Kuma Noodle - Kind of Cool

Kuma Noodle Location

I happened to stumble on Kuma when I was meeting some friends for wing night at 1550s (still pretty good there, by the way). It's a fairly small Japanese noodle shop located on Cedar Hill X, right next to Brannigans family restaurant. It's funny, I was just thinking how Victoria didn't have any good Japanese noodle restaurants after the one downtown closed.

They operate Monday through Saturday from 11:00am-9:30pm. They did a great job renovating it from the printer ink store, showcasing a huge stainless steel cooking area behind the counter, some booth seating to the left, and a few smaller tables to the right of the entrance. They also have a pachinko machine if anyone knows how to play!

The menu is fairly basic with a selection of various ramen noodle dishes. They have soy flavoured ramen, salt flavoured ramen, miso ramen, miso bbq pork ramen, and vegetable ramen. There are also a few rice dishes such as: curry rice, pork cutlet don, chicken and egg don, steak don and bbq don. Side dishes included gyoza, rice, kimchi and fried rice. Drinks are pretty standard with soft drinks and green tea.

I ordered from the counter and had the miso bbq noodle, while my friends had the miso noodle and vegetable noodle. Service was friendly, and the girl at the counter as fluently bilingual. She explained what was in the dish and that they buy the noodles fresh. but make the soup in house.

It didn't take long for our orders to arrive, which was good because I was hungry! My miso bbq ramen was served with green onions, sprouts, half a boiled egg and about four to six thin, fatty slices of bbq pork. My friend who ordered just the regular miso ramen had two pieces of pork less for $1 difference - interesting... The soup was rich and flavourful, but salty as miso often tends to be. I did drink a lot of water during and after eating the dish due to the saltiness. The noodles had a nice, springy texture and soaked up the other flavours well. The other ingredients in the dish were also very good; however, $9.75 for noodle soup and a few pieces of bbq pork is a little expensive for a late afternoon snack that doesn't fill you up. Perhaps it was because I had an early lunch, or because my metabolism is speeding up again, but I was still definitely hungry afterwards.

                                        

I know it isn't entirely fair to compare with other cuisines, but for $10, one could get a large pho, wonton soup, or even udon and be completely satisfied. That all said, Kuma is a neat and tasty place that is close by for University and residential folk. I can't think of any other Japanese noodle places that focus on ramen and rice dishes, so Kuma has found a great niche. My only dislike is that they are a little thrifty with the quantity, but the quality is there. Check it out for lunch of a snack, but be prepared to order sides if you've got an appetite!

- Mr. Pink