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There's no better tonic for cold weather and tight wallets than a steaming bowl of ramen.

The cheap and filling Japanese dish certainly is popular in Vancouver, but up until recently, it hasn't been very well represented.

Yes, the insanely popular Kintaro Ramen and its sister restaurant Motomachi Shokudo make excellent bowls of noodle soup. But both of these shops serve Tokyo-style ramen (the pork and chicken stocks are blended with significant amounts of fish broth).

In Japan, where ramen shops and sidewalk stalls outnumber any other type of restaurant, there are at least 16 distinct regional variations and endless creative combinations of stock, seasoning, noodles and garnish. To generalize about ramen in Japan is like saying there is a definitive type of pasta in Italy.

Vancouver rameniacs, take heart. There are two new ramen shops in town and they're boiling up something completely different.

MENYA JAPANESE NOODLE

The humble hole in the wall with harsh fluorescent lighting and uncomfortable stumps for stools may be located off the beaten ramen track, but it's still packing in customers (predominantly Japanese) and generating lineups. Tables of more than two should expect a short wait. Owner Shuichi ("call me Shu") Hara is originally from Okayama, but he spent five years working at his mother-in-law's ramenya in Fukuoka City's Nagahama district, from whence the widely revered tonkotsu ramen hails. Tonkotsu is a milky pork-bone broth, aggressively boiled at high temperatures for upward of 10 hours to draw out all the thick marrow and cartilage.

Nagahama ramen ($6.75): Menya's house specialty is a classic Kyushu tonkotsu ramen made from a pork-bone stock boiled at high heat for eight to 10 hours. White as milk and about the same consistency, the broth is blended with a subtle-tasting shoyu (soy sauce) and brightly garnished with purple kelp, green onions and beni shoga (pink pickled ginger that really peps up the flavour).

The noodles, made fresh locally, are spaghettini-thin, pale, straight and cooked to a soft texture. The slightly smoky cha-shu (barbecue pork marinated in honey, garlic, ginger, sake, rice wine and soy sauce) is a mix of fatty belly and lean shoulder cut into two thick rounds with lightly crisped edges.

The soup is surprisingly mellow - almost refreshing - and not nearly as heavy as it looks.

Tonkotsu miso ramen ($7): This golden-coloured soup is made from the same pork-bone stock, but is much richer and creamier. It's blended with white and red miso and deeply flavoured with a heady wallop of browned garlic chips.

The noodles are also straight, but wider, more springy and made with more egg. The soup is garnished with green onions, bamboo shoots, corn niblets and cha-shu (both fatty and lean).

This sublime rib-sticker is quite sweet, but deeply textured and not too oily.

Gyoza ($4.80 for eight pieces): plump, melt-in-your-mouth tender and homemade. The thin wonton skins, darkly crisped on one side, are stuffed with finely minced cha-shu and cabbage. Divine.

Extras: cha-shu ($3 for five pieces), noodles ($1.25), mixed vegetables ($1), boiled egg (75 cents), green onion, bean sprout, bamboo shoot, corn, seaweed, ginger, garlic chip, fresh garlic (50 cents each).

Supersize it: All ramen dishes can be made into a "set" with four pieces of gyoza and a takikomi rice ball for an extra $3.40.

The bottom line: A top-drawer dive that makes authentic tonkotsu ramen with quality ingredients and complex flavours. Go for the delicious soups, but don't miss the gyoza.

BENKEI NOODLE SHOP

It takes guts to open a ramen shop right around the corner from Kintaro, the local kingpin. Benkei, with its slate tile floors, funky Japanese pop music and bamboo wall dividers, certainly has a cozier ambience.

It also has a wealthy financial backer, Takara Foods, a Kyoto-based noodle company. Benkei also specializes in a tonkotsu ramen that is extremely thick and fat, similar to the chicken-bone soups found in Kyoto.

Shio ($6.95): Don't let the name deceive you. This is the thickest, fattiest tonkotsu soup in town. The stock is made from pork bones and meat, boiled aggressively for 10 hours, then blended with loads of sea salt (shio). This porker is yellow, not at all milky and so unctuous it congeals into blubbery globs and forms a crackly layer of skin.

The noodles are curly, slightly chewy, prepackaged and made in North America (the owner is having trouble importing his partner's brand from Japan). The soup is garnished with green onions, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts and three cuts of tender cha-shu (Benkei uses only full-fat belly for all its ramen).

But for all this soup's heaviness, the flavour is bland. It needs extra garnishes - and a bucket of water to wash down the salt. An acquired taste.

Shoyu ($6.95): This is the Jack Sprat of ramen - very lean, very healthy (or at least a lot less artery-clogging than the shio). The clear, consommé-like soup is made from pork and chicken stock blended with a light soy and vegetable broth. It's garnished with nori (which gives the soup a strong fishy flavour), spinach, bamboo shoots and cha-shu. Pleasant, but dull.

Miso ($7.30): a decent compromise. This mid-weight ramen is made with a blend of the chicken and the tonkotsu broths, flavoured with white and fermented koji miso. It's lightly flecked with chili and garnished with the basics (bean sprouts, bamboo and onion).

This was the tastiest ramen of the bunch, but not one I'd rush back for. If I did return to Benkei, I'd probably try the spicy miso akaoni ramen ($7.80) with minced pork, burnt garlic-sesame oil and roasted sesame seeds.

Gyoza ($3.50 for five): frozen, greasy and limp.

Extras: cha-shu ($2), noodles ($1.50), spinach, kimchi, butter, boiled egg, nori, bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, corn and green onion (50 cents each or all for $3.50).

The bottom line: Benkei is more show than substance. It's a nice-looking restaurant, and the kids obviously love it, but heavy oily broths don't compensate for a basic lack of flavour. Kintaro has nothing to worry about.

Menya Japanese Noodle:

401 West Broadway; 604-873-3277.

Benkei Noodle Shop: 1741 Robson St.; 604-688-6980.

Side dish

Tourism Vancouver's Dine Out Vancouver starts today and runs until Feb. 1. During this annual celebration of B.C. food and wine, 188 restaurants will be offering three-course dinners for $18, $28 or $38 a person.

If you've always been curious about the event, but never acted fast enough to reserve a table or were wary of the crowds, this could be your lucky year. As of press time, only one restaurant (Cru) had sold out. Bookings are definitely down.

A few tips to help you make the most of the experience:

Shop Around

The menus for all participating restaurants are available online at tourismvancouver.com. There are some restaurants that go all out and others that just slap together the cheapest meal possible. It pays to browse ahead.

Don't be a Table Hog

In previous years, there have been so many problems with customers making multiple reservations for the same night that some restaurants now request a credit card to confirm bookings and charge $10 a person for no-shows. If you cannot honour a reservation, please call the restaurant to cancel.

Drink with Caution

Each menu offers VQA wine pairing suggestions. These drinks are not included in the price of dinner. To boost the bill, some restaurants actually charge for hot lemon water ($2.50 seems to be the going rate).

Don't Expect to Linger

Most restaurants impose a two-hour table limit, but some will ask you to be in and out within 90 minutes. If you chew slowly and don't wish to be rushed, ask about time-limit policies when making a reservation.

Check for Bonus Deals

Some restaurants choose not to participate in Dine Out Vancouver, yet still offer great deals. At Lumière, for instance, the three-course prix fixe meal, regularly priced at $98, is being featured for only $58 until the end of January. Also this month, Cibo Trattoria is extending its $38 pre-theatre menu, normally only available from 5 to 6:30 p.m., all evening.

Alexandra Gill