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2012-09-08
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博多系拉麵湯底質素穩定。性價比似乎是眾拉麵之冠!赤丸新味= 豚骨+醬油+鰹魚+辣味噌。Good quality Hakata ramen;Authentic;.Consistent; Very good service;Possibly the best value for money.>>>>>>OT on Sunday. Luckily, Ippudo has opened. That's a significant motivation to go to work!Booking machine: This time I've finally figure out how to operate the machine1) Press the number of guests (2) Choose whether you need telephone notification (v. good by the way) (3) Collect the ticket!(4) Wait.Got in after 5 minutes wai
湯底質素穩定。
性價比似乎是眾拉麵之冠!
赤丸新味= 豚骨+醬油+鰹魚+辣味噌。
Good quality Hakata ramen;
Authentic;.
Consistent;
Very good service;
Possibly the best value for money.
>>>>>>
OT on Sunday. Luckily, Ippudo has opened. That's a significant motivation to go to work!Booking machine:
This time I've finally figure out how to operate the machine:
(1) Press the number of guests
(2) Choose whether you need telephone notification (v. good by the way)
(3) Collect the ticket!
(4) Wait.
Got in after 5 minutes wait.To be honest with you, I didn't expect there to be so many customers on a Sunday at Admiralty!
Decor:
Nice & clean. Similar style with other Ippudo branches but much smaller than the CWB & TST branch. Just about 1/3 the size of the CWB branch. Anyway, the seats were placed relatively apart.
Great service:
Even if I was allocated a seat on the large wooden table, the sensitive waiter gave me a corner seat of the table, instead of just lumping me next to another customer. I could see they try to make a effort in making customers as comfortable as space allows.
I also noticed the waiters/waitress pouring water, taking orders when kneeling down (which I find odd in a Hong Kong setting but it's a Japanese thing) and also willingly offer to help customers fetch chopsticks and napkins if it's a bit further away from them.
Orders:
I had a look at the menu, which consisted of a number of relatively new additions (since the last time I went, which was about 1 year ago): Normal White Maru, Red Maru, New Red Maru, Wasabi Tonkotsu, Spicy Tonkotsu, Tsukemen and Hiyashi Chuka (only available during summer).
This time I thought for a while. I was in two minds (three) on whether to choose Wasabi Tonkotsu, New Akamaru or Spicy Tonkotsu. Eventually, I figure I'll revisit the New Akamaru to refresh my impressions of Ippudo. Also, since I just had a Karamiso ramen at "Nagahama No.1" I would like to compare the two.
I ordered a glass of Calpis $18 (a yogurt drink very popular in Japan) to cool down just in case my spicy ramen becomes too hot.
The (not-so) New Akamaru:
Broth: Very good first taste, strong pork bone broth with a lot of collagen. One of the thicker tonkotsu broth in town - it seemed to be a bit thicker than ButaO but ButaO has a more pronounced pork taste.
Ippudo's is still strong, just like what a bowl of authentic Hakata ramen should be. Here, it's a bit more complex and deep. I believe the shoyu used here is a bit darker than those used at ButaO. The shoyu aftertaste was quite strong.
Furthermore, there is also a slight hint of bonito! Not as strong as menya Musashi but significant enough for me to detect it.
(I've confirmed that after I purchased Instant Ippudo Shiro Maru and Aka Maru from Narita Airport after our visit to Japan amidst the anti-Japanese/Chinese demonstration weeks ago. There is no bonito in the Aka Maru (Original taste) but there is bonito in the Aka Maru. The New Aka Maru has a lot more bonito than Aka Maru.)
My New Aka Maru had just half a teaspoon of Kara miso (more like tou ban chan). It's not spicy for me at all. I think the karamiso at Nagahama is much better.
Again, I had to put chili oil. The chili oil provided tasted a bit sharper than the normal S&B version. It's had a slight similarity with the kara miso which they used. I believe their kara miso was made of tobanchang, tonkarashi powder and this spicy oil.
Noodles:
I ordered extra hard still it wasn't hard enough. (Just harder than David Ramen and similar to the "medium" noodle at Nagahama.) I think Tatsuya is a lot better. Even the medium version was harder than the hard version here. Nagahama's noodle was also a little bit better than Ippudo. However, it's still better than David ramen.
Kuraage: Very good crunchy had taste. Very good . Better than ButaO and Nagahama.
Spring onions: pretty fresh. But not too strong. Marutama is better. It's more sharp there.
Egg: A slight disappointment. Not fluid. Just a bit of egg taste. They had another option available - onsen tamago. I initially thought that onsen tamago would be too messy for ramen but on hindsight, this might be better.
Char Siu: They seemed to have changed their char siu slightly (using a different part of the pig perhaps? Nearer to the belly) instead of the thinner version I tried at CWB, it's slightly thick cut here. It had a nice aromatic meat taste. Not super tender but I'm stil happy with it. Some may find it fat though. It's better than Nagahama No.1 and Tatsuya. It's a different style from Buta O.
As far is char siu is concerned, ButaO's seems better. Hin Shou at Jordan also serves very good char siu. Price:
Basic noodle at about $56. Mine was $6X. Very reasonable for the quality .
Possibly the best value for money amongst ramen shops!
Conclusion:
- Decent environment;
- Very professional and polite service;
- Reasonable price;
- Consistent Hakata broth and noodles.
