Wood Street Ramen / night market — Restaurant in Whitehorse

Wood Street Ramen. I was there opening week, and I have gone back from time to time since.

First, it's a fairly intimate affair. It's not a large place but that's just fine. The staff behind the counter have always been friendly and cheerful. Troy one of the owners is a constant fixture in the kitchen. He clearly cares about the customers and prides himself on the quality of the meals he serves.

I had not expected to enjoy a noodle house as much as I do. It's part the atmosphere, it's part the quality of the meals, and it's also bang for your buck.

The meals are huge. (Please keep it that way) a 16 dollar bowl will leave you stuffed.

They are also very accommodating for allergens. Troy and his staff are understanding and helpful.

Now, if you are not in the mood for soup, they have noodle plates, dipping noodles, ice cream for dessert, dumplings, and my personal favorite, lettuce wraps.

They have recently started late nights until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. I plan on going in the evening more often.

Wood Street Ramen is a place I routinely see busy, and that is a good thing. I hope this place stays busy and becomes a Whitehorse institution. I think the only criticism I have is for the tea. Bigger cup or a teapot would be fantastic. The cup is a bit small. But then really... With the size of the soup portions it's not like I have a lot of room left.

Oh, and Wood Street Ramen now...

My wife and I eat ramen all the time and have tried it many places. We were in town for just one night and wanted to get away from the hotel's dining room and try something good and local so we headed here to give it a try. Our experience wasn't great.

The room is nice enough...intimate, and appropriately lit. Our server wasn't particularly friendly or nice...we felt a little bit like he would rather just give people food for takeout orders.

The food itself did not live up to our hopes for a good and flavorful meal at a Ramen shop. I had the Dan Dan noodles (one of 2 vegetarian options on the menu.) The dish was prepared without any kind of sauce or dressing and had very little flavor. They did bring a side of chili oil which I tossed in myself that helped some...but there really wasn't a lot going on here in terms of enjoyment in my mouth.

My wife got the miso ramen. I tried it too...the broth tasted like it came out of a canned vegetable soup...very strange flavor for Ramen...not really a discernable "miso" flavor and overall the least tasty ramen we've ever had.

There was also a Sweet Chili Tofu rice bowl available for vegetarians and a couple of sides (more noodles, edamame.)

The odds of us getting back to Whitehorse any time soon are slim, but if we did, we definitely wouldn't be...

I've ordered from this restaurant over 10 times since their opening, with the last one being about a month ago, so I feel that it's okay for me to write this review.

The ramen here is not very good, especially their Tonkotsu.

The broth is unbelievably bland. It's like the chef here took Tonkotsu ramen from Fukuoka, removed all the fat and tare (seasoning) and decided to present it as ramen. I honestly thought they had messed up when I tasted it for the first time as I could not believe how bland it was. Nope, this is how their ramen is. Their tsukemen is no better since they just put some chilli paste/oil into that broth and serve it separately along with noodles. Simply adding chili to the bland broth does not make it flavorful, nor add depth.

I also found their dumplings to be pretty doughy and not worth 8.5 dollars they are asking for.

I will admit that their baos are pretty good, excellent even.

My friend summarized this restaurant pretty well when she said 'Ramen for white people'. I'm...