Ottawa Foodies

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Here is a picture of the Spicy Seafood Ramen - a good variety and quantity of seafood (shrimps, scallop, fake crab, a sort of deep fried calamari/fish cake, fish cakes) with ramen with a nice texture and some veggies. Good broth. Not spectacular but tasty and spicy to my liking. A satisfying lunch!

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I forgot to mention the meat in the house special ramen. I had the ribs, which were VERY tasty, and just enough fatty. Delicious!

Here is a picture of the Takoyaki:

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Dropped in after work for a solo meal. I had Takoyaki because of the great reviews as well as the house special ramen.

Takoyaki: First, let me say I've never had squid; only deep fried calamary. The chunks of squid were small enough for a wary newbie, but very, very tasty. The dough seemed mushy in the middle, maybe undercooked? I like uncooked dough, though, so I didn't mind.

Ramen: Broth was well-balanced, noodles were plentiful and not bad at all. Egg didn't have as much flavour as what other commenters have said, but all in all, the soup was very good.

Décor is cute, service was impeccable. The waitress was extremely polite, asked before clearing my obviously finished meal and turned around while I used the debit machine. Impressively polite.

I'd absolutely go back again.

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Dropped in with partner to down a couple bowls of ramen. Impressions:

- noodles: decent enough, likely packaged (not prepped in-house) but w/ a chew-ie good consistency and per Breezie's description, definitely not the rice noodles of earlier reviews. These tasted like ramen noodles, not the best but far from the worst.

- broths: a veggie version was available ("pumpkin" something), so i went with that. Partner had seafood. Neither would win top-30 in Japan, but they held their own in our respective bowls - clean tastes in mine, and seafood-creamy in hers.

- toppings: the veggie bowl came w/ carrots carved into heart shapes, possibly an impromptu touch aimed at softening up a grumpy custie? whatever the intent (i wasn't grumpy!), it did bring me a smile. My toppings also included corn, invoking a quick reflection on Anthony Bourdain's perspective on corn as a ramen topping - we had just watched his recent episode covering a visit to Hokkaido last Feb (available on youtube for the interested). Beyond those, the usual toppings remarked on in earlier reviews.

- intangibles: the heavy bowls and ladle-spoons -nicely photo'd by Yessi- lends to the experience.

We also ordered the veg'n gyoza (pan-friend dumplings). These were piping hot, but echoing Niall's thoughts, a little on the small side and with a somewhat indistinguishable filling.

Overall, i'd order again and i'm happy to see more than one place (Totoyo the other) give ramen a run. RT+F even adds a couple twists (or concessions?), such as veggie broth, that may run afoul of the purists, but i'm glad for it.

I'm so happy I found this place. I've just moved to Ottawa, and have been trying out different restaurants in my neighborhood. I've been craving takoyaki, so through this website I found this restaurant. I was definitely not disappointed. I lived in Japan for four years, and the takoyaki at Taste Ramen + Fusion definitely surpassed anything I've ever gotten from street vendors (and there are some amazing street vendors for festivals and such there). It was the combination of "omg this is so freaking hot but it's so damn yummy so I'm going to burn my mouth but love every minute of it" that anyone who has ever eaten takoyaki in Japan will understand. Also, I tried the spicy seafood ramen. I wasn't big on ramen in Japan, just because some of the ramen shops themselves were filled with exhausted looking salarymen who loved to stare at foreigners, but the ramen didn't disappoint either. It was the same egg noodles that I remembered, and even though I still can't slurp the noodles like you're supposed to do, I was definitely happy I chose that dish. They even brought a bottle of shichimi, Japanese seven spice, with the ramen, which was a nice touch, as that is quite common in Japan, but that's the first time I've seen it at a restaurant in Canada. So, all up, for about $20 I had an amazing meal, left completely stuffed, and will most certainly return again to try more of their meals. Oh, and I was pleasantly surprised that the owners (?) were Japanese - I moved from Kingston, and every Japanese restaurant there is run by Koreans. Not that it's a problem, it was just nice being able to speak Japanese to the staff in a Japanese restaurant. I highly recommend this restaurant.

