Afuri Ramen + Dumpling is a popular Tokyo ramen chain known for their chicken broth based ramen fused with a splash of yuzu for a touch of freshness. Their signature dish is their Yuzu Shio Ramen. The broth is lighter and more delicate in flavour than your traditional ramen. Afuri is also know for their dumplings, which are made in house with a thin wrapper and then pan fried to perfection.
Afuri opened its first location outside of Tokyo in Portland in 2016 and their newest location in Richmond is the first in Canada.
In Japanese fashion, this location will feature touchscreen ordering. You place your order via a touchscreen vending machine and then you receive your receipt and table number. I came by during their media night and had the opportunity to try their entire food menu as well as a kitchen walk through to see how they boil their broths in giant vats and hand make their noodles.
We started off with a few small plates and this seaweed salad was pretty standard. There was a nice mix of different seaweed and the lemon added a nice citrus touch. It was similar to the one I had earlier last year at Hachiro Ramen Bar in North Vancouver.
The kaarage was juicy with a nice brine flavour. It was fried well and I adored the yuzu kosho egg salad on the side. Yuzu kosho is a paste made from chili peppers, yuzu peel and salt. It’s fermented and packs a huge punch.
This was my standout dish of the night. The bun held up well to the plethora of ingredients and the little touch of having the Afuri logo seared on was nice. The soft shell crab was fried perfectly with a light coating. The spicy mayo and kimchi added a nice spicy kick and the cucumber lightened up the whole bao with its freshness. I had two of these, and wish I had room enough for a third. This bao is best enjoyed hot and fresh, but it still tastes pretty good after sitting out for awhile!
The pork was very tender and positively melted in my mouth. The pickled ginger and cucumber really helped to cut the overall fattiness of the dish. This bao was really similar to the one I had at 3 Quarters Full Cafe in terms of texture. If you’re not a fan of seafood, then definitely check this bao out.
The gyoza here feature a lattice coating so the delicate soft gyoza gives way to a light crispy crunch. All their gyoza is made in house with a thin wrapper and pork filling. The filling was lacking in flavour, but a dip in the soy dipping sauce provided remedied that.
These were perfectly fried with a crispy exterior. It went well with the slightly spicy mayo sauce. These are served piping hot so be careful when biting into these, and try not to burn your mouth like I did!
The pork crumbles had a mild ginger flavour and reminded me of shogayaki. It was a comforting bowl, but definitely a filler item.
This was the dish I’ve been waiting for since I saw that Afuri was opening in Richmond. I’ve had this before in Japan and I was really looking forward to see how it compares here. The noodles are the thinner variety and are made in house. Personally I would order them to be done hard but the texture of the noodles were spot on. The yuzu broth was lighter in flavour than their Japanese counterpart, but overall this is a comforting bowl of ramen. The chashu pork was tender with a lovely grilled flavour. The egg was cooked perfectly with a beautiful yolky center.
The tsukemen featured thicker curly noodles than their broth based ramen. The noodles were perfect for clinging on to the delicious yuzu tsuyu which was packed with yuzu flavour. It was on the saltier side, but the yuzu flavour helped to temper it slightly.
This was one of my favourite dishes of the night. The broth was full bodied with a rich nutty flavour. The noodles were thicker and I loved the chew on them. This is their vegan offering and in my opinion it blows all other vegan ramens that I’ve tried. I added the egg, but normally there is no egg as this dish is vegan.
The restaurant was bumping but service was efficient and friendly. The kitchen was positively slammed but they kept pushing out dishes that were beautifully assembled. I was really impressed by my overall experience today and I cannot wait to be back.