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2017-03-14
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I'm rarely excited about new restaurants that open up where I live as they are usually over priced and not that good. But recently, there have been some interesting ones that have cropped up. One such place is Zagin Soba.Originating from Osaka, Zagin Soba is known for ramen with a chicken based broth. As it had just opened, the staff is from Osaka. How long they will be here, I do not know. The shop is narrow with a few tables. There is a bar table in one section where you can see the chefs at w
Originating from Osaka, Zagin Soba is known for ramen with a chicken based broth. As it had just opened, the staff is from Osaka. How long they will be here, I do not know.
The shop is narrow with a few tables. There is a bar table in one section where you can see the chefs at work. Menu is in Chinese and Japanese. There is no English but they do have photos of every thing. There is also no 10% service charge. However, they only serve three types of ramen: chicken broth, chicken broth tsukemen style and chicken with bonito fish based broth. All ramen are priced at $138. Unlike other ramen shops, they do not have a check off list to let you decide how you want your noodles and toppings.
Oh yes, I should show you this. This is the wet towel to wipe your hands. Pretty!
Chicken Broth Ramen ($138). I chose their signature ramen. It came with half an egg, one slice of char siu, one slice of chicken breast and deep fried burdock. The char siu was interesting as it tasted a lot like ham instead of the usual char siu taste. The chicken breast was slow cooked and was moist and tender. The deep fried burdock was a nice addition to give a bit of crunchy texture. The egg was wonderful. It was perfectly cooked and it had a tea smoke flavor that wasn't too overpowering. But the broth was fantastic. Creamy and smooth. It was rich in chicken taste yet didn't feel oily. It felt like having a cream soup. It was great!
The noodles were perfectly al dente with no starchy after taste. It clung to the soup well. By the end of my meal, the noodles had soaked up the soup but it still remained chewy. These were good quality noodles.
Chicken and Fish Broth Ramen ($138). Boyfriend chose this one. It was a it saltier than mine and I did prefer mine more. It had a strong fish taste. But what we found interesting was that most places in Hong Kong that offer this type of ramen, they just give you spoonful of bonito powder and you just mix it in. But as boyfriend discovered, there were small diced pieces of fish meat. It appeared they used actual fish meat to create the soup instead of just plopping on powder.
Karage ($48). They only have two snack items. One was fried rice using chicken oil. The other was karage. Japanese fried chicken. We decided to share this. There were about three pieces. These were possibly the best karage I've ever had in Hong Kong! They even left the chicken skin on so it was extra crunchy. It was perfectly seasoned an the meat was moist and juicy. They included some dipping salt if you wanted extra seasoning.
It's been a long time since I've gotten excited over a ramen shop in Hong Kong and this place has me excited. It's rare for me to recommend to people to actually take the trip into Happy Valley to eat here. But here I'm doing so. Try this place. Though a lot more expensive than any other ramen place, it was worth every dollar. Quality was excellent. It tasted divine. I'll be back as I only live across the street. I'll try out the tsukemen next time. Hopefully they will maintain quality.
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