Ginza: a ramen shop in Ottawa

Ginza Ramen (832 Somerset Street W – in Chinatown)

A dear friend messaged me one evening to let me know that she was eating a bowl of ramen at a new ramen shop. In Ottawa! At a place called Ginza.

I had seen the first Ginza shop in passing, on Elgin Street in downtown Ottawa, and in great excitement searched for a menu online. After seeing the menu online (mix of ramen, pho, vermicelli dishes, sushi, rice noodle soups, grilled foods), I figured it was your typical all-encompassing Asian restaurant…and my interest waned. But my dear friend assured me that the place that she was eating at in Chinatown served *just* ramen. And she liked it.

The shop in Chinatown incorporates a lot of wood into its interior and has a warm feel inside. The kitchen isn’t very open to the eating area, which is key to a ramen shop so that you can watch all of the fast-paced action, and there was no hearty irashaimase from the staff to welcome patrons inside. However, the server provided courteous, friendly, and prompt service, with just the right level of attention (because nobody likes a server who hovers or forgets about you).

Ika-age with wasabi mayo

Chicken karaage with a wasabi mayo

We ordered chicken and ika karaage as appetizers. Both were accompanied by a mild wasabi mayo dip. The chicken was dry and the batter was average, but not having had karaage for a while, it did hit a spot. The ika (squid) had a good crunch from being deep-fried.

Miso tonkotsu ramen with corn, char siu, bean sprouts, green onions, mushrooms, and nori

Continuing from previous ramen adventures, which you can read about here, here, here and here, I ordered the miso ramen. Ginza has a tonkotsu base and a chicken broth base; the miso is a tonkotsu ramen. The broth was decent but the balance of flavours and textures in it doesn’t quite meet some of the better ramen bowls I’ve had elsewhere. The noodles were cooked well and the range of toppings offered in the bowl was good, but the char siu slices were thin, not the awesome wrapped kind, and not as fatty/melt-in-my-mouth as I like them.

Considering Ottawa has no other reputable ramen shop yet, the ramen at Ginza would definitely entice me to return when I have a craving. However, if I were in Toronto or Vancouver, where there are a myriad of ramen shops, I would likely go to another place.

Another bowl of ramen in Toronto

Kenzo Ramen (Mississauga location: Burnhamthorpe Road West by Mavis Road)

Whenever I’m in Toronto, I like to try to get in at least one bowl of ramen into my itinerary.  I’d gone on a bit of a ramen adventure in Toronto during a 4.5 day trip there last February (read about it here) and though I never wrote about it, I also had some delicious ramen at Momofuku Noodle House as well. Unfortunately, when I’m staying in the suburbs, the concentration of ramen shops in the downtown area does me no good.

This time, I thought I’d lucked out. Kenzo Ramen, which I had yet to try, has 5 locations in the Toronto area, including in the suburban city of Mississauga. We arrived there just past 6pm on a weekday to find a good-sized but fairly empty restaurant (score!?). I should note that by the time we left, all of the tables were full. We walked in to Irashaimase (welcome)…a good start. We ordered takoyaki as an appetizer (at an expensive $8.99 for 6 pieces), and a tonkotsu ramen and a tonkotsu miso ramen (both bowls are $10.95 each).

Takoyaki

The takoyaki were a decent size but again, pricey for (a) what you get and (b) what it entails.

Tonkotsu Ramen

Tonkotsu Miso Ramen

I expect tonkotsu broth to be rich, flavourful, and hearty. It should taste like pork. The charsiu (BBQ pork) at a really good place is wrapped, not just a piece of pork, and should melt in your mouth. I did not enjoy the tonkotsu broth at Kenzo, neither in flavour nor in richness, and the charsiu at other ramen places in Toronto is much better (though the flavour at Kenzo was decent). Unfortunately, despite not having eaten a bowl of ramen in over 6 months (read: we were ramen-hungry), we did not feel satiated by this ramen.

Sigh.

It also took a while for our dishes to make their way to our table, despite there not being too many customers ahead of us.

Lovely Sunday Lunch

I had heard many-a-time about a very lovely Sunday lunch spot at a duck farm near Plantaganet, Ontario. A place where they feed you the vegetables that they grow in their garden and the ducks that they raise on their farm. A quiet haven off a two-lane highway about a 45 minute drive from downtown Ottawa. It was only recently that I finally made it out to Mariposa Farm to enjoy a meal.

Mariposa Farm (6468 County Road 17, Plantaganet, Ontario)

The Farm

Large plant markers!

