Jinya’s New Downtown Location is Finally Open

The expanded space will hopefully lessen the lineups—but either way these noodle are worth waiting for.

Even if you haven’t tried ramen (and if you haven’t, you’re seriously missing out) you’ve seen the huge lineups outside these Japanese noodle shops around town—Jinya‘s old downtown location was no exception. Even though the 40-seat space was a bit out of the way at the far end of Robson Street by BC Place people had no qualms with queueing up for its take on this traditional soup. The new incarnation is still on Robson, but takes a more prominent placement near Seymour Street, on the south side of the gigantic Telus Garden building. Inside, things are bigger too. The new space seats 61, and they’re working on an outside patio to fit 28 more.Now to the food. Traditional ramen is made from a pork-based broth, and Jinya’s take involves 10 hours of cooking time to extract the tastiest flavours from those pork bones. Their distinctive broth is then mixed with custom wheat noodles, vegetables, more spices and topped with a soft boiled egg—depending on your order. For vegetarians, Jinya created two vegetable-based ramens—one is the spicy creamy vegan—which even meat eaters will fall in love with, making this dish an equal opportunity comfort classic in a city that sorely needs all the warm meals it can get to help us through the rainy season.If you find yourself further afield, Jinya has a second Vancouver location in Kerrisdale and another opening in Metrotown later this year which will include tapas, craft beer, cocktails and of course sake.

Jinya Ramen

541 Robson St.jinya-ramenbar.com