Akedo Showten Ramen + Gyoza

Most ramen in the Lower Mainland starts with pork bones. Akedo Showten starts with chicken. The shop’s signature is a tori paitan, a chicken broth simmered long enough with vegetables and spices that it turns thick, pale and creamy, and every bowl on the menu is built on it.

Who runs it

Akedo Showten Enterprises Ltd. was registered in BC in March 2018 and the shop on Fraser Highway opened that April. It is a one-location business, and its menu points back to a sister restaurant in Wakayama, Japan, where the house gyoza recipe has been served for about thirty years. The serving cloth in the shop’s own photos reads “since 1926”. The company describes its aim as being everyone’s “second home”, and the room matches: light wood, white tile, a counter looking into the kitchen.

What to order

You pick a bowl, then a flavour. The bowls run from the Original (chicken chashu, green onion, arugula) through the Ajitama with a seasoned egg, the Meat Lovers with pork chashu added, the Oyako with both chicken and egg, a Cheese bowl with mozzarella, and a Veggie bowl. There is also a Vegan bowl made with soy milk, sesame, ginger and a kombu dashi stock instead of the chicken broth.

The flavour choice changes the seasoning: White is salt-based (Himalayan pink salt, mussels, dried scallops, kombu), Black is soy with dark garlic oil, and Red is miso made from three kinds of miso and koji salt. Spicy chili paste and truffle oil are small add-ons, and extra toppings are $2 each.

The noodles are made in-house with Canadian whole wheat flour and no egg, and the menu says nothing is made with MSG. Still hungry? A noodle refill (kaedama) is $2.

The gyoza come six to an order, pan-fried for a soft middle or deep-fried for crunch. Sides include karaage chicken, edamame, a spicy pickled cucumber and a small chashu rice bowl.

First visit

It is a small room, so lunch and dinner rushes fill it quickly. Use the Toast waitlist link before you leave home, or order ahead for pick-up. Vegans and vegetarians have real options here, which is not a given at a ramen shop. Tell your server about allergies; the menu asks you to.

More independent spots: Shop Local.