Submitted by Gastrofork
Special to the Post

Not to be mistaken for another ramen restaurant, Kokoro Tokyo Mazesoba serves up a hybrid experience of soba noodles (made with thick, chewy multigrain noodles) with ramen-like bowls minus the soup. But just because it’s served ‘dry’ doesn’t mean there isn’t any flavour to it. With ground pork, pork belly, shredded seaweed, green onions, bamboo shoots, garlic, soy egg, a raw egg, and some seaweed sheets, along with a sauce – you get a punch of flavour throughout your bowl.

We started with the pork gyozas and chicken karaage. Both are good.

The pork gyozas are pan-fried crispy to get that nice bubbly sear on one side. The pork inside is tender and not too salty. The chicken karaage is has good portion sizes. It’s well breaded and crispy but very juicy.

The Zenbu, the Chef’s Special has a little bit of everything. The creaminess in the sauce gives this bowl a great flavour and weight to it without it being overpowering. In case you want to kick it up a notch, you can add vinegar or chili flakes. They also offer a small ball of rice at the end of your meal to soak up the rest of the sauce to enjoy it.

I also ordered the Tokyo Iced Milk Tea. It’s creamy, sweet and has a nice, slightly milder black tea taste (compared to a Hong Kong style Milk Tea).

The popular items on the menu are the Hokkaido Creme Cone and Fuji Cheese Cup Cake.

The Hokkaido Creme Cone is made fresh and served in a sweet, cookie-like cone. Since the ice cream is made fresh, it does melt faster than other ice creams that have artificial flavours and stabilizers.

The Fuji Cheese Cup Cake is a Japanese cheesecake served in a cute cup and a shovel with a cookie surprise at the bottom.

They also serve donburis as well!

Kokoro Tokyo Mazesoba

551 Seymour Street, Vancouver, BC

Food: ****/2

Service: *****

Value: ****

Ambiance: ****

OVERALL: ****1/2

 Gastrofork is a Vancouver based food and travel blog. Gastrofork has been featured in Eat In Eat Out Magazine, is one of the top blogs on urbanspoon and named Top 100 Blogs to Follow in 2013.  more reviews at http://gastrofork.ca