Though Denver has a large number of high-quality Asian restaurants (Izakaya Den, I'm looking at you), a quick Yelp search revealed a scant few ramen restaurants. I would hazard a guess that more people in Denver have had pre-packaged, dried, sodium-packed (don't get me started on sodium) ramen than have had real, authentic ramen.
When we actually got around to eating our food, we weren't disappointed. Cold weather be damned! Everything was hot, hearty and warming inside Tokio. Not only did they have ramen, but a number of delicious small plates, including shumai (a favorite of mine, despite the pork burps that usually follow).
The staff at Tokio certainly wasn't rushing us out the door. Dessert happened first.
xoxo
Maggie
p.s. The tasting I attended was complementary, but I was not compensated for my review and all opinions on this blog are, and always will be, mine.
Excerpt from: "Chef Hashimoto brings authentic ramen to Denver," by Maggie Tharp
(Originally published Nov. 28, 2014 in The Colorado Statesman; Read the full article here.)
Ramen. Despite its growing popularity in the U.S., the Japanese noodle dish is still largely associated with those savory, sodium-packed, dried cakes of noodles popular with college students and journalists everywhere. While it’s true that pre-packaged ramen packs a pretty big caloric bang for your buck, it’s a far cry from authentic ramen. With a rising number of ramen restaurants, Denver seems to be catching on to the trend that is already wildly popular in many large metropolitan areas. One of the newest members of the scene? Tokio: a ramen house located just north of the Denver’s ballpark.
1. Plan your visit: It’s all in the timing
For best results at this new ramen destination, plan your first visit for an impossibly cold day. Somewhere in the range of 5 to 15 degrees is best, the rationale being that you won’t have to fight for a seat in the cozy, diminutive dining area and also that nothing tastes better on a freezing cold day than hot soup. (You missed the last polar vortex, but no doubt another one is waiting in the wings.) To reserve your table, visit www.mytokio.com/reservations.