Manpuku, Chatswood

With an increasing number of ramen places opening up comes more competition. Chatswood used to be a dead spot for ramen but there's now several options to choose from, including a newly opened Ippudo in The District, and Manpuku.

Interior

I've heard good things about Manpuku in Kensington, so I was excited to see that it had opened up closer to home for me and I could finally taste for myself how it stacks up to other ramen places in Sydney. The location is a bit of a walk away from the main shopping precinct, but this hasn't deterred people from coming. I've been a few times now and it's very popular especially during weekend lunchtimes - so be prepared for a short wait.

Manpuku gyoza - $6.90

Apart from ramen, there's also some tasty side dishes like takoyaki ($5.50), karaage ($5.50) or mini rice bowls. We start with the Manpuku gyoza - a pork pan-fried dumpling topped with Spanish and spring onions. On my most recent visit, this didn't seem like it was on the menu anymore, but I can attest the plain pork gyoza is just as good with a nice crispy base and a tangy dipping sauce.

Tonkotsu shoyu ramen - $14.50, with extra egg - $2

There's a few different types of soup bases to choose from, including chicken soup, pork bone tonkotsu soup, and miso. For most of the soup bases, you can also chose between salt (shio) or soy (shoyu).

The tonkotsu soup is creamy and rich but not too thick. The tonkotsu shoyu is a bit salty for my liking, but the shio version which I've had on subsequent visits, has a pleasant balance of saltiness and umami. Both come with two slices of cha shu, bean sprouts, cabbage, black fungus and a sheet of nori.

Shio gara ramen - $13.50, with extra egg - $2

Ramen O-San, Haymarket

The year feels like it's only just begun and already there are new ramen shops popping up all over Sydney. The latest one to open is Ramen O-San, which hails from Kyushu, Japan's most southwesterly island that encompasses the prefectures of Fukuoka, Okinawa and Nagasaki, amongst others.

Ramen O-San's Sydney store

Ramen O-San's Sydney shop is the 7th shop to open, with 5 stores already open in Japan and one store in Cambodia. The soup base here is a shoyu tonkotsu base, made by boiling pork bones down for 10 hours and adding in soy sauce at the end. Most of the ramen on the menu is a tonkotsu-based, however there are some which combine the pork bone broth with a chicken or fish stock.

Ramen O-San's menu

I opt for the black garlic ramen, which is basically the original tonkotsu ramen with a bit of black garlic thrown in. There's a streak of black garlic oil on one side of the bowl which is fragrant with garlic flavour and adds another dimension to the tonkotsu soup base.

Black garlic tonkotsu ramen - $10.80

Yasaka Ramen, Sydney

No Ramen, No Life. It's pretty much a mantra I live by, as I find myself getting insatiable cravings for ramen every couple of weeks. I was pretty excited to hear about yet another ramen place opening up in the CBD - and run by an ex-Gumshara chef as well! We found ourselves heading over to Yasaka Ramen a few weeks after it had opened to check out what the fuss was about, and to see if chef Takeshi Sekigawa had brought the infamously rich Gumshara tonkotsu broth with him.

Making takoyaki

The first thing you see when you walk into the restaurant are several takoyaki cast iron moulds where a chef is busily turning the octopus balls to make sure they get just the right amount of crispiness. It's just as well that they have several of these moulds along one wall of the restaurant as there's lots of different takoyaki to choose from including wasabi soy, teriyaki sauce with egg salad, and grilled cheese!

Takoyaki (8pcs) - $10

We have to order some takoyaki after seeing them being freshly made out the front. The takoyaki are nicely cooked and creamy on the inside, with a touch of ginger and lashings of takoyaki sauce, kewpie mayonnaise and bonito flakes.

Menu

But the focus here is, of course, on the ramen. A full page of the menu is dedicated to three variants of thick tonkotsu pork bone broth - tonkotsu shoyu, tonkotsu shio, and tonkotsu miso - with a variety of toppings. The ramen noodles are also made in house and sometimes you can see them being cut into thin strands out the front of the restaurant.

Egg ramen (tonkotsu shoyu base) - $14.80

Ichi-ban Boshi, Sydney

Back in the day when I knew absolutely nothing about ramen and Sir D hated the stuff, Ichi-ban Boshi was one of the first ramen places I ever visited and blogged about. I remember thinking that the queues outside the restaurant must mean that they're serving up some pretty good food, but to be honest after my first visit I was not particularly wowed.

Things have changed a lot since then - lots of ramen places have opened up in the last couple of years meaning that I've been able to try different types of ramen and just eat a lot more ramen in general! So when I visited Ichi-ban Boshi again armed with my new ramen knowledge, it was quite a different experience

Iced green tea cappuccino - $4.80

A hot night meant that a cold drink was in order, and while Ichi-ban boshi has sake and Japanese beers on offer, I settled on an iced green tea cappuccino. The milky green tea is topped with an impressive amount of milk foam and raw sugar crystals. The drink also comes with a little jug of sugar syrup which you can add to your drink to adjust the sweetness of it.

