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2015-06-21
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Ramen is one of those things that I've had very little of, if you except the instant noodle kind. I never visited a ramen restaurant before coming to HK. So here's a naive review; take it with a grain of salt.I found this restaurant on a "Top 5 Ramen Joints in HK" on HK Tattler. There was no date to the article, but some of the restaurants had closed, so I assume "out of date". Still, it met all my criteria of being close, and at least reasonably well-regarded.We came here on a Friday night arou
I found this restaurant on a "Top 5 Ramen Joints in HK" on HK Tattler. There was no date to the article, but some of the restaurants had closed, so I assume "out of date". Still, it met all my criteria of being close, and at least reasonably well-regarded.
We came here on a Friday night around 8pm and were seated in 2 minutes or so. There was a crowd of people out front, but they were all waiting for the restaurant next door. Maybe I'll try whatever that is next time!
We were seated in the far corner from the door of the restaurant, next to the kitchen, and it was really warm there. I was sweating throughout the meal. They should really look into making sure all their seats are comfortable.
[Apologies to the chef: I've stirred this somewhat before remembering to take a photo, so the presentation is my fault.]I got the Akamaru Shinaji, described on the menu thus: "rich and powerful tonkotsu broth, topped with fragrant oil and special miso served with traditional Hakata style thin noodles" ($72). There was a special version for $88 with seaweed, a soft boiled egg, and bamboo shoots, but to tell you the truth I don't particularly care for any of those things, so I went classic. They offered me an option to have soft, medium, or hard noodles-- I picked hard, and that was the right choice. I was a little confused about whether you could get this soup spicy, but the answer is no.
The noodles were firm-- not so firm as local wonton noodles, but definitely not mushy and they held up well through the entire bowl of soup. The pork was almost an afterthought. Two thin slices, each about half porkfat, kind of dry on the meaty part and not particularly seasoned. That's fine, I'm more of a broth and noodles person anyway. The broth was cloudy and... I don't have a good vocabulary for ramen at this time. It was creamy and salty and porky, with some sesame. I was mostly indifferent.
I definitely enjoyed the food. Firm noodles and salty, fatty broth. What's not to like? But I'm still not sold. I get cravings for pho and for Cantonese beef brisket noodles. I've yet to crave ramen really in the same way. I think I've gotta try the spicy stuff.
My wife got the Special Kuro. It was also a tonkotsu broth, but it had "homemade black garlic oil, infused with hints of black pepper." Normally, I'd've gotten that, but it only comes with the extra thick noodles, and I didn't want to compromise on my noodle preferences. However, I will say that I tried her broth and thought it was far superior to mine.She thought it wasn't one of the better bowls of ramen she'd had, but she did like the broth.
We also got some gyoza. I'll admit that secretly, this is what I really wanted to eat when I walked in the door. Unfortunately, we were very disappointed in the gyoza. They were small, first of all, and even for their size didn't have much filling. The filling wasn't very flavorful and there was something funny about the texture of the skin. Ah well...I almost certainly won't come back here. There's ramen out there somewhere that I'll like, I know it, but this just happened to not be it. Add to that the sweatiest seats in the house and the sub-par gyoza and I've got to turn my attention further afield.
Other Info. :
My 'decor' rating is based on the hotbox seating.
When we went, it was 2 beers for the price of one.
(The above review is the personal opinion of a user which does not represent OpenRice's point of view.)
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