Ramen Ikkyu - Sydney

A couple of our friends tempted us with the promise of delicious ramen. As I have an almost insatiable craving for ramen - we were there! I hadn't been to Ramen Ikkyu before but my friends assured me that the chef (originally from Blancharu) married the perfect broth with the perfect noodles.

When we got there, the head chef was present - cheerful and helpful in demeanor when he saw me struggle with finding the food items that I wanted. Or... did he just find me too slow in ordering?

Our friend talked up the amazingness of the pork rib - supposedly a massive slab of meat. How could hubby resist? When it came out, the pork rib was indeed MASSIVE. It was also super succulent and tender and really really tasty. With a slight charred, bbq flavour, it was a melt-in-your-mouth piece of meat. The rib came with a rich soy-based soup. I think that the pork rib's fat dripped into the soup, making it the soup rich, thick and porky in flavour.

pork rib ramen

I opted for a less epic option - the Ikkyu Salt. The 'paitan soup' is slightly lighter than the tonkatsu soup base of other ramen places. This soup was lighter but still rich and concentrated. It tasted more chicken-like compared to pork which was interesting. Initially, the soup was slightly less satisfying that the tonkatsu soups, but halfway through the noodle slurping, the richness of the soup really got to me. The noodles were good and the egg and bamboo shoots were likewise deliciousness. The bbqed pork meat is also completely delicious! (although I did prefer the chunkier rib pieces that hubby had).

ramen ikkyu salt

Although free kaedama (ie. extra portion of noodles) is offered, none of our party of four required this. However, we couldn't resist but to share some gyoza. The gyoza is pretty succulent and not really charred. There's this thin layer of batter that joins the gyoza together which unfortunately doesn't add much to the dish.

gyoza

All up, this was a pretty delicious feast. We were all ramened out by the end of it (and in search of something sweet :P).

Ramen Ikkyu
Sussex Centre Food Court
Sussex Street
Haymarket, NSW 2000
Tel: (02) 9281 0998