Hachiro Ramen is the first ramen restaurant in North Vancouver. Hachiro Ramen is here to take over the hearts of all the Japanese noodle lovers in the city! Siblings Stephen and Brooke Naito are the owners of Hachiro Ramen. The two of them grew up in North Van and recognized the need for a Japanese ramen shop in the neighbourhood. They use their Japanese heritage and nearby breweries as inspirations for the menu.
Hachiro Ramen is located on 16th street in North Vancouver. The exterior is all glass which means 1) ample lighting and 2) you can always see what’s going on inside.
On the inside, there is a huge table for bar table for seating but they also have quite a few tables for parties of 4 and more. I can imagine that the ramen shop will be filling up quick because the seating capacity is about 40 or so.
I was given the opportunity to visit Hachiro ramen before opening day and it was quite the treat! Here’s what to look for when you make your first visit to the up and coming ramen shop!
Stephen is the Head Chef at Hachiro and he learned the art of ramen making in Japan with some of the top ramen chefs in the country. The ramen style served at Hachiro is Kyushu-style tonkotsu ramen. This means that the broth is rich to the point that it’s almost cloudy and they primarily use pork bone (tonkotsu) as the broth base.
Hachiro ramen menu
We didn’t get to try their entire menu because they were still drafting up the copies that they were going to use for the restaurant opening. Instead we were given sample menus with an assortment of appetizers we were going to try, a choice of ramen and then a dessert. I really enjoyed that they had vegetarian options for everything on the ramen menu because sometimes that’s not available on menus.
To start we were given an option of a few of their cocktails to try out and let’s just say….I made a diligent food blogger effort to try each and every one of them 🙂
Lonsdale spritz
This was their version of the aperol spritz. The base was a strawberry puree before being topped with soda and alcohol. If you’re a fan of light summery drinks, this is the one for you. The strawberry was noticeable but you knew there wasn’t much syrup in there because the drink wasn’t too sweet. I liked how refreshing it was on a hot day. This is going to be such a hit during patio season.
Whisky highball
This was made using suntory whisky so it was lighter and had citrus notes. It was then topped with soda water and some syrup to sweeten it up. Grayson asked for it to be half sweet but regretted it because the whisky was actually quite strong. If you’re a fan of the old fashioned cocktail, this is the one for you.
Moscow Mule
This was their version of the Moscow Mule. I’m terrible and can’t remember the first half of the name but it was a something mule. I thought that the drink was stronger than I imagined in that you could really taste the alcohol in it. This is a good thing because sometimes I find that all you taste is ginger beer in this type of cocktail. Their unique twist on this cocktail is that they add yuzu syrup to add citrus notes.
For those who drove to the event, they offered two mocktails. One being an alcohol-free version of the lonsdale spritz and the other similar to a mojito with lots of mint. Both drinks looked absolutely gorgeous and enticing to drink.
Something I really liked about the event itself was that they had an “Instagram food table” where they had a few of their dishes displayed on a table for people to take photos of. I waited a while for the corner to settle down before I attempted to get myself in there. Some of the dishes were ones that we were able to try and others were things that we could look forward to once they open.
While delicious looking, we didn’t try the chicken wings or the poutine that way. The chicken wings looked delightfully golden brown and crispy though and the poutine was a nice tribute to Canadian cuisine.
Crispy Chashu pork and rice onigiri
This was rice balls on a whole nother level! Instead of simply being a sphere of packed rice, they deep fried it afterwards so that you get a crispy exterior similar to if you were having stone bowl rice. The crispiness on the outside also reminded me of aranchini. On the inside, there were pieces of soft and fatty chashu pork. There probably could have been more filling compared to the rice but overall it was a great dish. I liked the pickled plum on top because not only is it my favorite Japanese topping ever but it also added sourness which contrasted against the sweet and spiciness of the togarashi corn puree.
Chicken Kaarage
It’s not a ramen shop without chicken kaarage right? At least that’s what seems to be the trend in Vancouver these days. Hachiro ramen uses local chicken thigh meat to make their crispy chicken kaarage nuggets which I appreciate because I think people should try to support local farmers when they can. After being fried to golden brown perfection, the chicken kaarage is topped with a sweet but spicy red chili honey sauce.
If you’re not a fan of spicy food, no worries because the sweetness of the honey comes through more than the chili. The dish also comes with yuzu mayonnaise. I’m not sure if it was added mostly for decor or for using as a sauce but I wish there was more of it on the plate. The yuzu helped cut through the richness of the mayonnaise which resulted in a well balanced sauce to compliment the chili honey sauce.
Seaweed and pickled radish salad
This seaweed salad was a welcome break to all the drinks and fried foods we had been getting. Seaweed salad is one of my favourite things at Japanese restaurants because I love how crunchy and bright the seaweed is. At Hachiro ramen, they add tomatoes and pickled radish to add acidity and garlic and scallions to add another level of flavour. I couldn’t get enough of this!
Misso lobster tail
This appetizer actually came out after our ramen but we didn’t mind because it let us really focus on the richness of the miso butter sauce the lobster tail was roasted in. The lobster was then topped with crispy garlic for texture and lightly drizzled with chili oil to add some heat. There were also a few slices of pickled radishes on there which I liked because it added sour notes that elevated everything.
The lobster was so flavorful from being cooked in the miso butter sauce. It was a nice spin on the traditional garlic butter sauce. This dish comes with a side of rice so you can use it to soak up all the delicious miso butter sauce at the end. This was probably one of my favorite dishes of the night. It was just soooo goood.
Spicy miso ramen
While shoyu ramen has a place in my heart, I decided to go with the miso base instead because I really wanted spicy ramen. As I mentioned earlier, they serve Kyushu style ramen here so the soup base was made with pork bone (tonkotsu). To that, they added a chili miso tare to add spice and flavor before topping it with chili oil. The ramen is then adorned with roasted corn nibbles, seaweed, scallions, 2 slices of chashu and enoki mushrooms.
The chashu pork was thick cut and had a balance of meat and fatty layers. I’ve never had chashu preared this way before and it reminded me of bacon. We also had the choice to add a marinated egg on top so of course I had to say yes to that! The egg yolk was soooo golden and gooey it could practically be bottled and sold as a golden elixir of sorts. That’s how good it was.
Something I noticed right away was that they didn’t have the yellow colour found in ramen noodles from being alkalized. Instead, the noodles were very thin similar to Chinese wheat noodles. I’ve never had ramen noodles this thin before so it was an all new experience for me. Since the noodles weren’t alkaline, they were not as chewy as your typical ramen noodles but I thought that they were just as enjoyable because the broth was so delicious.
Miso ramen
This was basically the same as the spicy version minus the spicy miso base and chili oil. Surprisingly, Grayson enjoyed the thinner noodles because he said that somehow they picked up the flavor of the broth better. He also enjoyed the chashu quite a bit because the fat in it helped it stay tender.
Matcha layer cake
I may not know a lot of typical desserts out there but I know my matcha cakes. This gorgeous looking cake had even layers of matcha sponge, matcha mousse, and matcha mascarpone. The sponge was light and fluffy with lots of matcha flavour without being bitter.
The matcha mousse added creaminess and matcha mascarpone added richness that was reminiscence of a Japanese cheesecake. The cake itself was also not very sweet which I enjoyed but if you want it a little sweeter, you can always add some of the white chocolate ganache onto your cake! All in all, this was a scrumptious way to end off the night.
Quick bites:
- You have to try the matcha cake! They also have a yuzu tart for dessert that sounds amazing!
- Try the cocktails, they are light and refreshing!
- If you’re a fan of rich ramen broths, you won’t be disappointed.