Raijin

The moment you've been waiting for has finally arrived! I apologize for being two weeks late — I had to deal with some personal matters that took awhile, but now I finally have time to write here :)

After Ryu, I thought I had been to all the decent ramen places in downtown Toronto. Then I stumbled across a BlogTO post about Raijin. I was a bit skeptical at first because some of the comments were dissuading, claiming things like, "Oh, I got food poisoning from there" or some other sort like that. Then again, quite a few commenters have complained about Touhenboku (I'll probably post about this another time later too, for the curious) and I found it to be alright.

The last time I went to College and Yonge to eat somewhere was for Korean BBQ almost 3 - 4 years ago, so I wasn't the most familiar when it came to that area. There was an initial confusion as to which direction to head to, but my boyfriend and I managed to head to the right way.

Upon entering the restaurant, my first impression is that this place is the most spacious out of all the ramen places I've been to. There's a decent number of seats in varying arrangements (boxed group, the usual long table with booth/cushioned seats at the wall, and bar style like the photo below) with ample walking space. It's bigger than Santouka and it apparently has a completely different dining section at the back (or so my boyfriend says, I never got to see).

The atmosphere is also distinctly quiet, as opposed to the usual animated and loud Japanese greetings from the waiters/waitresses (not that they wouldn't greet you!). Furthermore, I think Raijin has the most decorated interior as well, especially when you manage to fit this guy:

And they even conveniently placed a Valentines' Day special on their centre piece! The menus were also a nice touch, since it was printed on paper reminiscent to Japanese paper.

I don't remember very clearly, but I do believe that Raijin's menu had an assortment of soup bases and ways they prepared the noodle. I really do wish I was able to at least take a picture of one of their menu pages, but I was so busy flipping through that I never got the chance to :(

 As usual, my boyfriend ordered Chicken Kurage as an appetizer for his ramen. I ordered the standard Shoyu ramen with pork and egg, while he ordered ramen with a garlic soup base.

I'd say for the price and quality, Raijin is one of the more bang for the buck places. While it's not the absolute best ramen in the world (realistically speaking), it does have a respectable quality and I would go there again if I was craving for some ramen.

Oh, I almost forgot!

For the people who have a sweet tooth, one thing Raijin has that most ramen places don't have, is a dessert menu :)

I didn't get to try it, but if I go there again, I'd definitely try their Ko-hee-zelee!

Until next time!