I went to this place because I kept hearing that it was one of the best ramen houses in Vancouver. Came during a weekday and was lucky enough to get seated right away (normally the place can be really packed, but service is rather quick so you should get through soon.) Most of the ramen come in three types: lean, medium and rich. I had heard that medium was the best way to go so I ordered a Shoyu ramen medium with lean pork. Another at our table decided to just go all out and order rich.

I sat in the bench area overlooking the kitchen area, and as I watched ramen being prepared I began to wonder if I made the right decision. They literally scoop up pieces of fat and shake pieces into your bowl ... and the giant pots of bubbling fat was...not the most appetizing thing.

About 10 minutes after we ordered our food came. One sip of the broth and I knew it was too rich for me. The broth however was nicely flavoured and the noodles were good. I tried some of the rich broth and was really glad I didn't have that. It tasted like drinking fat! Can you believe on top of that you can order butter as a topping?

Overall I'd say it's not a bad ramen place, but I usually prefer my ramen a bit less greasy and I prefer a slightly different broth flavour. It's gotten generally good feedback though so worth a shot if you're in the area.

Kintaro Ramen has received lots of raves for its ramen, including the Forest Fire Ramen (apparently only available on Saturdays). This was my first time going here, and I had the BBQ Pork Ramen with fatty BBQ pork and the medium miso broth. The broth was flavourful and the noodles were quite good, although I think I made a mistake with the fatty pork. I find that fat adds flavour to food, but the amount of fat on the pork made me somewhat quesy. I'd recommend getting the lean pork and perhaps the lean broth too, since seeing the amount of fat that gets scooped out of the broths is a little unappetizing. All in all, pretty good food though, and quick service.

This place serves the best Ramen I've had outside of Japan. Their "medium" broth is the best (and the "fatty pork" is really yummy).