Ramen restaurants need something to make them stand out from the crowd in Vancouver, and one shop moving in on West Broadway at Cambie is using pricing to do so.
Sliding in to replace the vacated Subway at 433 W Broadway, the team behind Ramen One has renovations on the go in the space and signs on its doors and windows announcing it will be home to $10 bowls of ramen.
While an email address with a "ramenone.ca" domain is provided for prospective employees to reach out to, the domain itself currently yields a 403 error. So far, Ramen One has not established a social media presence, either.
Ramen for $10 a bowl is appealing in the current financial climate, with bowls at most restaurants in and around Vancouver pricing their options in the $14 to $20 range.
As it happens, Ramen One will have two additional points of distinction, according to a rep for the restaurant, who emailed V.I.A. on Nov. 8 with some additional details about the restaurant. Ramen One will serve "Hakata-style" noodles with their "signature soy milk soup base."
The service model and seating design will also be a little different than what Vancouver is accustomed to. "Our layout will be individual seating with [a] removable divider in between each seat," explains a rep for Ramen One via email. "We believe this provides enough privacy for individuals who want to enjoy a bowl of hot ramen by himself/herself but at the same time, the removable divider shouldn’t stop a group of 2 or 3 people [from] coming in to eat together."
Ramen One's timeline has ownership hoping to complete renovations in the next couple of months and hopefully be open in January 2024.
Immediate area has several existing ramen restaurants
Not only is ramen an ongoing popular focus for restaurant ventures in Vancouver, but also this particular stretch of West Broadway has a couple of ramen options. Immediately on the east end of the same block of Broadway as Ramen One is Menya Raizo, at Yukon St. Menya Raizo debuted there in the summer of 2018, moving soon after longstanding noodle shop Menya Ramen departed at the end of May that same year.
Further west along Broadway, just past Cambie, and on the same side of the street resides Menya Juemon, which opened this fall where Benkei Ramen used to be. Across the street: veteran noodle joint Hokkaido Ramen Santouka, and also in the area is Ramen Yaguchia, which operates out of Kamei on Broadway.
Locals also needn't go terribly far in the overall area, thanks to nearby options for ramen like Zubu's "food hall" on 4th at Columbia, and over on Main there's Afuri and Maruhachi. Each of these ramen spots have their own distinct offering, which is typically reflected in the broth style and ingredients.
Also asserting its pending presence along the busy West Broadway corridor is Jinya Ramen Bar, which is renovating a new franchise location at Granville Street.
Broadway Subway construction forced out prior tenant, Subway
While the incoming Broadway Subway is likely favourable for all the local businesses once the line opens, the past few years have challenged area restaurants to remain open amidst the ongoing construction.
In fact, the space Ramen One will occupy was a Subway sandwich franchise for 13 years before it shuttered in January. The owner told BIV at the time the landlord had indicated the rent would double should they opt to stay on, and that they had tried to sell the business but couldn't attract buyers because of the Broadway Subway construction.
When V.I.A. passed by on Nov. 1, it was hard to ascertain how much progress Ramen One had made so far on the renovations to their new space.
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