Ramen shops coming east to Toronto

TORONTO—Three new restaurants selling ramen, the Japanese dish of noodles in broth, are going to be opened in Toronto this year by ramen shop operators in Vancouver.

Daiji Matsubara, the owner of two ramen restaurants in the West Coast city, is set to open Raijin in Toronto. it is going into the space where Cr3asians used to operate, on Gerrard Street east of Yonge, near Ryerson University.

A report on the Toronto Life website says it should be open in a few weeks.

In 1999, Matsubara, who hails from Tokyo, opened Kintaro Ramen on Denman in downtown Vancouver, serving the Japanese noodles in a pork broth.

Some years later he opened Motomachi Shokudo, down the street from Kintaro, which also serves ramen but in an unconventional chicken broth. One version is even more different; it contains charcoal powder.

Matsubara imports his noodles from Nippon Trends Food Service Inc. in San Jose, CA.

Meanwhile, former Kintaro manager Nobuaki Urata is planning to open a ramen shop called Kinton on Baldwin Street in Toronto in May, according to Toronto Life.

Last month, the news broke that Ramen Santouka, a Japanese-based chain with a 35-seat unit in Vancouver is planning to open a location in downtown Toronto.

The Canadian rights to the concept are held by Vancouver-based Santouka Kamei Canada Foods.