Saturday Ramen - Kyu

Kyu Bistro is, to my understanding, a first in Winnipeg. Touting itself as a izakaya restaurant, Kyu specializes in Japanese tapas and ramen. Running between errands on a busy Saturday, I found myself near the hospital area and decided to have a quick meal at Kyu.

The restaurant has a modern feel to it with nice decor, attentive wait staff and a nicely presented menu. Looking over the tapas, ramen and noodle options, I opted to go with a ramen and a noodle dish.

The Spicy Pork Glass Noodles was a nice combination of glass noodles, seasoned pork and vegetables all tossed in a Korean spicy bean sauce. This dish felt altogether unimaginative and reeked of imitation. The almost random array of vegetables suggest little thought went into this dish. To their credit, it was cooked well and the spicy bean sauce accentuated the glass noodles well.

The Spicy Miso Ramen consisted of a generous portion of noodles in a "miso" broth. Again, I get the sense that Kyu was making their best imitation of ramen. The broth was too oily and lacked any significant miso flavour. The pork, while tender, was bland. The bamboo resembled the pickled chili bamboo one can find in a supermarket. Put altogether, this was a cheap, but ultimately unimpressive bowl of ramen. There are much better in the city.