a Japanese kotatsu feel to it, but was a little inconvenient, as the chairs didn’t have backs making it difficult to find somewhere to put your coat.
So I ordered Takoyaki and Spicy Ramen with Pork Belly, and my friend got the Black Ramen. The takoyaki was done quite well, but the ramen was a little lacking. The portion was small, not much flavour to the soup, and my noodles were even in clumps. The noodles were a little expensive for that size as well, starting at $ 10.50.
The service was good, as the server was really nice. However, we ‘were’ the only ones in there, so hard to say when it’s any busier.
Probably not the ramen joint I will frequent, as there are others in the area that are a little better in my opinion.

This is the third Touhenboku Ramen location I have been to, so I kind of know what to expect. I have kind of glad that Touhenboku decide to open up a location up in Richmond Hill as it is not easy to get a decent ramen up here.
I am though kind of disappointed that there is no special deal like they offers in other locations. Last time I got a beer and ramen lunch special for $ 12 at their Queen Location. And there are always periodically specials in other locations. But here nothing?!
Oh aside from that 2 bowls of Red Ramen for $ 16.80 special on that large chalkboard right on top of my head? Maybe I should have order that? A sign that the portion is small that I could have ate 2 bowls?!
Red Chicken Broth Thick Noodle Sea Salt Pork Belly ($ 10.50) was perfect as a snack! My single «sheet» of pork belly was fatty but paper thin. This must need special technique to able to prep that! Noodle wise it was cook well with a touch of chewiness. Chicken broth not as oily as pork base which I found it A-​OK.
The interior is bright and modern. Ultra mininalist and clean. Service is efficient with waitress fluent in Mandarin and English.
Hopefully there will be some special offers in this location soon. Ramen & Millie Crepes? Ramen & App? Something? Anything?!

If you’re comparing it to ramen places all over Toronto, this place doesn’t even cut it close. If you’re comparing it to ramen around the GTA, this place is better than most.
I was glad to come try it out, especially with it being close to my house. I know this place is a chain but I’ve never tried it so I was definitely excited as I pulled up the the parking lot. Tables are wooden and the place is wide and open. There weren’t a lot of people here but I can definitely see it being packed with high school kids wandering over from bayview secondary during the lunch hour. If I was still in high school, this shit would be up my alley.
The service was extremely quick and friendly. They were always smiley and came over several times to check up on us. One thing about the menu that’s weird is the fact that they charge an extra $ 1.50 for pork soup base when it’s kind of a basic thing for any ramen place. I ordered the red spicy base with pork belly/​soy sauce/​thick noodle & it was enjoyable. Broth was medium-​rich and the noodles were super chewy and texturized. One thing though, the portions were the tiniest I’ve ever seen. For anyone with a larger appetite, you’re definitely not going to be satisfied.
Also ordered the karaage and the takoyaki, which was were both alright. Takoyaki was doughy and packed full of octopus but it definitely had too much sauce all over it, which was too overpowering.
Overall, an okay place in rhill for ramen. Would probably come back.

I noticed that one of the popular downtown ramen chains had opened up a location in my neighborhood so I decided to give it a try last night. I was very surprised to see that it was almost empty when we arrived, as it IS the holiday season.
The inside is very spacious and minimalistic. there are many blank walls and the kitchen area is very empty aside from the exposed shelves at the back used for random storage (which is not visually appealing).
The menu offers a variety of options such as karaage, donburis, build-​your-​own ramen. picking the soup flavor (white, red, black or light), soup (chicken or pork, pork was extra $ 1), noodles (thick or thin), meat (pork belly, shoulder), etc.
I had the red (spicy) ramen with pork shoulder, thick noodles and sea salt. Upon receiving my bowl of noodles, I was surprised to find ONE single piece of pork shoulder, a marinated egg and a handful of noodles… very steep for $ 10.50. (corn and other toppings are available to add on for ~$ 1+).
The broth was pretty flavourful and very creamy, the noodles were meh; nothing spectacular like what I would have expected from Sansotei or Kinton (they weren’t very chewy… I’d say more like spaghetti consistency).
Overall, for the price and the portions given, I will not be coming back although it is one of the only ramen joints in the area.

I would say this new ramen joint is just ok. I had higher expectations due to reviews at their locations.
We ordered the black ramen with sea salt and thick noodles. The noodles were a bit undercooked however, the broth was thick and Creamy with lots of flavour.
We asked for the Japanese red pepper flakes but instead got a bowl of black pepper, was not impressed with that.
For dessert, we ordered the crêpe cake and it was pretty good, a little on the dense side but the taste was there.
Good for a quick fix if you’re nearby. As this is a new establishment I would only hope that it will get better.

So there aren’t that many ramen places in GTA, but they are very slowly popping up as the years go by.
Stopped by here just before their lunch time close, which is at 3 pm. (They reopen again at 5pm for dinner service — so just a note — in case you want to come by here for a late lunch.)
Touhenboku is known mostly known for their chicken based broth, they do offer the pork based broth (extra $ 1.50 charge).
The menu is quite simple and streamlined. They offer Ramen — 4 base noodle set start at $ 10.50 — which includes your choice of broth (chicken or pork* base, noodles type (thick or thin), flavoring (salt, soy sauce and Miso*) and meat choice (chicken, pork belly, pork shoulder); there are options, Spicy, Original, Black (garlic) and light.
Appetizers are basically one price $ 5.50, same with the donburi. I suspect that here are limited options due to the fact that they’re still in opening mode, so there are a lot of kinks to work out. We originally wanted the gyoza, but ended up getting the takoyaki instead due to lack of availability.
Service-​wise is ok; when they are serving you — they are quite polite. The only thing I would say is that there is a break between 3 and 5 pm every day; so keep that in mind if you’re walking in for a visit in the late afternoon. They did end up turning people away, but I think it’s because the sign isn’t very clear and it might help if they locked the door at 3 pm, so to avoid the explanation. Also, things are a bit awkward for dining in, if you’re hauling around an infant car seat like me and there really isn’t much room to put a stroller or a car seat; we ended up putting the car seat on the floor while we ate.
Overall, Pretty decent ramen, not the best I’ve ever had and with the limited availability of options regarding the other items does detract a little bit; but it will change as time goes on and they find their groove. My main caveat is the fact that there really isn’t that much seating to help accommodate a baby in a car seat comfortably.

Brand spanking new location to add to the growing influx of downtown-​turned-​GTA ramen establishments. Same owner as the Touhenboku @Queen&University with a similar menu. It’s a mid-​sized shop with 6 «couples» tables and 4 group tables.
If you’ve been to the downtown location, you know the familiar noodle and broth textures — creamy broth and nice light ramen noodle. In fact, after speaking with the owner, they bring in everything from the downtown location! It’s a customized menu so you get to choose virtually everything you want in the ramen bowl. The home made dessert (the crêpe) tastes nice, light and great after a nice bowl of ramen.
The service is excellent, almost over eager since it’s the grand opening week here and it will be great if they keep it up.
Will come back for my ramen fix any day.