Ramen

Hakata Gensuke (Russell Street)

I NEVER thought that I could ever acquaint ramen broth like fine champagne but that’s exactly what came to mind when I first slurped the tonkotsu from Melbourne’s popular Hakata Gensuke in Russell Street. I ventured there with Ramen Girl and the “Commish” (a mate …

Ra Ra

I ADMIRE non-Japanese learning the art of perfecting Japanese dishes. Take American Ivan Orkin for instance who set up two ramen-ya in Japan (which got a cult following), and then packed everything up and moved back to New York City to open back in the …

Ichibanboshi

I CAN still remember where I had my first ramen. It was at Japanese noodle chain Ichibanboshi’s Sydney restaurant and it was its Tokyo-style ramen – a light soy- based and filling soup that introduced me to ramen. I’m pretty sure a lot of Sydney-siders …

Hakataya Ramen

DOWN a flight of stairs off Brisbane’s busy shopping district of Queen Street Mall lies a branch of Hakataya Ramen – a southern Japanese ramen-ya chain that has nine ramen-ya in Queensland spread from the Gold Coast up to Brisbane. Hakataya was one of the …

Taishoken in Higashi-Ikebukuro (東池袋大勝軒)

NO journey to Tokyo is complete for a ramen zealot without making the pilgrimage out to the suburb of Ikebukuro to pay homage to the home of tsukemen at Kazuo Yamagishi-san’s ramen-ya – Taishoken. This is the place in 1961 where Yamagishi-san added the now …

Mugi to Olive (むぎとオリーブ)

IT’S exciting to be in Japan at the height of the country’s ramen revolution where young and not so young ramen-ya chefs are being recognised for their innovation and cutting-edge bowls not only by long queues of zealots but also by renowned publications such as …

Red Dragon Ramen

I WASN’T sure what to expect or if it was the right thing to do – having a bowl of steaming tonkotsu ramen in such a hot and humid place as the Indonesian island of Bali. Red Dragon Ramen prides itself on serving Yokohama-style ramen …

Shujinko

SHUJINKO fascinated me because this Melbourne 24-hour ramen-ya boasts as being able to continually serve ramen zealots bowls of ramen and tsukemen from dawn to dusk and throughout the night. I had aspirations to test whether Shujinko could deliver quality ramen at an insane early …

Gumshara

Like Japanese Anime and Manga, Gumshara, a hole-in-the-wall ramen-ya in Sydney Chinatown’s ‘Eating World’ hawker centre has a cult following. Gumshara only sells ramen (and only a small, niche variety – just under a dozen). Its cult following is due to the stock which Japanese …

Menya Noodle Bar

Menya Noodle Bar is a place that I eat regularly when I get a ramen craving (which can be quite often as it’s a five minute walk from my office), and was the first “ramen-ya” I ever went to in Sydney. When you enter Menya …