Kobo Ramen — Restaurant in Sherbrooke

If you have nothing to compare it to, you may find the food pretty good, but unfortunately the ramen did not satisfy my craving for authentic ramen. The Shoyu was bland and lacking in rich soya flavour. The Tonkotsu was also bland and lacking in bone broth creaminess and was supposed to be spicy, but it wasn't, perhaps to accommodate "Boreal" palates, though perhaps additional condiments could be added to the table, and no, not (Thai) Sriracha. One also hopes for thicker cuts of fatty pork belly, but we had smaller cuts of overly roasted pork like as if the meat was cut and roasted as opposed to a large cut being oven roasted and sliced after cooking. The noodles were REALLY good- hopefully in the future there will be variety. Not sure what Chinese Bao Buns are doing on a "Japanese Bistro" menu, but I tried them anyway, cause I couldn't resist. The buns should be softer. There was some good flavour, though underwhelming because the ratio of bun to filling was off as the buns are too small especially given the type of filling (pork + cucumber). As for the ambience, the servers are kind and the place is beautiful and clean. The music was loud and out of place though. I know it's a bistro, but some chill downtempo instrumental music could really help to create an atmosphere without lyrics to yell over especially any time before 9pm (Spotify playlist recommendations: "Lo-Fi Beats", "Japanese Chillhop", "Japanese Trap|Lo-Fi Hip-Hop|Chill Beats"). Anyway, I have great hope for this place because the quality of the ingredients and presentation are there! Some more research and trial and error is needed, especially to honour cultures that don't belong to...

Because it’s downtown, it’s a bit hard to find parking. Just remember to park downhill if you can because you don’t want to be walking uphill to your car with a tummy full of ramen lol

As for the food, we tried the Takoyaki which was a little small but it seemed to be deep fried instead of the traditional pan-fried so it was super crispy and the flavour was delicious.

Next we had the Bao buns. I expected an enclosed steamed bun with a ground pork filling but instead it was a steamed bun sliced open and filled with shredded pork meat, cucumber and sliced green onion, smothered in a sauce. It was okay, the sauce is way too salty and ruined it. I wouldn’t order it again.

Finally we tried the Tonkotsu ramen. The broth was not as flavourful as other broths I’ve tried in the past but the bok choy was cooked perfectl’y and the noodles had a great texture. However, the star of this dish was the pork belly. Instead of the traditional slice of rolled up belly, this place serves two rectangular chunks of belly, which is the perfect amount. It is so tender, rich and fatty but not overwhelming because they torch it to give it an amazing char. The bitterness and smokiness of the char is an explosion of complementary flavours.

I will definitely be coming back to try the other ramens but be assured that I will be paying extra to add that pork belly to whatever...

Utterly disappointing. The one star is for our waitress who was super nice, and the comfy chair, because that's about the only things I found of value here.

This was my first time eating at Kobo and it will absolutely be my last. The food took nearly an hour to come out (there didn't seem to be much staff in the kitchen), the drinks were just not good, the karaage - while it was good - just looked and tasted like normal breaded chicken and nothing at all like real karaage, and the ramen? Yikes!

The broth was okay, if a little too salty. I absolutely don't think the price of the extras reflect the amount added to the meal. The pork was mostly just fat. And the noodles were absolute mush at the bottom of the bowl. I do eat slowly, but I know I don't eat slow enough for a disaster like that. To he completely honest, I would have been happier I would have preferred to eat a 25c pack of crushed, dry ramen noodles than to eat whatever I was fed here.

Glad to have tipped the waitress on the full bill because she absolutely deserved it, but I don't think anyone in my party should have been paying full price for most of the food we ordered, given what we were served could barely be considered edible.

I was a bit weary given mixed reviews I've heard from others, but after tonight I'm shocked Kobo is anywhere...