REVIEW | Hokkaido Ramen Santouka - differentiating itself by offering customizable ramen spiciniess & saltiness

There seems to be a never ending list of Ramen joints to try and we are slowly making our way through them. The most recent one on the hit list has been Santouka ramen on Dundas St. E, a few minutes’ walk from Eaton Centre.  Going in, I had some pretty high hopes as I’ve had recommendations from a few friends and even one that had tried the Santouka ramen in Vancouver.

The brick building is pretty hard to miss and it’s right next to a parking lot so you don’t have to park too far away. As usual, there was a line forming outside and we had to wait before we were seated.  The restaurant itself is not very big even though it looks big from the outside. We were a group of 7 so it took a while before we eventually got seated.

Their menu is fairly simple as most ramen places are. You have your usual appetizers such as gyoza, seaweed salad etc. Having tried gyoza at other places and not being a huge fan I opted out of ordering one this time.

I ended up ordering the Shio Ramen ($10.95) which is a salt base broth. I liked the option of choosing how much salt you wanted in your broth. Thinking back, my request for less salt must have seemed weird since I was ordering a salt based broth ramen. You can also choose how much lard you want in your broth. Despite having these two elements customized, I’m not sure I got the right order because when they were bringing the ramen out, they didn’t specify which bowl had what. 

Overall, I found my bowl of Shio ramen to be average, there was nothing that stood out about to me and I found the broth a bit too oily (may have been different if I received the less lard bowl). Even though the broth was oily, I found it to be light and not too heavy like some of the other ramen joints I’ve tried.

My friend ordered the Shoyu Ramen ($10.95) which is the soy sauce based. He had some of mine and said it was very salty so if you do not like salt, it may be best to opt for the Shoyu Ramen.

Another friend ordered the Kara Miso Ramen ($10.95) which is the spicy ramen on their menu. The good thing about Santouka is that you can customize how spicy you want the bowl to be.

Overall, I thought Santouka was medicore. If I had to wait to get a table, I would prefer going somewhere else. Of all the ramen places I’ve tried, I still prefer Santosei (read the review here) but the hunt continues for the best ramen in Toronto!