General Food, Dining and Nightlife News

[plam]

Actually, Ben Thanh is Vietnamese, not Thai.  It is named after a large market place in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam. If I were to join a group (not a bad idea) I would like the organizer to be accurate.

IIRC, their sign directly calls it "Viet-Thai" food?

Vietnamese people seem to be good at opening restaurants with non-Vietnamese cuisine; for a while, I heard a lot of Vietnamese spoken by staff at Montreal sushi places. Ben Thanh is definitely named after a Vietnamese place but has dim sum and Thai food as well. I would definitely not call it a Thai restaurant though, and I feel that this is one ethnic identity that I do get some say about.

[taylortbb]

I've heard from a good source that downtown Kitchener will be getting a new ramen restaurant. Apparently in the newly renovated Eaton's Lofts building. Less confirmed, it will be an additional location of Guelph's Crafty Ramen.

[Rainrider22]

I've heard from a good source that downtown Kitchener will be getting a new ramen restaurant. Apparently in the newly renovated Eaton's Lofts building. Less confirmed, it will be an additional location of Guelph's Crafty Ramen.

That would be amazing.  Does anyone know where you can get good Ramen in Kitchener ?

[goggolor]

Kenzo Ramen (University Plaza) is your best bet for ramen locally, and there's another place Asakusa in the same plaza that gets more mixed reviews. White Rabbit does a weekly ramen + beer special that I wasn't too enthused with. Watami used to do a good Sunday ramen, not sure if it's on the menu of the re-opened spot. Izna Donburi does ramen too although I haven't tried it.

[Rainrider22]

Thanks, I appreciate your input !!

[tomh009]

I want me a soba shop, but that's pretty unlikely to happen anywhere in the near term.

[robdrimmie]

Pho DNK recently started serving ramen this week. I tried it yesterday and was apparently the first customer to order it. Just one type, pork belly. It's a tasty soup, but I have little ramen knowledge and can't say how it compares. The pork belly was excellent, I'm going to have to look around their menu to see if they serve pork belly in anything else. It will go into my very occasional rotation, below rare and well beef pho and their wonton soup, but probably ahead of all the non-soup dishes. I really like soup.

A dedicated ramen restaurant would probably do very well, I'm excited by the prospect!

[robdrimmie]

Chatted a bit more with one of the folks at Pho DNK. They've changed the name from "ramen" to "pork belly noodle soup" because a customer complained that it wasn't ramen, and the staff all agreed. Also, they've changed their pho broth somewhat as well. Both changes come as a result of a new chef who they're letting experiment with the menu a bit so there may be more interesting changes and offerings in the future.

Shamefully, I didn't notice the change in the broth but I'm also the sort of person who puts sriracha and a bit of hoisin directly into the broth so I'll pay more attention next time I go.

[tomh009]

A new shawarma restaurant, Yurub, in the space that was formerly San Francisco Panini. Looks to be somewhat more upscale (less downscale?) than most of the shawarma shops.

   

[panamaniac]

A new shawarma restaurant, Yurub, in the space that was formerly San Francisco Panini. Looks to be somewhat more upscale (less downscale?) than most of the shawarma shops.

I'm not surprised that San Francisco Panini didn't last.  Nice space but mediocre food offerings.

[Viewfromthe42]

San Francisco Panini actually had some pretty tasty and higher end food. The visuals of the place from the outside and the stand-up order menu definitely seemed more fast food, lower quality oriented, but if you looked at their full menu (ideally while seated in a booth), they had quite a good selection and it was quite tasty, but nothing projected that image to the outside world.

[tomh009]

A new shawarma restaurant, Yurub, in the space that was formerly San Francisco Panini. Looks to be somewhat more upscale (less downscale?) than most of the shawarma shops.

I'm not surprised that San Francisco Panini didn't last.  Nice space but mediocre food offerings.

My belief is still that the same owners opened La Cucina a little bit further up King St. And I suspect Yurub might actually be theirs, too.

[panamaniac]

I'm not surprised that San Francisco Panini didn't last.  Nice space but mediocre food offerings.

My belief is still that the same owners opened La Cucina a little bit further up King St. And I suspect Yurub might actually be theirs, too.

What's that one like and how is it doing, I wonder?  Nothing in DTK seems to be generating much buzz these days, apart possibly from Grand Trunk Saloon.  I assume Gilt is still doing well?

[KevinL]

The lot at Ottawa and Strasburg, future home of the contentious A&W, has had a load of fencing lumber delivered and construction fencing put up. So it looks like the promised high fence will be the first thing built.

[tomh009]

My belief is still that the same owners opened La Cucina a little bit further up King St. And I suspect Yurub might actually be theirs, too.

What's that one like and how is it doing, I wonder?  Nothing in DTK seems to be generating much buzz these days, apart possibly from Grand Trunk Saloon.  I assume Gilt is still doing well?

Gilt is busy. La Cucina seems to have customers, but I'm not walking past all that often.

Of the new ones further east, Izna is thriving, lots of people both at lunch and after work. And after a slow start, Sahar's Kitchen is picking up business, too.