Welcome to Sunday Lunch at Mariposa Farm!

They change their menu every Sunday and for $45 plus tax/gratuities, you get a well-sized three-course meal: starter, entree, dessert. There is also homemade bread with soybean oil, and self-serve tea and coffee.

The cozy dining room

The view out the window

They provide three different options for each of the parts of the meal so it’s a semi-set meal. There was no vegetarian option for the entree…lucky for me, I’m not a vegetarian! Instead, I opted for their duck confit, which was absolutely amazing! Not to mention it came on one of my favourite fall vegetables: delicata squash!

One of the choices of starters: head cheese with a fruit puree, black radishes, mustard seeds, and some toast.

Duck confit on a bed of buckwheat, delicata squash, celerium, and pears.

A selection of local cheeses with oatmeal cookies

A peach tart with raspberry sauce and a dollop of whipped cream

It’s a lovely place if you’re looking for a special meal in a relaxing setting, friendly hosts, delicious food (albeit not very vegetarian-friendly), and something a little different from your city restaurant. I’ve not yet heard one person walk away from Mariposa Farm dissatisfied.

A mini Vegas in Canada

Growing up in western Canada, I remember seeing commercials on TV for Niagara Falls, Ontario. I’ve heard the story about the lady who went over the Falls in a barrel, I’ve seen photos and videos trying to represent the grandeur of this natural wonder…but I finally got to experience it all for myself on a recent trip to the mini Las Vegas in Canada (because that’s what Clifton Hills feels like).

Clifton Hills

The railroad to…?

Canadian Falls

American Falls

Being a tourism-based area, one could easily find their wallet a load lighter after visiting all of the tourist attractions, riding carnival rides, having meals, and buying souvenirs. I quite enjoyed just walking around, taking in the cheesy-ness of the main tourist areas. The Maid of the Mist, which is a boat ride that takes you quite close to both the Canadian and American Niagara Falls, was well worth the experience. For this trip, we had decided to stay on the Canadian side and after visually comparing the other Falls-related activities that one could partake in, we decided to forgo all of the Canadian activities in favour of one day visiting the American side to walk down by the Falls or out onto the Observation Deck. It looked much more worth the experience on the American side, after all.

Street Art in Toronto

A stroll through Toronto:

Blueberries!

While I was in Kelowna, BC several weeks ago, I went apricot picking for the very first time in my life! I have to say, it is so much easier picking apricots than strawberries. For one, apricots grow on trees, which means they are more easily accessible from a standing position and the trees provide shade. Strawberries, as delicious as they are, grow very low to the ground in large open fields with little shade. As a side note, in high school, I worked picking strawberries for one damp morning and since then, have a huge appreciation for berry pickers. Oh yes. And apricots are much larger than strawberries…we picked over 20lb of apricots in 10 minutes! To eat tree-ripened apricots…heaven.

Unfortunately, I missed cherry picking (arriving too late in the afternoon to be allowed into the orchards) and couldn’t go blueberry picking while in BC (because BC blueberries are huge and the best of the best). However, I did eat loads of Okanagan cherries during my vacation and decided that I would try blueberry picking in Ottawa once I was back in town.

Blueberries!

It doesn’t seem like there are many blueberry U-Pick farms around Ottawa but we made a trip out to the one that I did find: Canaan Blueberries. It’s about a 20 minute drive east on the highway from downtown Ottawa, beyond suburban Orleans and into the countryside. The drive is nice and takes you along the Ottawa River, and before you know it, you’ll have arrived at the farm.

I found that blueberry picking in Ottawa was more tedious than picking in Vancouver, mostly because the berries here seem to be smaller. Obviously this depends on the variety, of which Canaan has a few, but it took me about 2 hours to fill a 4 litre basket ($2.75 per lb). Nonetheless, it was a beautiful summer day to be out amongst the blueberry bushes!

Blueberry bushes

Drool over Sushi in the Park

One awesome summertime activity is watching a movie outdoors. Many cities across Canada host free movies in the park or on the pier (yay Halifax!), and Ottawa is not to be left out. Centretown Movies is a volunteer-driven film fest that screens family-friendly films at Dundonald Park in downtown Ottawa, both to bring the community together for evenings of fun and to take back a park that used to be a bit rough. The films are pay-what-you-can (pass-the-bucket style) and last year, there were two food vendors who serviced the event. Enjoy a picnic dinner on a Friday or Saturday evening then enjoy the movie once dusk sets in.