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I've eaten here a couple times now for a quick, cheap, supper.

The first time I had the pad thai and it was delicious. The thing I remember most clearly is that the shrimp were tail-less (I hate picking tails out of my food) and perfectly cooked.

The second time I had the lemongrass beef with rice. Thinking that might be a little light on the veggies I asked if they could add some extra and they threw some broccoli in too. It had a nice flavour neither being too salty or oily and was a nice portion.

My boyfriend had dishes off the vegetarian menu both times and they looked delicious.

Taste isn't a fine dining kind of place but it certainly makes my list of food-in-the-core and compares well to my normal Pho/Bun meals.

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I was at Taste last week. I do not know real ramen, so I decided to test their kitchen on some "fusion" dishes that could tell me how the rest goes.

I ordered Pan fried dumplings, and referred to them as Gyoza to the waitress - who had no clue what I meant. Okay, so the staff is fusion too, I guess. The dumplings were hot and okay, nothing special, but nothing bad either.

I had the Japanese tea, came in a very nice pot, leaves in a strainer, and quite delicious. Also $2, one of the most expensive price I've seen anywhere - but it could be that they went for high quality leaves here.

For the main, I opted for the lemongrass beef - something I've found a good judge for tastiness. Again, nothing really good, but nothing bad. Very little lemongrass taste or smell, which is what I dreaded.

It could be the kitchen has power items that make it worth the visit, but the "standards" further away seem to may not be quite it.

Prices are to be expected a little higher due to location.

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i was really excited when i heard about "a satisfying bowl of ramen", because i sure miss ramen!!@#@!!

first off, ramen, this is not. *sadface*
ramen is flour-based and bouncy, what was given was rice noodles. but there are actually worse alternatives (spaghetti. yes really!) so let's just call it noodle soup =D
(but considering fresh ramen would be difficult/expensive, instant ramen would be BAD, i'm okay with this option)

for my seafood 'noodle soup', the fix'ins were quite good! big tiger shrimp, soy-sauce egg (what ilikerealfood mentions below, even google "tea leaf eggs"), imitation crab stick, various fish cakes and narutomaki (the pink spiral-y thing, which yes is fish-cake but more like there for colour lol) the broth was smooth, thick, heady, balance of sweet/salty/buttery/savoury, it really hits the spot on a rainy evening! plus the generous douse of sesame oil can never go wrong.

also got the katsu-don, deep-fried breaded pork chop with sauce over omelette rice. personally i found the thinner pork pieces to be a little dry and overall a little too easy on the sauce, but i'm sure if it actually bothered us then we could've asked for more. the rice seemed like broken vietnamese rice, which was totally counter to expectation but again just an observation.

TAKOYAKI!!$!$!! SO EXCITED.
if you're hankering for a taste, it hits all the right spots (crispy outside, soft mushy interior, chewy octopus, sweet sauce/mayo), its just the texture is slightly off then real takoyaki. but good otherwise, every piece has its own bit of octopus in it (traditionally they are made fresh, a little greasier, with bits of octopus throughout, fluffier inner, and uglier/rougher presentation that adds to the gluttony of it)

all in all, i wasn't amazed given my expectations, but in their own right totally satisfying and i think a GREAT alternative from all the pho on somerset.

**forgot to mention, the music in the bg is like the midi cds they play in sanrio stores. i heard the Ponyo (Miyazaki film) theme song at one point. i love it. really.

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I had never eaten ramen before Taste opened, but I've had it twice now by way of the lunch special. All in all, this stuff is delicious. I find it hard to explain, though. The broth is both milky and savoury. The ingredients (see ilikerealfood's review) were a little mysterious to me, but totally yummy.

Service has been consistently good, it's affordable, and one of my favourite parts of ordering the ramen has to be the utensil they give you. You get to eat with a mini ladle. Fun!

So Thrilled that they have Takoyaki! Thanks for the review.

