All about Ramen — Reveal the Secret of Y93 Ramen Broth

In Y93 Sushi Crave, we served various Japanese comfort food. One of the specialty comfort food that we served is Ramen. Our customers love our ramen, especially in love with our broth. To be proud to tell you, we make our broth and tare in-house. Today, we are going to reveal the secret of our ramen broth to you.  — Y93 Kitchen.

Tonkotsu Broth

Ramen Tonkotsu Broth

When talking about Ramen broth, one of the most popular broth must be “Tonkotsu”. Borrowed from Japanese 豚骨 (tonkotsu), from (ton, pork) + (kotsu, bone, rib).  Many ramen restaurants make their own broth too; then what makes Y93 Tonkotsu broth different from others? The secret is we specifically used the local sources (more fresh!!), and we also used different parts of the pork bones and chicken bones. Each pot of our Tonkotsu broth using a consistency ratio of different parts of the pork bones.

Why used different parts of the bones of the whole pig? It is because each unique parts have different tastes and functions. For example, neck bones and backbones — create the sweetness; head bones and hock — create the creamy texture; chicken bones — create another dimension of sweetness.

In addition to the bones, our broth also added lots of onions, gingers, garlic, and potatoes; Each pot needs to boil in high heat for at least 8 hours and after that, simmering for another few hours. The bone broth cannot be boiling for too long; otherwise, it will burn. The collagen and the water will separate, the broth will become very oily.

The last step and this is another secret of Y93 Tonkotsu broth is: after simmering, we separate the bones and most of the big chunky ingredients; then we will use the mixing blender to lightly blend all the remaining ingredients with the soup. So every drop of the soup is full of nutrition, we guarantee there is no msg added in the broth.

Y93 Ramen Chicken Broth

Y93 Shoyu Chicken Ramen

Our next popular Ramen is Shoyu Chicken Ramen. Some people like me will find Tonkotsu has a very strong “meat” taste and sometimes the texture is too thick. Therefore, they prefer to have something lighter, not that meaty taste broth. Another great option they love to choose is Y93 chicken broth. Even though it’s light, doesn’t mean a lack of favor or in an extreme — way too salty. It must have tasted the chicken favor as well as having umami out of it. Some ramen restaurants want to simplify the preparation procedure, they may only use instant powder or pre-made chicken broth.

Y93 Chicken broth is 100% in-house made. Not only use whole chicken, but the secret behind it is we also use lots of different vegetables.

Pork bone broth needs to be boiled for at least 8 hours; in contrast, chicken broth cannot be boiled for too long; otherwise, it will turn sour. The secret is right after the water boils, the heat needs to turn down to low, and let the broth simmer for at least 6 hours. Again, no MSG needed to add, the broth itself was already full of umami.

Shoyu Chicken Broth with assorted mushrooms confit, tomato confit, greens and egg.

Vegan Broth

Y93 Coconut Soy Milk Vegan Soup

The new trend in the ramen market is “Vegetarian / Vegan” options. In tradition, there isn’t any vegetarian ramen; therefore, we do have lots of creative space for us to create this new vegan broth. Our vegan broth is not just a mix of vegetables; we also used the perfect amount of soy milk and coconut milk. But the real secret is adding sesame paste and a touch of curry to create the creamy flavor. More exciting is, our vegan broth isn’t just the broth, it actually a full-size serving of vegan soup. When adding the special toppings — assorted mushrooms confit and tomato confit, the juice from the confit mixed with the broth, become umami explosion. Again, no MSG is needed.

Aburi Style Nigiri

Many of you may wonder why some sushi got torched? This is actually a different style of nigiri sushi. Its special name is called “Aburi Nigiri”.

Aburi Style Nigiri means “flame-seared” when the flame is applied to sushi, the heat changes the sushi’s flavor to create new textures while enhancing its natural flavors.

Some of our customers may already try Aburi Nigiri. The interesting thing is different chef will have their “secret” to create their own favor. With the mixture of Y93 chef’s special sauce, the flame caramelizes the sauce, it will release a smoky aroma and bringing out the finest flavors of each piece of sushi.

We are happy to include Aburi Nigiri on our menu now!

About our name: “Y93”

Why Y93? What is the meaning of “Y93”?

Y is the initial of our last name, 93 is our house number, Y93 represents our family. The meaning behind it is to invite you to our HOME. Enjoy the things that we love — from Food to our living style, our hobbies, our stories.

In our “home”, everything has a little story in it. Not just the people, even the dishes and the chairs inside our cafe, all have their little stories in it. (Ask us when you come visited, ok?) We believe that every story has a heart, it is exclusive and valuable, it is meaningful and full of memories and emotions. This is why we love sharing stories and listen to yours.

