10350 124 St NW #4, Edmonton

Last week, I had the chance to try the Ramen at Prairie Noodle Shop. I’ve heard a lot of hype, and they have a really strong social media game, so naturally I was curious about the restaurant.

We went around noon on a Wednesday. It was completely packed. It’s a small little place right on 124th street. The interior is nice, small and quaint. The wait was about 30 minutes-ish. They seemed a little bit frantic and things were a bit chaotic. Their menu is relatively simple, with a choice of four different ramen, and a few appetizers. We decided to go with the Pork buns, the Pork ramen, and the chicken ramen.

The pork buns came out relatively fast. It looked aesthetically pleasing, and it tasted pretty good, but one thing I can comment on was that the “pickled veggies” had a very mild pickled flavour and could have spent more time in the brine.

The Prairie Pork is roasted pork belly, smoked pulled shoulder, crispy pork rind, umeboshi egg, sweet sesame oil, corn, green onions, and blackened garlic sesame mayu oil. The best part of the soup was the umeboshi egg, which was nicely seasoned, and cooked perfectly. The pork was smokey and tender, but there wasn’t much of it. I thought that the broth was a little bit bland. There is the sweet sesame oil and then the blackened garlic sesame mayu oil so it was a bit greasy for my taste. You can the glossiness of my broth in the photo.

The Roasted Barley Chicken is a Yakitori chicken wing and thigh marinated in our house honey and roasted barley tare sauce. Topped with a umeboshi egg, sauteed kale, and pickled pearl onions. Again, the egg in this soup was definitely the best part. The broth was also a bit on a milder/weaker side. The chicken was tender and had a nice flavour. I enjoyed the Chicken Ramen over the Pork Ramen.

Overall, my experience at Prairie Noodle Shop was not bad. I enjoyed their pork buns more than their specialty dishes, the Ramen. I personally enjoy more authentic flavours for ramen. I’d definitely recommend giving it a try for yourselves though since the flavours might cater to some.

EDIT:

I went here again a few months ago (Summer of 2016) since they change up their menu a little bit.

This is their redesigned bao appetizer. it comes with pork belly, lettuce, cheese, pickled shallots, and a lightly spiced aioli, served on slices of steamed bun. Still pretty good and modestly priced at $6. I’d recommend giving this a try.

Their spicy Garlic Miso pork is their pork broth with a mixture of miso, garlic and house made chilli oil. It’s topped with roasted pork belly, smoked shoulder, sweet corn, marinated bean sprouts and an umeboshi egg. This is an improvement over their Prairie Pork Shio. The broth has a bit more flavour than their non-spicy counter part. Overall, this experience was about on par as my last experience at Prairie Noodle Shop. There was a single piece of pork, and half an egg for 15 dollars. The flavours are unique in that they try to use a lot of Prairie influences but for myself, I think I’d stick with the more traditional and go to Tokiwa or Nuduru ramen.