Ramen Bankara — Gastrology

A generations-old family recipe for ramen inspired Naoki Kusano to open the first Ramen Bankara store in Japan. Fast forward 15 years and you can find more than 50 Ramen Bankara restaurants worldwide, including its very first Australian store in Westfield Doncaster Shoppingtown.

The word ‘bankara’ refers to an old Japanese colloquial term once used to describe an individual’s inimitable style. What makes Ramen Bankara unique is its ‘first slurp’ philosophy, involving a journey of the five senses (taste, smell, touch, sight and sound).

The first slurp of a bowl of Bankara’s ramen evokes pleasure, initiating an immense desire for the next slurp until the bowl is cleanly empty.

This philosophy underpins Ramen Bankara’s mission of getting things right the first time to bring to diners a multi-layered taste experience achieved only through a passionate love for the craft, quality ingredients and decades of perfecting the recipe.

We enjoyed sampling the range of Ramen Bankara dishes.

The Tokyo-style Bankara ramen (which is something Ramen Bankara is particularly famous for) was our favourite dish. It was a delicious mix of porkbone broth infused with refined shoyu (soy sauce) which was served with decadent kakuni (braised pork belly).

The restaurant also serves classics such as the rich and buttery tonkotsu ramen with springy Hakatastyle noodles, and the tsukemen for those who prefer to dip their dry noodles into broth.