With quality restaurants at reasonable price swooping into Admiralty, alarm bells, in fact, cathedral bells, should start ringing for other restaurants in the area!
Time to provided better food at better price!
P.S.: Finally had a proper look at Hakata Ippudo's logo. Actually it is a Raijin (God of Thunder) and a Fujin (God of Wind) sending ramen to earthly subjects!
總評：
星期日要OT, 但知悉金鐘的【一風堂】已開幕，所以增強了士氣，心情亦好了很多。
約12：45到達，天真地以為星期日金鐘一帶應該水靜河飛，不用排隊，幸好，到達時只有2-3人排隊。
訂位：今次終於懂得使用置在門口訂位的機器！
1) 輸入人數
2) 是否需要電話通知（Great idea!)
3) 取票
4) 等。
5分鐘後便有位！
環境：不大，大概只有銅鑼灣分店的三分之一。但位與位之間算寬敞。
服務：細心有禮的店員安排座位的方針似乎是令客人有最大的空間，而不是把客人像（付款的）罐頭沙甸魚般擠得愈密愈好。讃！
如果客人離筷子座遠的話，會主動提供協助。亦不斷溫柔，小心地加水。讃！
餐牌：一風堂好像經常有新花款。除了原有白丸，赤丸及赤丸新味外，我已經忘記了那些是新加的款式。當時有中華冷麵。山葵豚骨，Spicy豚骨及沾麵。
點了赤丸新味，因試多了拉麵，想更瞭解這已不算新的新味：
麵條：雖然點了硬，質素合理但是和【長浜】的「中」差不多。比【David Ramen】的硬。我覺得【龍也】的「中」已經比這裡硬身及彈牙一倍有多。
湯底：博多系的豚骨湯底可說是全日本中最杰身的。一風堂的質素穩定，不會令人失望。
味道是一向的濃郁和有很多骨膠原。
沒有脈王那種很「出」的鮮味。但「赤丸新味」取而代之的是濃味醬油及鰹魚碎的味道。
鰹魚味沒有【武藏】那麼強，但仍算是明顯的。
「赤丸」好像沒有那麼多醬油，亦沒有下那麼多鰹魚碎。從湯底顏色的不同亦可略知一二。
（我和太太剛在一片反日排華的氣氛中旅日探親回港，在成田機場買了一風堂的白丸及赤丸 - 您自家製版 - 拉麵。
標籤確認了白丸是沒有鰹魚的。赤丸則有）
這湯底與新鮮帶點刺激的蔥花和鮮甜爽脆的黑木耳同吃增強了層次感。
無論赤丸或赤丸新味，它們都只是靠那一小茶匙的辣味噌帶出辣味。
對嚐辣的我，那丁點的辣味噌幾乎完全不辣。我要下半湯匙自家製的辣油才覺得過癮！那辣油的辣味鮮明。與S&B那曖昧的辣味不同。與辣味噌相輔相成。
半熟蛋：沒有用醬油鹵過的跡象。但有蛋汁。OK。另一選擇，【溫泉蛋】可能較有趣。
叉燒：不太肯定它們有沒有換過叉燒的款式。腩位。厚度適中。不算特別淋。【豚王】較好。【品尚】亦很不錯。
[b]價錢：一風堂的性價比（$5X- $6X) 似乎是眾多拉麵之冠！【味千】亦要$5x! Σ（ﾟдﾟlll）
博多系拉麵?
現在大家吃日式拉麵基本上都會以「豚王」和「一風堂」的豚骨湯底作衡量其他拉麵的標準。可能濃郁杰身的豬骨湯底較適合大部分香港人的口味。（我打邊爐都偏好豬骨湯底 - 當然還有麻辣！）
有時最明顯的地方反而是最容易忽視的。各位不知道有沒有留意，一風堂的全名是「博多一風堂」。
當然賣的是博多系的拉麵- 與函館，札榥，旭州，東京，熊本，久留米，和歌山，橫濱等等不同。
日式拉麵的分類是相當有系統的。同是豚骨但是都可以有多種流派。
博多與長浜雖然同在九州，但我近來才知道原來是兩派不同的拉麵！
以我理解，博多系的拉麵全部用豚骨作湯底（亦會放雞隻一同熬煮）。
是眾多日式拉麵之中豬骨味道最濃郁，最杰身，亦最油膩。
麵條必定是幼身沒有加蛋或經油炸過的直身幼麵。
長浜系雖然都是豚骨，亦用同樣的麵條，但是沒有博多系那麼濃，杰和油。顏色亦較為透明一點。
如果您喜歡重口味，杰身的豚骨湯底，提議花點功夫查詢一下該店是否提供博多系的拉麵。
去一間非豚骨湯㡳專門店叫豚骨可能只會令您失望，亦試不到該店「味自慢」的拉麵款式。
另一點我近來才留意到的是，它的Logo是風神及雷神。他們將博多系麵＂旋風式＂送給港日的各位食家！
有「神級」（風神及雷神）亞洲食肆進駐金鐘這片沙漠 ，附近一帶食肆的警鐘應響起了！
Other Info. :
According to wiki, Admiralty used to be the location of British Military Docks. The Chinese name, "Golden Bell", refers to the bell at the docks.
The link below is to a very powerful song. The melody is from a Korean folk song about fishermen celebrating their good catch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTROVyd-wUE&feature=related
(The above review is the personal opinion of a user which does not represent OpenRice's point of view.)
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