I’D RATHER BE SLURPING
Nine-year-old Maike Nouwens criss-crossed city sampling bowls of ramen
Nine-year-old noodle foodie spent her summer searching for the city’s best ramen,
“A foodie means that you aren’t super picky and that you’re willing to try new things.” — Maike Nouwens, 9.
What do you get for doing well in school?
Budding foodie Maike Nouwens, 9, is rewarded with ramen — to be precise, a quest for the city’s best ramen.
With mom, dad and little brother Oliver in tow, Maike, a precocious Cabbagetowner, has spent her summer scouring Toronto’s noodle-scape for the perfect bowl.
That’s what Maike chose as her own reward. Bitten by the noodle bug after watching the entire David Chang season of popular Netflix series Mind of a Chef, Nouwens fell hard for the dish that has become a North American obsession.
Like stinky cheese and salmon skin, she just had to give it a try — and a taste — for herself.
“The broth is hot and flavourful, cloudy. It reminds me of chicken noodle soup with yummy toppings,” Maike said.
Armed with recommendations from a food-obsessed colleague of her mom’s — a lawyer who has made it her mission to chronicle the city’s best of everything gastronomic — Maike slurped her way through iterations of the traditional Asian dish, comparing and contrasting as she ate.
The noodles are softer at some places, she says, the broth more flavourful at others.
And the toppings — nori, egg, longbraised meat — arrive at the table in different proportions at each restaurant and in more or less harmony.
But, Maike says, her palate experienced far beyond its culinary years, while differences abound, there really is no such thing as a bad bowl of this yummy, exotic food.
“I have not come across a bowl of ramen that I don’t like,” she says.
One of the weirdest parts of eating ramen?
“You’re supposed to slurp and make noise,” she says, noting that in her dad’s day, making sounds while eating was considered rude.
“I still think it’s fun. And I also think it is funny when I see the look on dad’s face — it’s a look of discomfort whenever I make a rather loud slurp.”
Nouwens traversed the city, even venturing slightly north of Steeles Ave., all to feed her desire to find perfection in a bowl of noodles:
“You’re supposed to slurp and make noise. I still think it’s fun. I also think it is funny when I see the look on dad’s face.” MAIKE NOUWENS, 9 BUDDING FOODIE
Bowl 1: Kinton Ramen 51Baldwin St., Toronto Original Chicken ($11.90)
“The bowl from Kinton had really amazing noodles. They’re thick but not squishy.
“They don’t fall apart but they’re soft enough so you can bite into them really, really easily.
“I also liked the chicken because it softened a lot more than the other meat I had at other restaurants.” Bowl 2: Santouka 91Dundas St. E. Shio ($10.95)
“The broth was really, really good — it had a great texture and just enough flavour, but not too much. The noodles slurped well — considering that was the place I got hit in the eye with my noodles. And the nori was really perfect for the broth because you could chew it really easily but it was firm enough so it didn’t fall apart.” Bowl 3: Sansotei Ramen 179 Dundas St. W. Toronto Shoyu ($9.50)
“I really liked the toppings: The egg was delicious. The yolk was runny and felt so good on my tongue, it almost felt like you were eating silk, but in a good way — and I’m pretty sure silk would taste bad.” Bowl 4: Niwatei 3160 Steeles Ave. E. Unit 118 in J-Town by the Sea Original Chicken ($9.80)
“The noodles were thin and quite soft, rather chewy actually. The egg was yummy.
“It was the best! All the different components of the ramen worked together perfectly so, overall it was just the best!”