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So I see from the previous posts that you folks are sad to see Ichibei go. Unfortunately I have not ever eaten at Ichibei, so I cannot say how ‘great’ it used to be. That being said, “Taste Ramen+Fusion” is near my work so I thought I would check it out today. I have never had ramen so I decided I better try it. The menu at ‘Taste’ includes noodle dishes (primarily ramen), “speciality noodles” (which are things like pad thai), rice dishes (teriyaki bento box type dishes) and fusion dishes (some mix of the above). Having eaten thai food, and teriyaki and the like many times, it was my duty to try Ramen. And you guessed it, Mr. Noodles apparently does not count as ramen.

As I walked in to the restaurant, I was very promptly greeted. I opted for take out since I was alone. I ordered the house ramen lunch special which was composed of BBQ pork, egg, corn, seaweed, kamoboko (sp? – which is something new to me, it is essentially a imitation crab processed product – it is the pink spiral thing) and a deliciously ummami broth – not sure if it is beef or fish based. I think it was beef based because the only fishiness came from the seaweed and the kamoboko. The soup came with a spring roll and dipping sauce.

It took about 10 minutes for them to fix my order and it came to about 12 dollars after tax. Was it any good you ask? I’m not sure. Having nothing but Mr. Noodles to compare it to, it is hard to judge. Here are my thoughts: the broth was delicious, nice and salty, pleasantly ummami and it tasted a very little bit like miso soup – but it certainly was very different from the Miso one would get at say, Genji. The noodles were very different from Mr. Noodles type noodles. If you want to eat ramen, make sure you are hungry, because they give you enough food to last you for a whole day. So for me the noodles were, Meh.. too much. But that is Ramen. The noodles were actually quite tasteless.

The BBQ pork was great. It was very tender and tasty. It had your classic Chinese restaurant pork taste (I’m from Toronto so my Chinese food references always relate to the amazing, foodie heaven, buffet chain, ‘The Mandarin’– which IMO puts any buffet, Chinese or otherwise in Ottawa to shame.). The real winner for me was the egg. It was rather brown and unbelievably tasty. Don’t know how to describe it. It was a boiled egg that had a nice meaty and sweet taste. Amazing! I wish they had included a few of these. The kamoboko spiral was underwhelming. Almost tasteless, albeit slightly fishy. Meh, adds to the presentation.

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The spring roll was ok. It was not very ‘fresh’ tasting. By this I mean that it was not filled with fresh sprouts and carrots and such. I think it was pork. The sauce was not your standard thai dipping sauce, but store bought plum sauce. Meh.

The verdict? I’m not sure. I know I won’t be running back to have restaurant ramen any time soon. Was it tasty and edible, yes. But I’m not too big on noodles (especially if it is not doused in an awesome sauce). I much prefer virmichelli. I think “Taste Fusion+Ramen” is a nice little restaurant, and I would very easily try some of their thai, rice or fusion dishes but ramen is not for me. The real winner was the egg. I have no idea what they did to the egg, but it was hella tasty. I have decided that if Egg salad was made with such eggs, it would be heaven on earth.

I will remain indifferent to my experience. It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t amazing either. And plus, they give you way too many tasteless noodles. I’d much rather have Pho, as I find the taste to be much more complex. Then again, this could have been crappy Ramen, so please, Ramen literate foodies, please try this place and let me know if it is “good ramen’. If it is, than I’ll skip restaurant style Ramen in the future and opt for other delicious asian foods.

Overall, it was a fun experiment…try it for yourselves.

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Here is a picture of the lunch special: choice of hot and sour soup or 2 deep fried dumplings and pad kee mow.

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I am surprised no one has commented on this yet. One of their best dishes! There is a lunch special with 2 dumplings appie and pad sew with beef for $10.95. A good portion of stir fry rice noodles with beef, dark soy sauce and basil leaves. It's the kind of stir fry you can taste the slightly burnt food (in a positive way), i.e., that the wok is hot enough as stir fry should be done!

Another lunch deal in downtown Ottawa.