Gyoza - $6.50

We start with the gyoza which we're told is one of the most popular items on the entree section of the menu. The gyoza are made in house and we can see why they're so popular - the bottoms are nicely crisped up and the dumpling pastry is rolled out quite thin. The gyoza are served on a soy and vinegar dipping sauce.

Grilled ox tongue - $11

I'm a sucker for ox tongue so when we spot this on the menu we have to order it. There's six pieces of thinly sliced ox tongue which are grilled and served with salt and chilli powder, and a wedge of lemon which is squeezed over the meat. The tongue is a little chewy but the fact that it's been sliced so thinly means that it's not at all difficult to eat.

Negimiso ramen - $11.90

Night Noodle Markets 2014

Life has been crazyy! So October (aka Good Food Month) started and it barely registered on my radar until I started hearing and reading stuff about the Night Noodle Markets. Somehow I managed to get my act together and make it out to the first night of the markets, which looked a little something like this around 6pm.

Night Noodle Markets opening night

It was crazy-town and after a quick scout of all the stalls it seemed like there were barely any without queues. I did notice that there are more food stalls than last year which is always a good sign. There are also more seating areas and bars scattered around Hyde Park - but don't let that trick you into thinking that it's easy to find a seat!

Bar area

After our recon mission, I'd picked out a handful of stalls that I was keen on getting food from. Hoy Pinoy drew me in with the billowing smoke and smell of grilled meat.

Basting the meat

This Melbourne-based Filipino BBQ food stall had huge skewers of chicken and pork belly cooking away on several grills, all the while being basted with sauce.

Skewers at Hoy Pinoy

Ippudo, Sydney

Sponsored post

It's been a while since my last visit to Ippudo. While the queues are still there and the place is as busy as ever, the menu has expanded from comprising of mainly ramen with a small selection of sides and desserts, to a full blown a la carte menu to cater for everyone's tastes.

Having such a large menu means that there were more decisions to be made. There was an overwhelming choice of different ramen soup bases, ramen toppings, entrees, salads, more substantial-sized dishes and rice dishes, so it took us a while to decide on what we wanted to eat.

Ippudo pork bun - $4 each

The Ippudo pork buns are pretty much a must-order for me. The juicy grilled pork belly, crispy lettuce and pillowy-soft bun hit all the right notes. There was a nice balance of flavours though I could always do with some extra pork belly!

David tofu - $10

Marukame Udon, Chatswood

Making udon noodles in the window

It's a new year, so it seemed only fitting to check out a new restaurant to kickstart the blog this year! You can't miss Marukame Udon on Victoria Street in Chatswood, as at any given time there will be people crowded around the glass storefront, checking out the new restaurant and watching the chefs make the noodles right in front of you.

Menu

You can also ogle at the menu before you go in, and it's probably best that you do because once you join the line, the ordering station is not too far inside. There's lots of different udon options as well as rice bowls. Select your noodles, size and hot or cold, and move down the canteen-style line until a friendly staff member takes your order. Within minutes they will be weigh out your portion of noodles, place them in a bowl, ladle over the sauce or soup and your noodles will be on your tray, ready to go.

Inari sushi and other tempura additions

But don't go rushing off yet, because there's tasty extras to be had! Marukame offers a selection of tempura, including chicken, fish, prawns, vegetables and pork katsu. There's also some inari sushi (rice stuffed inside a sweet tofu pocket), and iced green tea. Once you get the end of the line, a staff member will calculate the cost of the items on your tray, before you pay and go off to add even more things to your noodles, like chopped shallots and crunchy tempura bits.

Tsuke udon with wasabi (large) - $6.90 (left); Tempura white fish - $2.40 and Tempura vegetable - $1.90 (right)

The tsuke udon is a cold noodle option which comes with a small bowl of broth on the side for dipping the noodles into. A small dish containing a wasabi paste sits on top of the bowl of broth for some added heat. The tempura white fish is fried well, with a crunchy batter but succulent flesh inside. The tempura vegetables, or kakiage, is a wonderful mess of shredded carrot, onion, corn and other vegies deep fried in a light batter.

Kamaage udon (regular) - $5.90

Good Food Month Night Noodle Markets 2013

October has come around again which means that Good Food Month is back and in full swing! I've visited the Night Noodle Markets in previous years but they have definitely upped the ante this year with more stalls, more seating and more colourful lanterns!

Expanded seating areas at the Night Noodle Markets; Lanterns

In terms of the food, there's a range of dumplings, noodles, dim sims and other Asian goodies to suit everyone's tastes, with offerings from Chinese, Japanese, Malaysian, Thai and Vietnamese restaurants.

