Most ramen chains expand when they are winning.
This one landed in Vancouver because it lost almost everything else.
Betsutenjin, a Hong Kong ramen name a lot of expats here will recognize, quietly soft opened in early June on Robson Street, right in the middle of the West End ramen alley.
We slipped in anonymously on a quiet weekday afternoon.
The backstory is not the usual expansion tale.
The staff told us the chain once ran a string of Hong Kong locations, and that a licensing issue tied to the political climate ended the permits there.
The shops closed, the team relocated, and the brand landed here, with sister shops still running in London and Seattle.
The owner trained in Japan to learn the craft before building his own shop, the staff said.
He is also a serious anime head, and the room shows it.
Gundam and Evangelion figures line a shelf above framed posters, with Kamen Rider and Star Wars pieces filling out the walls.
The collection is honestly WILD, and it does not stop at the dining room.
The washroom is decked out too, and we walked in to find a Japanese bidet waiting. Fancy.
The menu is short on purpose.
Three ramen bowls anchor it, the Hakata style tonkotsu at $15.90, a prawn miso at $17.90, and a dan dan at $17.90, all built on a pork bone broth the brand says is dairy free and made without MSG.
You can turn any of them into a set with a soft boiled egg and your pick of gyoza or lobster salad, which runs $22.90 to $24.90.
On the staff’s rec we got the prawn miso set and swapped the gyoza for the lobster salad, the order I would point you to.
The prawn miso broth had real depth, a thick tonkotsu base gone savory and a little sweet, finished with tiny dried prawns that added bursts of briny, concentrated flavour.
Fair warning, if you do not love a heavy tonkotsu, some people will find this one too much.
The lobster salad is the move you will not find at the neighbours.
It comes as a mound of mashed lobster with a few sheets of crisp nori on the side, so you build your own handrolls at the table.
Cool, creamy lobster against dry, snappy seaweed, it is a fun break from slurping.
None of this comes cheap.
Betsutenjin runs a touch pricier than the ramen shops within a block, but a prawn miso bowl and a build-your-own lobster handroll are not on those other menus.
When we asked why they would open here, on a stretch already stacked with Maruhachi, Santouka, Kintaro, and Ramen Danbo, the staff did not flinch.
They said they were confident in their taste.
By now most locals have their allegiance to their fave ramen shop, but Betsutenjin is a worthy try for noodle lovers.
Betsutenjin joins a run of other recently opened Vancouver food spots like Moving Coffee Bar, Loreto, and Pho Anh Vu on Kingsway.
For more new and upcoming food spots in Metro Vancouver, take a peek at our tracker here, and subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.
Address: 1739 Robson Street, Vancouver, BC