Vegan ramen can now be found at Schlouppe Bistrot NAKAMICHI Montreal’s Japanese owned restaurant, serving up delicious ramen dishes loaded with fresh veggies and savoury seasoning.
Remember eating ramen as a little kid? In the mid-90s, it was all the rage to bring instant ramen noodles to school, pouring the powdery broth packet over the dried noodles, and eating it like chips. Weird, right? I can say that my relationship with ramen has come a long way since then.
Once I went vegetarian in 2001, I hardly ever ate ramen. Most of the soup flavours were chicken or beef and ramen restaurants were rare at the time. If there were any ramen shops in Montreal, they probably didn’t offer vegetarian broths. It was only within the last few years that I revisited ramen, the real deal: delicious homemade noodles in a savoury broth. Restaurants slowly started offering vegetarian ramen made with plant-based broth, some of which are super deeeelish! It wasn’t until last year that I finally discovered a vegan ramen place in Montreal. On that fine day, I stumbled upon Schlouppe Bistrot NAKAMICHI’s sign advertising vegan ramen. I was intrigued. I tried it right away, and it was love at first bite.
Schlouppe Bistrot NAKAMICHI has two vegan options on the menu: ramen salad and ramen soup. Of the two options, I actually prefer the ramen salad because it’s got arugula and sun-dried tomatoes – two of my favourite ingredients. The soup broth is made with a shiitake mushroom and the noodles seem to be slightly thinner. If you try it with a friend you can each order one kind and switch midway, that is my favourite thing to do.
Another thing to mention about this place is the ambience. The restaurant is cute and quaint with modern furnishings. The service is stellar and it can double up as a good lunch or dinner spot.
I also love how they have plenty of reading materials including books and comic books about ramen. Last but not least, if you use the bathroom you’ll notice – in typical Japanese style – they have mouth wash, cotton swabs and other complimentary toiletries to get you cleaned up after your meal.
Try it out and let me know what you think!
Bon Appetit!
Melodie