Huge woks of fried rice and noodles at the Span Thai stall

Roti twirling action at Mamak

Tenkomori Ramen House, Sydney

Tenkomori how-to

I was sad to hear that Ton Ton in Regent Place was closing since I had eaten lots of tasty karaage there. However, I was also pleased to hear that it would be replaced by another ramen place from the same people who run Menya Mappen and Oiden. For those of your unfamiliar with these places, they are cheap and cheerful self-service udon and rice bowl eateries respectively, where you choose a main dish and supplement it with all sorts of add-ons, including salads, drinks, side dishes and deep fried goodies.

Clockwise from top: Tenkomori menu; The production line; Karaage - one of the many toppings available

Tenkomori Ramen House is no different. You can choose from a range of ramen dishes with a shoyu, miso, or tonkotsu soup base, such as corn butter ramen, pork kakuni ramen, or karaage ramen - to name a few. Place your order and then move along the production line to select toppings ranging from a tub of sweetcorn (80c) to pieces of karaage ($2.20). The cashier will add up all your items at the end and you pay while you wait for your bowl of ramen to be made up.

Pork katsu ramen with shoyu base - $6.50 (regular size)

Ippudo, Sydney

The latest global phenomenon to hit the shores of Sydney is Ippudo, located on level 5 of Westfield Sydney. Before, Sydneysiders were queueing up for Laduree's pretty macarons, but now it's all about the ramen. We visited on a weeknight but still had to wait for around 30 minutes. Thankfully, there is a bar out the front and the bartenders are more than happy for you to order drinks and bar snacks while you wait.

Ippudo pork bun - $4

Ramen Zundo, Sydney

Move over Gumshara, there's a new ramen place in town! Ramen Zundo is located in the World Square shopping precinct - not in the underground shopping area where Coles is but on the ground floor level in one of the corridors that connects to Liverpool Street.

Menu

The menu is relatively short and sweet, with a few different broths and flavours for ramen, as well as Japanese curry and sides. Order and pay at the counter, before taking a number and a seat. It's not too long before a steaming hot bowl of ramen is placed in front of you.

Zundo black - $11.80

Random Eats

New Lindt Excellence chocolate flavours amongst some of my "light bedtime reading" of psychology journal articles

Hello! Yes I'm still alive and well but been super busy with work and uni lately. Luckily I was sent some snacks from Lindt Australia to power me through! Those of you who follow me on twitter and instagram (jacq_in_a_box) know that I've still been getting out and about as usual but I just haven't found time to blog until now. Regular broadcasting will resume shortly but here's a quick post about some of the things I've been cooking and eating recently.

Ox tongue udon from Ju-Rin, Crows Nest - $9.50 (lunch)

Tonkotsu ramen from Ramen Genki, Artarmon - $12

The cold and rainy Sydney weather that we've been experiencing just makes me want to sit down with a bowl of piping hot noodles to warm my soul. Two of my favourites are the ox tongue udon from Ju-Rin, Crows Nest; and the tonkotsu ramen from Ramen Genki, Artarmon. The ox tongue udon has changed recently, becoming cheaper and with different toppings on the noodles. The ox tongue is just as tender and juicy, and the broth is still just as delicious.

SIFF Night Noodle Markets, 2010

I'm baaack! Yes that's right my thesis is finally finished! And since we're right in the middle of the Sydney International Food Festival (SIFF) what better way to kickstart my newly-found freedom than by trying to go to as many events as possible.

The queue at Jackie M Malaysian Cuisine

The Night Noodle Markets started on Monday this week and I may have picked the worst possible day to go. Though it started out as a nice balmy evening, the rain started pouring down about an hour into the markets and people took cover under the trees in Hyde Park. Nevertheless, we still got a chance to check out all the stalls which consisted of mostly Thai, Malaysian and dumpling/dim sum places, a sprinkling of Japanese stalls and the ever present Turkish gozleme and poffertjes (which had been renamed 'mini pancakes' with an Asian font haha). The Jackie M Malaysian Cuisine stall was just as popular as last year, with lots of people queueing up for the made-to-order noodles.

Both Din Tai Fung and New Shanghai had dumpling makers on site which was quite cool. They stood behind plastic screens with their mouth guards and folded dumplings in front of the waiting queues - it was like dumpling TV! The dumpling-makers at Din Tai Fung looked especially professional, they folded those dumpling skins so expertly and so quickly.

4 assorted skewers from Mizuya: (left to right) prawn kushiyaki, chicken yakitori, Japanese cheese sausage and beef kushiyaki - $13.00

Ryo's Noodles, Crows Nest

It's barely 6pm on a weeknight and already there is a substantial line snaking around the side of Ryo's Noodles in Crows Nest. Passers-by on the footpath and on the road slow down to see what all the fuss is about. And what is the big fuss about Ryo's? Only what is rumoured to be the best ramen in Sydney.

Menu

We join the queue which is already longer than the shopfront itself but within 15-20 minutes we are seated. I've brought Sir D here to try and convert him to ramen (if Ryo's can't do it, then who can?) so we both order two bowls of ramen with the tonkotsu soup base.

Soy sauce tonkotsu ramen with roast pork, nori, egg and shallots - $11.50