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2012-05-16
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With the rising popularity of Japanese ramen, there ought to be many shops over the buzzling districts in Hong Kong. For instance, Butao Ramen is undeniably one of the leading ramen shops over town. Being one of the hottest ramen shops, a queue is undoubtedly necessary, especially when it is not a huge and spacious shop. There was a queue outside the shop already when we got there. The waiters gave us the paper for ordering and a menu during our wait, so our orders can be taken immediately right
Being one of the hottest ramen shops, a queue is undoubtedly necessary, especially when it is not a huge and spacious shop.
There was a queue outside the shop already when we got there. The waiters gave us the paper for ordering and a menu during our wait, so our orders can be taken immediately right after we get our seats.
There were not many choices on the menu. It basically only serves the four typical ramens: the Yellow King (豚王), the Black King (黑王), the Red King (赤王), and the Green King (翠王). There were also two off-menu options, which are the Genki King (元氣王) and the Prawn King (海老王).
We waited for about 40 minutes and we finally get to enter the long-anticipating ramen shop. As we walked in, there booms the welcoming from the staff, all giving us a loud greeting for coming to the shop. We've decided to go for the basic typical ones and ordered one Yellow King and one Black King, and picking all medium for the soup base, texture of noodles, amount of scallion, amount of garlic and so on and so forth.
Fast enough, thankfully, the ramens are ready. Starting with the Yellow King, it is actually of a classic pork bone soup base. The soup is cooked 20 hours with pork bone, resulting in a full-bodied soup base, rich in flavor and almost creamy in texture. The noodles, unlike the Tokyo variety which is more common among Hong Kong's Japanese restaurants, are thinner and way more chewy, as well as giving an al dente texture. The ramen came out perfect, with the addition of grounded sesame, it is totally exquisite.
As for the Black King, the broth includes squid ink and the soup is relatively a bit more intense. The flavor is more strong and it is more savory yet it might be a bit heavy to some. This is an alluring option but you would want to mind your teeth and lips from getting black from the squid ink.
The essence of ramen is the soup and it would be the stupidest thing ever to not drink it. The soup base, as mentioned above, is very rich, and msg-free. That of the Black King ramen might be a bit too heavy to down it all, but you shouldn't waste that of the classic Yellow King and drink it all. After you have drunk all the soup, you would find two big letters of 'Thank You' at the bottom of the bowl, which would quite be a delight to see.To sum up, I think the ramen here is a tasty perfection. Not only in taste but the sincerity of the making of it. A 40-minute queue is totally worth it for such quality.
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