Ichifuku Ramen is a small inconspicuous restaurant located on St. Catherine Street just a few blocks below Atwater.  It's located in the new trendy part of downtown, where a lot of inexpensive specialized eateries are popping up.

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What can you say about a place that makes its own noodles ?  This is the REAL deal, people.  In fact, their ramen machine was brought over from Japan, and is proudly displayed in the storefront window.   

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Their ingredients are of top quality, beginning with the soft water that they use for their broth and noodles.   The pork that they serve is Nagano pork, which is comparable to Angus beef.  And most impressively, none of their dishes contain MSG. 

 

The decor is bright and airy, and the restaurant is quite roomy.  There are many tables on one side of the room, with a long counter on the other.  

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We like to start off with the vegetable gyozas.   You get 5 to a plate, and they're so delicious that you won't even miss the meat.  They're panfried to give a little crust, and are filled with napa cabbage, potato, ginger, and garlic.

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There are so many menu selections.   You can have ramen in a soup, or fried, or even in a salad.   They also have a few rice dishes for those who prefer rice.  There's even deep fried chicken served on rice.   There are soups of every variety, and even one with 4 levels of spiciness, for those who like a little heat.  There's 3 choices of broth :  a miso base, a soya base, and a salt base broth.

 

With so much selection, we've tried a few, but have stuck with our favorites of the Tonkotsu Kuro Mayu soup and Tan-Tan Men.  

 

The Tonkotsu Kuro Mayu is a salt base broth that is rich and thick, and is served with a drizzle of garlic oil and a few slices of tender pork on top.  There's also 1/2 of a hardboiled egg, seaweed, and scallions to complete the bowl.  The Tan-Tan Men is a spicy sesame pork soup that has a chicken broth base, that leaves you warm all over.

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This is definitely an authentic Japanese ramen restaurant, and the owners are very proud of the food they serve.   It's one of our favorite restaurants in Montreal.   On cold winter days,  it is especially enjoyable to huddle over a warm delicious bowl of broth and ramen.

 

This is definitely a place to try.    If you're lucky, they might even be making the noodles in front of you !

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