Nomiya Review

Nomiya

3803 Calgary Tr
Edmonton, AB T6J 2X8

(780) 462-1300

The long awaited, perhaps first, Japanese Ramen & Tapas is finally opened in Edmonton!!!!

I was lucky to have had some authentic ramen in Japan and Hong Kong. And last year I also was surprised to go to a fantastic ramen shop in Calgary - Shikiji. If you haven't been to Shikiji, I HIGHLY recommend that you do. I have had the best ramen and sushi in this little place with the greatest service. The location of Shikiji is also very easy to spot, located right on Trans-Canada Highway. 


But anyways, today's topic is on Nomiya. My BF and I went to Nomiya on a Friday night. Nomiya seems to be just opened for about a week or two. We got there around 6:30pm and the place is already packed. There are about 20-30 seats. So I do recommend you to go during weekdays otherwise if you go on the weekends expect to wait. The decor is very modern with a touch of Japanese shrine doorways.

They immediately got our names down and showed us their menu. We were able to order the food, and as soon as we sit down they say they will be able to serve us right away. We have a seat at the sushi bar after waiting for about 20 minutes or so.  The drinks took forever to arrive. And there's no set server to serve us. We looked into the kitchen and saw at least 10 people working inside but the food took quite some time (~30 minutes after we sit) to arrive. 

We ordered deep fried squid ($ 6.95) for appetizer. It was deep fried perfectly. Very crispy and light. I wished it had a special sauce on the size to dip then it'd be even better. My BF ordered a spicy miso ramen ($10), I tried the soup and it was very tasty. Deep pork tonkatsu flavour with a touch of spiciness. There's about 4-5 slices of pork. The ramen is nice and chewy too. The bowl of ramen is a bit on the small side. If you are a guy, one bowl is probably not enough. After my BF finished his bowl of ramen, I asked one of the server if my order has been forgotten. My bowl of shio ramen ($8.75) came about 10 minutes later. Shio ramen has a tonkatsu soup based with sea salt. The soup is very tasty. The only thing I wished was if they have a little more bean sprouts and corn to add some crunchy-ness. 

While we were sitting at the sushi bar, we noticed the sushi chef put a lot of rice in their maki rolls which I don't really like. So I'm not sure if I'll order sushi there.


Overall impression - (7/10). Maybe they just recently open and they are a little confused with the kitchen and service. I would definitely go back to have their noodles and other tapas. Edmonton lacks both of these. I'm sure they will do well if they emphasize these two items and have better service.

Self-serve chopstick stand in Coca-Cola, kinda classy but doesn't match with their modern decor.

Deep fried squid tentacles. $6.95. (8/10) Kinda like calamari but chewier. Perfect deep frying goodness. On the small portion size.

Spicy Miso Ramen. $10. (8.5/10) Soup is a little spicy for me but BF said it is delicious =) there's about 4-5 slices of pork, which is not bad. My only complaint is they should add more veggies like bean sprouts and corn which is relatively cheap.

I actually didn't order this sushi... We were sitting at the sushi bar so I was taking a picture when the chef wasn't looking. Their sushi is on the pricer side of $10-13 an order but with lots of rice. no good.

Shio Ramen. $8.75. (8/10) Shio means sea salt based tonkatsu soup. Very delicious soup I must say. More bean sprouts and corn would be perfect.

Blooming Tulips

Finally an update of how my pot of tulips are doing... These pictures are taken after 4 and 7 days since I bought them. The tulips bloom so fast to my surprise. Maybe the warm weather and more sunlight in the house helped it =). 

It's amazing how the tulips changes its shape within days. At first I missed the about-to-bloom phase, something so shy about them. Slowly warming up to the sun. Then as the days goes by it opens up, welcoming you to gaze into the center of the stalk and shows off its lovely petals. Quite lovely.  

After 4 days:

After 7 days:

Premium Prime Rib Roast

Premium Prime Rib Roast Dinner

So my first time making prime rib at home... and it turned out to be sooo delicious!!! We combined a Bobby Flay Food Network Recipe with a Beef pamphlet from Costco to make this prime rib roast. Here is a summary of the recipe...

