Kawawa Japanese Ramen – High Quantity, but Low Quality Ramen

E15-4700 Kingsway, Metropolis at Metrotown, Burnaby

Food: 2.5

Service: 3

Price: Cheap

As I mentioned in my most recent post, Japanese ramen shops are just popping up everywhere in town. I was alluding to just Vancouver, but really, they’re plotting themselves outside the city too. I was convinced of this on a Thursday night at Metrotown Mall, where my friend L and I were on the run, and I had 4 criteria for dinner: something cheap,
something quick, something substantial, and definitely something not in the food court. This equated to Kawawa Japanese Ramen, located underneath the Silvercity Metropolis theatres, a place L had been wanting to try for awhile.



Featured Items from Their Menu

What to Expect:

·    efficient, but not attentive service

·    cheap prices that reflect the low quality of the food

·    ingredients that aren’t fresh

·    a busy dinner crowd



Complimentary Tea



Combo A: Large Bowl of Ramen and Small Bowl of Chasu Don (My Order), $7.95

Ramen: Chasu, Bamboo shoots, Corn, Green onions, Piece of nori, Ramen noodles, and Chicken broth

·    same size as regular ramen bowl orders

·    bad ramen noodles that were delicately thin! – (think of the unfried instant noodles you’d make on a lazy day)

·    thin chicken broth that was not very flavourful

·    could definitely tell that the bamboo shoots were straight from a can...yuck

Chasu Don: Nori strips, Kimchi cabbage, Dry chasu bits, Teriyaki sauce, and Short grain rice

·    the kimchi was not extremely spicy (medium strength), which was palatable for someone like me who doesn’t like very spicy food

·    the chasu was very salty, but rightfully so to counter the sweetness of the rice

·    very tasty dish, though not with a lot of depth

Ramen (L’s Order), $6.95

Chasu, Bamboo shoots, Corn, Green onions, Piece of nori, Ramen noodles, and Chicken broth

·    (same ramen as the one I had, described above)

I’m dumbfounded by the business this restaurant gets for the low quality food it serves, but if most of the people that come here are into getting full on a cheap dime, I can see why there weren’t many empty seats at Kawawa that night. And if not only for its cheapness, people likely come here too because it serves food very fast. L and I took our time eating, and we still ended up leaving around 30 minutes after the time we came in! So this restaurant has its good points and its bad points, but if you appreciate a good bowl of ramen like me, I would recommend that you don’t come here.