We are not just share the food & drinks that we liked; we also share our love with you. When we have time, we love to talk to you. Our customers are just like friends!! They would love to share their wonderful moment and sometimes they also share their sadness moment. We really appreciate your love and trusted. Our philosophy is “Love only grows by sharing.”

“The universe is not made of atoms. It’s made of TINY STORIES.”

“Real happiness doesn’t come from getting everything you want. It comes from sharing what you have with the people who matter.”

When you walk through our doors, we hope that you know you are invited into our home. We hope that our stories can inspire you in some way. Every single story is an experience, it’s unique. Even though life is not smooth all the time and it very well never be, but there is always, always be someone out there to support you until the very end.

This is the meaning of “Y93”.

Yes, we WON!! ——————— Champion of “Calgary’s Best Fish n Chips Award”!

In December, we jumped out from our comfort zone and challenged ourself to join the “Calgary’s Best Fish n Chips Award” competition hosted by Culinaire Magazine. Although Fish n Chips isn’t our specialty; we still decided to accept this challenge.

We accepted because we also love Fish n Chips. We have been to few different places to find the best one. The most memorable one was in Montreal Old Port. That dish is memorable because they used Salmon, not many places used salmon in Fish n Chips. More surprising was the seasonings, it has a touch of curry favour in it. It’s crispy, delicious and also different from others. So we loved it.

Although we are not specialty in Fish n Chip; we also want to SHOW Calgarian there may be another way to enjoy Fish n Chips too. That’s the reason we created the Y93 Japan cultural infused Fish n Chips and join this competition.

Joining the competition is a fun and valuable experience. It’s also an learning process too. We need to find the best balance in ingredients, taste, sides, presentation, original creativity, innovative, affordable. and more. But the most important part is the judges’ overall experience. This involved suggested pairing drinks, adding fun & surprise factor to the dish, and how easy for them to enjoy. We want to let our diners know, we used our heart on each creation. We care about every single details. This is also our promised. Every customers are invited guests to Y93 home enjoy the best we offered.

It’s our honour to be the champion of “Calgary’s BEST Fish n Chip” Award in contemporary category. It’s definitely the best news we’ve got in the beginning of year 2021.

We are thankful that our CEO is guiding us and walking through with us in every single step. Ask us for more journey with God story when the dine-in option open up. It’s very real and we would love to share that with you, hope it could also inspire you.

In the future, we will keep being innovative. Creating lots of different delicious and fun Japanese food to all of you. We promised will do our best in every creation. We approved, you approved!

For the full details on the other best Fish n Chips in Calgary and more information of this award, please go visit Culinaire Magazine official website or simply get a free copy of the magazine.

 

Local biz Spotlight — Y93 SUSHI CRAVE

The name Y93 has a special meaning to the owners, Susanna and Alan Yau. Y is the initial of the last name of the owners, and 93 is their house number. Their house number is included in the name because the cafe is like a second home to the owners. You might be thinking that it is because they spend Monday to Saturday at the cafe from 11 am – 7 pm, however that is not the only reason. The owners believe that the cafe is like their home where others can come to share their own stories and be able to feel at home in the coziness of the cafe. Since they strive to make it a second home, they serve their favorite Japanese dishes and the food is prepared with a heart like a home-cooked meal.

Through these tough times, owner Susanna “was not scared”. They have gone through tough times before and believed that God has guided them through it. Through faith and the love of Japanese culture, it allowed the Yau couple to create Y93. This is also symbolic of the logo of the cafe. The logo is a fish on top of a Totoro. The fish represents their faith in Christianity and what has guided them towards starting the business and the Totoro represents their love for Japanese food/culture.

Mari, one of the staff at Y93, is more like a family than an employee. She came from Japan, where her family had run a restaurant for 53 years, to Canada where she came across Y93 and fell in love with the business immediately. She says it reminds her of her own family restaurant in Japan and that working at Y93 makes her feel right at home. She even makes the commute from her home in Black Diamond to Y93 every day! Mari had also shipped back dishes used in her family’s restaurant in Japan when she went back to visit and they have become treasures for Y93. “Everything has a story, even the dishes!” Susanna exclaims as she shows off the handcrafted bowls and plates. It seems as though the spirit of the warm, family-run business has traveled from Japan all the way to Calgary, and that spirit is evidently present in their food!

Website: https://www.y93sushicrave.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/y93sushicrave/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SushiCraveJapaneseCafe

Thank you addoil.ca! Check out other inspiring stories at www.addoil.ca!

Written by: Rachel Wong and Alex Tong

Photos by: William Leung

Producer: Brian Wong