Ramen Zundo - Sydney, NSW

I'm sure everyone is well aware of how much I like ramen by now right? I mean, I can have ramen every single day of the week and actually not get sick of it. That's why I normally relish any opportunity I get to eat ramen (especially happy when the Mrs is also feeling like ramen). This particular night, we found ourselves at World Square so since I hadn't yet taken the Mrs to Zundo, I decided tonight was the night.

Now, I had visited Zundo many time before and whilst originally, I didn't like it nearly as much as I liked Menya or Ryo's, the recipe has steadily grown on me and recently, I've also found new reason for me to go to Zundo which is the Tsukemen. Specifically, I'm referring to their gyokai tsukemen which is a combination of their pork bone stock and fish powder. If you know what I'm referring to, you'll know that no other ramen joint gets it as close to the original product as they do here. It's almost reminiscent of the tsukemen you eat at rokurinsha or taishoken.

I told the Mrs to order the tsukemen while I stuck to the safe side and ordered a zundo black as a set (with the salmon sashimi don). As a bit of an indulgence, we also ordered chicken karaage. I was kinda (really) hoping the Mrs wouldn't appreciate the tsukemen like I did...so that she'd swap with me and she could have the zundo black. She turned out to really like it which meant that she polished most of it. The dipping soup for the tsukemen had a really strong kick of umami lent by the abundant amount of fish flavour they add to it. There's also a mild kick at the end which livens up the palate to make you eat more. The noodles are also the thick noodles specifically made for tsukemen which increases the authenticity of the dish. 

My zundo black was in comparison...alright. The soup is has a really deep, boney flavour to it which is great and while it's not nearly as thick as O-san's creamy tonkotsu or the infamous Gumshara, it's still clings to the noodles well and delivers the same amount of satisfaction. The noodles they use at zundo are also a little bit different than the standard alkaline noodles used elsewhere. They're ever so slightly springier and give a really good snap when bitten into. The only part of the ramen I didn't enjoy was the addition of the chopped cabbage.

I won't speak too much about the Salmon don because I'll be honest, if you have the fresh sashimi and put it on top of the right kind of rice, it's really hard not to do it well. Aside from ramen, I was also craving sushi so this was my excuse to eat both things I really wanted. The surprise of the night came from how delicious the chicken karaage was. Neither the Mrs or I really expected the karaage to be as good as it was...the crunchy and starchy exterior ever so lightly coated the succulent and juicy chicken meat so well that each bite was like heaven in your mouth. 

I'm really glad I finally got to take the Mrs to zundo, after our trip to Melbourne where we got to taste the delicious Mugen Ramen, no place had been able to satisfy my tsukemen cravings till I found zundo. If you're ever in the mood for authentic and refreshing Japanese style dipping noodles, you'll know where to go.