Click here to see the schedule. The first movies start July 26/27. However, I did want to highlight one very enjoyable film that I saw at the local independent theatre, Bytowne Cinemas. It’s called Jiro Dreams of Sushi and the story is great, the cinematography is great, and I definitely recommend seeing it. I wrote about it here but don’t worry, it isn’t a spoiler. The film is playing on Friday August 9. A recipe for a perfect summer evening!

Fringe-ing in Ottawa

Last year’s train trip (the Canada portion was from Vancouver to Ottawa) had me stopping in Winnipeg for a handful of days in late July. It was my first visit to this city in the Prairies – also the middle of Canada – and luck would have it that I dropped by right in the middle of the Winnipeg Fringe Festival. You may think that this Fringe Fest is small but it actually held the North American record for tickets sold for a few years until another city outsold them in 2011. Pretty impressive!

I was a Fringe virgin but, lucky me, I had a fabulous Frequent Fringer and devoted volunteer acting as my Fringe guide. She took me to see a variety of shows (comedy, drama, musical, improve, opera) and exposed me to Fringe Central downtown, including free shows on the mainstage. The weather was beautiful, the arts were creative, and I walked away with nothing but fond memories.

How do you walk away from such an experience without wanting to be drawn back into it this year! Lo and behold, I’ll be volunteering at the Ottawa Fringe Festival, running in and around the Byward Market area from June 20-30, 2013…and hopefully checking out a number of shows as well. As with the Winnipeg Fringe, the Ottawa Fringe is unjuried so I would expect an eclectic mix of theatre with a range of quality (subjective, of course).

To attend the Ottawa Fringe, each person needs a $3 Fringe pin. The pin is to be worn at any show you are seeing, is purchased separately from a show ticket, and is a one-time $3 donation to the Fringe Festival itself. This allows all of the ticket sale money to go directly to the performing artists. With 50+ productions over 10 days, you’re bound to find something that piques your curiosity. There is also the Fringe Courtyard where you can hang out, buy some food (Stone Soup Foodworks food truck is the vendor), and enjoy some entertainment.

I’m the type of person who likes to buy tickets in advance. However, for the Ottawa Fringe, I am switching it up by buying my ticket at the door. Something like 50% of the tickets are held for door sales, with the other 50% allocated to advance sales, so I presume there’s a good chance of getting a ticket to a desired show at the door.

Check out the productions and come Fringe! And if you are in town on Canada Day, the Courtyard will remain open on July 1 with some free improv and entertainment!

Mer Bleu in Spring

This past winter, right after a heavy snowfall, we went snowshoeing at Mer Bleu Bog. The boardwalk was nowhere to be seen and it was a serene white all around us. We decided to venture back there on a beautiful sunny late Spring afternoon to see what it looks like when the snow has disappeared.

Welcome to Mer Bleu bog boardwalk in late Spring

Cattails in the water

Beautiful reflections

Bog – apparently Mer Bleu’s pH is around 3.5…made me wonder what happens to you if you accidentally fall off the boardwalk….

The tree needs a hair cut!

Such beauty!

Now that I’ve seen the bog in the dead of winter and in late spring, perhaps this means I’ll need to take a visit later this year during fall as well. Hmmm.

Take a peek inside Ottawa’s buildings: June 1/2

Curious what the inside of an embassy looks like? A church?  A mosque? The Ottawa Citizen? A museum? Step behind the scenes at over one hundred of Ottawa’s public and private buildings on June 1 and 2 as part of Doors Open Ottawa. It is completely free to participate, first come first served for most buildings, a free bus shuttle drops you off within the vicinity of 50 buildings, and buildings are located all across and around Ottawa proper.

Ever since I moved here a few years ago, I’ve made a point to check out some buildings each year. I’ve had tours of places like:

• Robert O. Pickard Environmental Centre…a wastewater treatment plant
• Embassy of the United States of America (requires pre-registration)
• Enriched Bread Artists of Ottawa…which is an art gallery, not a bakery
• OC Transpo Industrial Garage
• Traffic Operations Public Works
• Transportation Safety Board of Canada

Unfortunately, I don’t think the Transportation Safety Board is offering tours this year but it was really cool seeing how they do crash reconstructions (flights, rail). The bus garage was fun because they let you sit on the bus and take you through the maintenance garage, including the bus wash. The Traffic Operations tour was also super fun; you learn about the traffic/pedestrian lights, how they make street signs and paint the lines on the streets.

I love behind-the-scenes stuff and think this is a great FREE event. Grab a map, look at the buildings listing, and plan out your route for Saturday or Sunday (not everything is open to the public on both days). Think about biking or taking the bus.