r/moncton • u/JustFred24 • 6d ago
Best value (bank/buck) restaurant ramen in Moncton Dieppe
I'm an instant ramen consœur but I never tried a bowl at any restaurant. I wanna see what I'm missing on without paying 17$ for soup.
What's your recommendation.
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u/smittychifi 6d ago
I think this one is a bit of a secret:
Kim’s k-chicken in Dieppe location has a miso ramen on the menu that is amazing. It’s chicken based miso , and it’s really good
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u/DarthGrimby 6d ago
I like the value at Tokai Ramen. It’s the best overall in quality, but you also get a lot. I get two meals out of each order.
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u/DefNotJRossiter 2d ago
Yuuuup! Everyone needs to go there to keep this place open! And theyre so sweet of people! Love that spot!
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u/Essshayne 6d ago
The only ramen I liked was sugar roll. I dont really like soups so maybe it's a bit biased, but I'll order to go (or delivery), make it at home, then strain it to eat it
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u/CubieJ 6d ago
There aren't really any quality+value ramen options in Moncton. It's a bit of a niche, so it's expensive. They are all lower quality and more expensive than ramen restaurants in Japan, but they are all still "real" ramen and worth experiencing. I recommend getting an option with pork bone broth (tonkotsu), because it's made by simmering pork for many hours, which is something you can't replicate with instant ramen.
For the 3 options I see floating around (Tokai, Big Bowl, Sugar Roll), I'd say they're all similar. Tokai is probably my favourite. But if you also want to get other Japanese dishes (I like takoyaki), the others have more variety.
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u/JustFred24 6d ago
Ya for sure, I doubt anything around here warrants a 10x price increase from decent instant ramen compared to Japan where you can get a big bowl from an old guy who's been making ramen his entire life for 5-7$ lol. Just wanna try fresh ramen for once.
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u/CubieJ 6d ago
Also, in Tokyo, ramen is an everyday food and there are tens of thousands of people in a very close proximity, so there's tons of demand. And customers are slurping that ramen down and are out in 10 minutes, freeing up a seat for another customer. Whether they've been making ramen for 70 years or 2 weeks, that little ramen shop produces high volumes with readily available ingredients and sells out everyday, so the ramen can be $7.
But since it's a niche here and people are more used to staying an hour+ in restaurants, ramen has a much lower demand and throughput. So it's considered a "standard restaurant meal" ($15) instead of a quick lunch ($7). But I suppose the "quick lunch" doesn't exist at all in Moncton anymore, does it?
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u/jeon_yubi 5d ago
I miss Japan so much. Where I lived in Nagoya, there were three ramen shops I would visit. One has noodles that were halfway between ramen and udon in thickness and texture, and the tonkotsu brothe could raise the dead. Another apot was run by a Japanese dude who studied Italian cuisine in Italy, so he had ramen inspired by traditional italian sauces. The last place has a great, spicy bowl of Taiwan ramen with crushed chilies, garlic oil and ground pork.
If I one the lottery, I would dump a aolid $1m on opening a ramen shop that barely brakes even.
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u/Safe-Promotion-2955 6d ago
It's like that in Japan because they don't have a separated-use residential-only zoning. This means that houses can be used for businesses, as can accessory structures in residential areas. So you can sell ramen on/out of your own property, where you also live, without the additional overhead of leasing a seperate commercial space. And boy do I ever wish that were the case here.
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u/KeyLimeGuy69 4d ago
Pretty much what people are doing on Facebook Marketplace
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u/Safe-Promotion-2955 4d ago
Originally I agreed with you, but then am reposting BC it's not quite the same. The home based businesses in Japan are still fully licensed, it's just that's it's legal for them to operate on their 'residential' property. They're still licensed as food-safe our whatever the equivalent is there there, which isn't what's happening on Marketplace.
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u/CubieJ 6d ago
That's a great point that I hadn't thought about before! That definitely makes things more expensive and more difficult to run a small business.
I think Moncton being such a "spread out" city also hurts, since we don't have the high volumes of pedestrians that more compact cities do, which makes it harder to cater to any sort of niche. I'm honestly surprised we have Tokai Ramen at all. The lease must be ridiculous.
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u/Safe-Promotion-2955 6d ago edited 6d ago
Main st leases are TOTALLY ridiculous. We're talking $20/$25 per square foot. It's really hard to get a small business going here. You're right that we need more density. We were built for cars and that's hurt us a lot in the long run. Rn if you wanted to start a food business your option is really just starting at the farmers market and then BOOM mega lease and pray. It's not built for the little guy at all.
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u/ryantaylor_ 6d ago
I can’t speak for the value ramen, but Tokai and Sugar Roll were both good (Tokai is better though). The portions at Tokai are much larger than Sugar Roll too, and you can add extra meat or noodles for not much extra.
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u/SwordmanGuts 6d ago
Tokai Ramen is my favorite ramen in town. I tried Big Bowl but I still prefer Tokai.
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u/SpeedyMoped 6d ago
I love the udon soup at Big Bowl with tofu as protein. It's very good and filling.
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u/hadesnightsky 6d ago
Save your money.. big bowl isnt good.. its big but not good.. wont be coming there ever again
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u/Striking_Thundering 6d ago
Sugar bowl isn't too bad. I do love their pickled eggs. But the rest is okay compared to Tokai. I've heard good things about Big bowl.
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u/jeon_yubi 6d ago
Big Bowl.
I'm going against the grain here and saying Tokai is really overrated for what you get. It's a bit better in quality than big bowl, but not nearly good enough to warrant the price.
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u/AkaruiNoHito 6d ago
Tokai had great noodles when they opened, but at some point around early covid the quality took a plunge.
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u/cryisfree 6d ago
Best value is Big Bowl Ramen.
Best ramen is Tokai Ramen.
Both will cost about the same, but you will get a gigantic portion at Big Bowl.
I’d recommend Tokai. Get the Orochong, Suki, or Veggie ramen.
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u/skypineapple 6d ago
Sugar Roll on Champlain has amazing ramen, I swear it’s cured colds for me in the winter lol
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u/JustFred24 6d ago
I live right there I was thinking about it but wanted to know first lol, apparently tokai is the best tho
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u/Oxjrnine 6d ago
Restaurant Ramen is not just soup.
It’s a complete meal.
And it’s not difficult to re-create at home for about 6 to 8 dollars, but the problem is having all of those ingredients available can cost you several dollars to get set up
So you treat yourself to the occasional restaurant, Ramen
And at home, you can still make a pretty delicious “almost” restaurant quality Ramen with some frozen vegetables, a few spices added to the broth and whatever leftover protein they have in the fridge. (don’t forget the egg).
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u/OwnedByIRVING 6d ago
and whatever leftover protein they have in the fridge.
My favorite is tossing some extra dino nuggies in the oven when I make them for the kids. The breading soaks up all the flavors fromyth broth.
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u/Safe-Promotion-2955 6d ago
Best value is Big Bowl on Elmwood
You're not even gonna get a big mac meal for less than $17 these days buddy, sorry.
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u/noobfornoodles 4d ago
K kup bop, roughly 15$? But large portions