Ichiban Boshi - Sydney CBD

Ramen is hands down my favorite noodle dish. I mean, I love noodles of all shapes and sizes whether they come with soup or no soup but above all else, I love ramen the most. For me, it's always been part nostalgia and part obsession. The very first bowl of ramen I had was a bowl of miso ramen that I had on my first trip to Tokyo. It changed me, opened me up to my love for all things Japan. All the countless hours spent watching anime, building gunpla, learning Japanese and eventually meeting the Mrs through our mutual appreciation for Japan....all from a single, delicious bowl of miso ramen.

So when Sydney is going through a particularly bad weather season, what do you suppose is the best thing to eat? Ramen! Meeting up with the Mrs after work, we decided to hit up one of my all time favorite ramen joints: Ichiban Boshi. This place was one of the original noodle bars which did the dish justice...of course now, Sydney's ramen game has improved a significantly (Menya, Ryo-tei, Yasaka, O-san, Ippudo...the list goes on) however this place still holds a special place in my heart. If it's one thing they do well, it's miso ramen.

On top of the fact that it was super cold and rainy, we lucked out even further when we found out that the elevator had broken down, no line! We were seated immediately and then proceeded to order our favorite comfort dishes. The Mrs was feeling like Katsu curry today so that's exactly what she ordered. Despite being a noodle bar, they do their Katsu curry particularly well! The cutlet was crispy, tender and unbelievably juicy, after a bite I was most definitely hooked. The salad and pickles were a welcome addition too.

For me however, the main star tonight was most definitely the steaming, hot bowl of ramen noodles. Nutty and aromatic in all the right ways, it was the perfect way to drive off those chills. The noodles were particularly springy today which was perfect because there's nothing worse than soft, soggy noodles. Every slurp carried with it an appropriate amount of that delectable broth, bating you into taking another mouthful and then another mouthful until you quickly realise...you're out of noodles. I normally wouldn't (be allowed) to do this but I just had to order a kaedama (extra order of noodles). Totally worth it though as that was just the thing I needed to satisfy my hunger.

Wonderful in it's simplicity.

If it's one thing I'll never get sick of it's ramen. I can only hope that one day, I too am able to live my dream and sling noodles for a living. Till then, I'm glad that Sydney's noodle scene is well taken care of by the many ramen purveyors we have available.