santouka ramen, great expectations

Shio ramen - $8.95

What is it about ramen that inspires countless fanatics? There are movies about ramen and inspired by ramen. The web is saturated with ramen-only blogs, most of them by expats currently living in japan. Outside of japan, the appetite for ramen is abated -- or stoked, whichever way you want to look at it -- by the numerous ramen shops that seems to be popping out in every corner. A particularly heartwarming story is that of ramen shop owners and chefs who organised themselves to provide freshly cooked ramen to those hardest hit by the 2011 tsunami in japan.

nao miso ramen

Ramen, one of my favourite things to eat of all time. A decent bowl of ramen is also one of the hardest things to find in Perth.

arigataya chicken katsu ramen

The first time I heard about Arigataya was from my sister. She told me that she went there with her husband and had a great meal. She also told me that her husband cockily ordered the free extra noodle but couldn't finished it, but let's keep this just between you and me. My initial thought when she told me about this place was, "Yay! Finally a decent ramen place". So naturally, I was quite curious, but I couldn't seem to find the opportunity to go.

The second time I heard about it was when I finally went there to eat with Maru. It was almost lunch time and she told me that we should try this new ramen place that's been generating a lot of buzz. I was so hungry at that point that we quickly ordered as soon as we got there. I ordered the chicken katsu ramen and Maru ordered the kitsune udon.

ume seafood ramen

My last day in Melbourne, still couldn't find good Japanese food, what a predicament! Last ditch effort was this place, and it was abysmal.

This was one of those Chinese-operated Japanese restaurant, it was not authentic by far. Ajisen Ramen would seem like the most authentic place compared to this place. The place was well lit, but not very well kept. The seat cushions used to be white, but were now smudged all over. The wall graced the mandatory geisha paintings, to give it the illusion that it was a Japanese restaurant.

When I was there, at about 5pm, the customers were all non-Japanese, which confirmed my initial suspicion. The waitress/cashier managed to knock my drink over as she came to serve my food, but promptly cleaned it up and served me a new one.

Seafood ramen - $9.50

The place served sushi rolls and several kinds of ramen dishes. I had the seafood ramen. The broth lacked substance and this was covered up by putting in way too much salt. The seafood was not unfresh. The noodle was probably the moderately good thing about it. Give it a pass.


Ume Sushi House
385 Little Bourke St
Melbourne VIC
Open Monday-Friday 9am-6pm, Saturday 11am-5pm

ajisen tonkatsu ramen

In the middle of my getting lost in Melbourne (partly because I was looking for this restaurant called Yamato, which I finally found but was still closed, partly because I was navigationally-challenged), I stumbled upon an Ajisen Ramen restaurant. The restaurant was quite clean with a dim-lighted, modern type of ambiance, which to me didn't match with them being a fast-food chain and all.

Tonkatsu ramen - $12.50
Side of paiku (1 slice) - $1.50
Hot green tea - $1.50

I ordered the tonkatsu ramen with a side of paiku, but found it to be an inferior version of what it could be. The crumbed pork were these dry thin slices of pork, which neither satisfy nor appetising. The dish was over-run by cabbage, there was probably more cabbage in there than any of the other ingredients. The noodle was also not what I expected ramen to be, opaque, not translucent. The only saving grace was the side of paiku, which eventhough it was dry and weird looking, it was quite tasty. One last blow to me was that hot tea was not free, but I guess that was me asking for too much (I am used to having free hot tea in most Japanese restaurants I go to). Ajisen Ramen proved to me to be a second class impersonation of Japanese food. My search continued.


Ajisen Ramen
130 Bourke St
Melbourne VIC
Open 7 days 12pm-9.30pm

tanpopo ramen

Today, my sister and I went to this Japanese tea house called TanPoPo. When we want Japanese food that is quick, convenient and close-by, we usually go there. I remember the time when I used to go there almost for every lunch time, it was the cheapest food we could find that was reachable within a 10-minute walking distance of my school.

The place itself used to be quite well-maintained and clean. But over the years it had lost a bit of its shine. There was a leak on the roof pooled into a tin bucket and boxes stacked in front of the counter waiting to be put away. The place brings me back to my school days every time I visit and it would be such a shame for it to crumble and close down.