Ingredients:  (Serves 4)

Prime Rib:
1.8kg (or 4lb) premium prime rib with bone
3 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
salt and coarsely ground black pepper
dry garlic and herb rub
Thermometer

Side Dish:
2 medium Russet potatoes, peeled and chopped
5g butter
20mL half and half cream
salt and pepper
1 medium carrot, chopped
3 baby zucchinis, chopped
handful of mini portabella mushrooms

Gravy:
1 can of Campbell's or generic brand clear beef stock
2 tbsp of corn starch
10mL of water

Directions:
1. Before cooking, take the prime rib and let stand at room temperature for about 30 minutes
2. Preheat oven to 275 degrees F
3.Wash and pat dry prime rib with a paper towel. Make sure it is completely dry to ensure nice browning later. Then cut small slits into the all over the surface of the prime rib and fill each slit with slices of garlic. Then season with salt and pepper, garlic and herb dry seasoning liberally.
4. On a pan with a little bit of oil, seared or brown the prime rib on all sides. Then place the prime rib on a roasting pan with a rack. (The rack is to ensure even heat distribution when cooking). Roast prime rib at 275 degrees F for approximately 2-2.5 hours for medium rare or until center reaches 125-135 degrees F. (I find it needs to be constantly check for internal temperature around 1.5-2.5 hours to make sure you don't over cook it)
5. At about 1hr into roasting, add largely chopped carrots and zucchinis to the roasting pan. Continue roasting.
6. Peel and chop potatoes. Boil potatoes in water with 2-3 garlic slices for approximately 30-40 minutes. (or until soft by poking with a chopstick). Then drain water.Smash potatoes with a spatula or fork. Add butter, half and half cream to the desired creaminess. Mix. Season with salt and pepper. Mix.
7. When the prime rib reaches internal temperature, remove prime rib from the oven and cover with tin foil. Let stand for at least 15 minutes before carving.
8. Meanwhile pan fry mini portabella mushrooms. Bring 1 can of beef stock and 1 cup of water to boil. Add  the beef fat from the bottom of the roasting pan, and portabella mushroom sauce into the stock. Add premixed corn starch-water mixture and stir. Adjust desired gravy thickness with more or less corn starch.
9. Serve gravy on mashed potatoes and prime rib with vegetables and enjoy! =)

Put garlic slices into small slits all over the prime rib. Season with salt and pepper and garlic and herb seasoning. Sear all sides of the prime rib on a pan.

After browning.

Add chopped carrots and zucchinis after 1 hr of roasting.

After the internal temperature reached, let stand for 15 minutes before carving. This ensure the juices stay within the meat.

Tulips

This is my first pot of plant I bought from a grocery store. I remembered when I was a child to teenage years, I used to follow my mom to the garden section in grocery stores, Home Depot, or Canadian Tire to look at all the wonderfully blooming pots and plants. She used to buy a few, usually pink and purple orchids, to bring home and grow. Orchids, although I love them too, they are VERY difficult to keep it blooming every spring/summer. We would follow all the instructions with how much water and how much sunlight the plant needs, and the poor pots of orchid have not bloom a second time.

This time as I was grocery shopping with my BF, I spotted this lovely pinkish purple tulip in a pot. It is relatively small, approximately 8 inches tall. There's three stems to each pot. And I picked the pot with one blooming bud to make sure I have a purple tulip one. After 30 minutes in the sunlight and some water, the closed bud opened up a bit. The sunlight made the color of this tulip pop so nicely against its leaves. I just have to take this macro picture. The light created amazing shadows and a great warm feeling. I hope the remaining stems will grow nicely toooo. We shall see. I will definately post more pictures when the rest of the pot bloom.

I can't help but imagine how the Victoria Butchart Garden would look right now fields and fields filled with spring tulips...

Spring

Finally the days are getting longer. Even when it is still -20 to -30 weather here in this north north city, with the sun being out longer it really does make it seem hopeful. This morning I saw the prettiest sunrise. The sun was glowing in red, just a little too bright to look straight into, but so attractively in crimson that makes you want to stare and stare. What about the rest of the sky? In shades of yellow and reds. Sunrise gives a magical feeling... something sweet and hopeful yet it is always too short to enjoy it fully. Maybe that's what makes it precious.

I hope spring comes sooner. I feel tired and very dreadful of the long dark and cold winter days. With the amount of snow and lengthy -30 days, I am ready to proclaim "I have had enough!!". And with that I hope spring will bring back my passion in my studies and work. I'm starting to feel that January-March is my deepest depression months. Never motivated enough to do everything, always lazy in bed... if I am an animal, I'd have to be a bear that loves hibernation. But because I am not a bear and I can't hibernate, this drags me on and on until winter finally ends...

Oh by the way, this is a blog of inner thoughts... so I don't want to care about grammar or too much on spelling. Whatever comes to mind I will write...