The Mister's Fantastical Ramen Weekend - Sydney, NSW

Hello everybody! Apologies for the small hiatus, the Mrs and I had a few things which had recently kept us rather pre-occupied so as result, we didn't get much time to blog. But that doesn't mean we didn't have time to eat though...oh no, we ate plenty. I recently had the most wonderful weekend packed with bowl after bowl of my absolute favourite noodles: Ramen.

So the Friday night before last, the Mrs and I headed to Newtown to attend a friend's birthday party. As the festivities were scheduled at a later time, we took this opportunity to go grab a bite to eat. Surprisingly, the Mrs allowed me to choose what to eat so I chose this small ramen shop on King St which looked relatively new. Tokyo Noodle Bar Zu Zu Zu looked exactly like what I was craving so without hesitation, we went in and ordered our noodles. I typically order a Miso ramen (if available) as that was the first flavour I had back in Japan and I use it as a benchmark for how good a place is. Soup wise, this place did the dish right. The soup was thick and held a lot of umami from the miso. The noodles were of the straight white variety and the toppings were rather standard. The disappointing thing was that the Chashu (roast pork) wasn't nearly as thin or tender as it should have been and the eggs weren't marinaded but overall, a great bowl to stave of the winter chill.

The next day, I was lucky enough to be able to grab lunch with my mum and sister where we went to a local favorite: Manmaruya. Personally, I'm a bigger fan of their original store in Campsie but as Hurstville was closer, that's where we decided to go. Mum went for the Spicy Miso Ramen which is typically what I order. The Chashu here is also not as tender as it should be but compared to the bowl I had at Zu zu zu, this has more character. The fresh chillies and ra-yu (japanese chilli oil) give the already flavoursome miso a good heat and kick which makes every slurp of slightly wavy noodles all the more exciting.

I saw a special called the Samurai Ramen and intrigued, I order that as my ramen and I have to say, I was thoroughly impressed. As is the more popular variety now, Manmaruya seems to also have embraced Gyokai fever by adding a spoonful of powdered bonito to their standard tonkotsu ramen. A small difference goes a long way as the flavour of fish really layers the soup and adds a level of complexity to it. I also appreciate how as opposed to their standard ramen, they serve the egg in the Samurai whole.

The sister wasn't all too hungry so she went with a Salmon Sashimi Donburi (which I didn't remember to photograph) and Takoyaki. As a special, they had blue fin tuna available so without hesitation, I ordered a plate of that as sashimi. I didn't get what all the hype was about blue fin tuna before but after eating this, I'm sold. The decadent slices of fresh fish marbled so magnificently makes for a tremendously satisfying treat. For the premium that this dish demand, I can't say I'd be making this a regular purchase (I'll just stick to my Salmon belly) but you definitely can't deny how pretty each slice is.

On the Sunday, the Mrs and I decided to go shopping and upon remembering that Ippudo had also opened up at Macquarie Centre, I demanded that we go there for lunch. Unlike the city branch, the Macquarie Centre branch is much less busy, possibly due to the fact that this place has a diminished menu...sorta like Ippudo express. The Mrs and I both chose to have the lunch set where I chose the Akamaru Shinaji and Gyoza, she chose the Karaka men and Karaage. Ippudo really is famous for a reason: you can't go wrong with their Shinaji. I was a little disappointed that my order of additional egg was missed but it really didn't detriment the bowl of noodles all too much. The combination of spice from the bomb and the hit of garlic from the black garlic oil really works well with the viscous, milky pork bone soup.

The Gyoza was another delight as I had never tried a place which offered Yuzu Kosho as a condiment. When mixed in with the dipping vinegar, the gyoza had a slight but refreshing bitterness and pepperiness which made it really nice to eat. The karaage was....different which is what I believe they were going for. The crunch and flavour was decent but not nearly as good as other places which offer that standard starchy crunch. I think in this case, I ordered the better side. She did order the better ramen though...

Overall, I'd have to say that I had a wonderful weekend (obviously at the expense of the Mrs) but I'd say I earnt it, what with all the brunches I take her to. We'll return to our regular content regularity very soon once we get a few things sorted this month but stay tunes for more coming this week!