We ate in Minneapolis’ Lyn-Lake neighbourhood a few weeks ago—see my report on dim sum lunch at Jade Dynasty—and were back there again this past weekend. This time we were eating Japanese, not Chinese food, not dim sum but ramen. Tenka Ramen is located just a few doors down from Lake St.’s intersection with Hennepin, not very many blocks away from Jade Dynasty. I’m not sure when they opened; they only flashed on my radar when someone recommended them in a comment elsewhere on the blog. Having recently begun to check out the Twin Cities’ ramen scene in earnest—see my reviews of meals at Ramen Kazama in Minneapolis and at Tori in St. Paul—I’d made a note to check them out at some point. That point turned out to be for Mother’s Day lunch. Here’s how it went.

Tenka Ramen is a much smaller place than either Ramen Kazama or Tori. There are three four-top tables and a few seats along a counter against the wall further inside the narrow restaurant but that’s it. In that sense I guess they’re closer to the scale of most ramen restaurants in Tokyo than their competitors in the Cities. One of the tables was occupied and finishing up when we got there. After those diners left, we were the only people eating in the restaurant over the course of our meal. There was at least one takeout order that went out during that time but it didn’t seem very busy otherwise. Of course, Mother’s Day is probably not the busiest Sunday for any ramen restaurant. I can only hope they’re doing better business on other weekends.

There’s a menu posted outside—and you can also pick up a takeout menu to look at—but ordering does not happen either at the tables or in person at the counter. There are two touch screens for that purpose and that’s where you make your selections and pay. The menu is compact. There are more appetizers than there are ramen options—which you can trick out further with additional toppings. A few donburi options round out the food selections.

We got a few appetizers to start. Gyoza came six to an order and were quite good. The Karaage too came six to an order. Fried to a pleasing crisp, these were also quite good though would probably be better if cut a bit smaller. We also enjoyed the agedashi tofu. The ramen was more of a mixed bag. The best was probably the missus’ Spicy Miso Ramen (pork miso broth). The older boy got the Shoyu Ramen (pork and chicken broth) and that was decent as well. The younger boy’s Tonkotsu Ramen (pork bone broth) was way milder in porky flavour and thinner in texture than we like our tonkotsu broth; and my Torishio Ramen (chicken broth) was not very interesting at all (it was topped with four more pieces of their karaage). The noodles and included toppings were fine (and not identical across the varieties).

The above plus a few bubble teas (mango for the boys, taro for the missus) rounded out our order.

For a look at the restaurant, the menu and what we ate, launch the slideshow below. Scroll down to see how much it all cost, to see where I’d place them relative to the other ramen places we’ve recently visited, and to see what’s coming next.

We got a fair bit of food and it was not a cheap meal. With tax and 20% tip, the total came to just a little short of $130. Subtracting the bubble teas, that’s on par with what we paid at Kazama, where we also got one less appetizer. On the whole, however, I’d pick Kazama over Tenka Ramen; though I would pick Tenka Ramen over Tori and certainly over places like Itton Ramen in Bloomington.

Alright, what’s next on the food front? Another Delhi report (I didn’t have time to post one last weekend). I’m not sure where this weekend’s Twin Cities outing will be, or even if there will be one. The missus is going to be out of town for a bit and the boys and I need to prep and plant our community garden plot. We might go out for tacos though. Let’s see how it goes.