Kuma House Ramen

Ramen Tofino

Tofino is a beautiful town with an indie spirit at the end of a peninsula on Vancouver Island’s south central coast. Tofino only had 1,876 permanent residents as of 2011, but tourists flood the surrounding beaches and bays in summer, and these people need to eat. Great seafood is fairly easy to come by, and Tofino even has some surprisingly solid Asian options. For example, Kuma is a modern Japanese restaurant from Mitsumi Kawai, her family, and Rob Leadley right downtown that opened in 2014 and features the cooking of chef Simon Burch.

Kuma means bear in Japanese, which accounts for the blue wall showcasing an amazing bear portrait. The sharp looking space features wood tables, bar, and patio. The Kawai family contributed many recipes, but they credit Burch with Kuma’s well-balanced ramen. Their House Ramen ($14) features a rich, double strength pork broth seasoned with soy sauce and touting toothsome noodles, tender braised pork belly, medium-boiled egg, hearty kale, a blizzard of scallions, and single sheet of nori. We’ve all heard rumors about what a bear does in the woods. Now we can add ramen to their regimen.

Dose of Vitamin P spotlights my favorite pork dish from the previous week.

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Joshua Lurie

Joshua Lurie founded FoodGPS in 2005. Read about him here.

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