Men Kurai

Good ramen, but not worth the hype. I had the truffle-flavored chaashuu tamago Gohan and shoyu ramen with simmered egg topping. The tamago gohan was underwhelming, obviously just a way for the restaurant to (very sparingly) use up the end pieces of their chaashuu that are too small to put on ramen. The truffle flavor is just a gimmick to get people to order it more, and can be easily copied at home with a drop of cheap truffle oil. Other than the thick, chewy noodles that *were* excellent, the ramen didn't impress, either. The soup was good, but nothing special; it tasted like any other shoyu ramen. Yes, the small flakes of raw onion were a nice touch to change up the flavor, but not enough to redeem its plainness. The chaashuu was dry and bland. Granted, it had a strong pork flavor, and maybe that's what they were going for, but you can get the same flavor from any slice of dry pork meat. The bamboo shoots and egg were also next to flavorless. The "simmered" egg literally just tasted like a lightly salted boiled egg. Maybe if I had gotten the abura-soba, I might have had a better experience, but the food I had was definitely not worth going out of the way for. At least I was able to be seated quickly and the staff were nice.

Lunch Visit I went out for lunch today. From the bold signboard, I wondered what kind of ramen would be served, but what came out was surprisingly a very classic-looking bowl. The broth tasted like a mix between Chinese-style soba and Japanese soba—it had a strong dashi flavor along with a solid soy sauce base. The noodles were thick and chewy, with a texture so springy that some people even compare them to udon. In fact, they did feel closer to udon than typical Chinese-style noodles.

The noodles were incredibly tasty—soft on the outside with a wonderfully chewy center. The egg was fantastic as well; I could easily have eaten a few of them. The soup was flavorful, complementing the dish perfectly. While the place might not be the most visually appealing, the quality of the food more than makes up for it!

Ordered the Abura soba (mixed noodles with oil) since it seems the best choice to taste the slippery and chewy texture of the hand-kneaded noodles

Price: ~AUD $15/pp Value: 8/10 Food aesthetic/presentation: 8/10 Taste: 7/10 (good texture on the noodle, however broth lacks flavour) Ambiance: 7.5/10 Service: 9/10 Meal type: Ramen, soba Return value: 7/10 Experience: 8/10 Queue Time: 20 min Overall: 7/10

To be honest, I'm a bit disappointed. Not sure if the noodle is overcooked, the texture is too soft and like eating a soaked bread. The chashu is liked a ham, not really special but the portion is relatively more than a general ramen shop. The most tasty is the dumpling. I visited the shop on Tuesday's night, only few customers are having the dinner, no need to queue at all. The surrounding are only the commercial building, very quite at night. Really don't know why it voted as the recent hottest ramen shop.

I came here to eat. The noodles were delicious, the noodles were chewy and thick, the soup tasted quite special, the wontons had just the right amount of flavor. The staff were very friendly.

Too fish smell and taste. Noodle is extra fat size