Mr Ramen San

Mr Ramen San is a Japanese noodle house centrally located in the Mid City Arcade on Bourke Street. As the name suggests, the focal point of this café is ramen – Japanese wheat noodles. 

The quality of the ramen offered by Mr Ramen San is some of the best Melbourne has to offer with the noodles made in-house daily. The broth is cooked for 10 hours in pork bones (chefs stir continuously for 4-5 hours a day to achieve a beautiful consistency) for full flavour. 

Charsu Ramen

The menu features reasonably priced and amply sized bowls of delicious soup noodles (with extra noodles free of charge), making this ramen-centric establishment a suitable haunt for economical lunch seekers. 

Mr Ramen San allows you to customise your own ramen. You begin by selecting a broth - soy, miso or tonkotsu (pork bone) – before proceeding to select your topping - eg. chashu (roast pork), beef and minced chicken. 

Vegetarian Charsu Ramen

On our visit, we were particularly impressed by the vegetarian Charsu Ramen. The slender noodle strands were firmly cooked, and were pleasantly garnished with nori, boiled egg, bamboo shoots and spring onion. The accompanying Vegetarian “Charsu” possessed a delicious bite and went superbly with the vegetarian “tonkotsu” broth. The broth is the most vital component of any bowl of ramen as it provides flavour to the noodles. Mr Ramen San’s broth was delicious. A thick, cloudy and somewhat creamy concoction of decadently rich flavours. It was hard to believe that this was a vegetarian dish.

Teriyaki Charsu Spicy Tonkotsu Ramen

Another highlight was the Teriyaki Charsu Spicy Tonkotsu Ramen. Boasting unadulterated pork flavours (the end product of intensely boiled pork bones and more notably, pork fat), the thick, gleaming layer of liquid pork fat that forms on the surface of the broth was the key to an authentic and robust tonkotsu broth. As the strands of noodles were pulled through the surface, they were coated with the unctuous perfectly spicy liquid which provided the noodles with indulgent flavours. 

Mr Ramen San is definitely worth checking out if you have not already.

Location: Midcity Arcade, 200 Bourke St, Melbourne VIC 3000

Phone: (03) 9042 1588

Link: http://www.mrramensan.com.au/
Cuisine: Japanese, Ramen

Gastrology bloggers dined courtesy of Mr Ramen San.

Restaurant Review: Wat Da Pho

Location: 212 Clarendon Street, South Melbourne

Phone: 03 9696 5605

Link: http://www.watdapho.com.au/

Cuisine: Vietnamese

Overall Impression: 7/10

Wat Da Pho is the relatively new kid on the block in South Melbourne. Having opened only a few months ago, Wat Da Pho has already garnered a considerable following.

Wat Da Pho is touted as a casual Vietnamese restaurant that showcases contemporary Vietnamese cuisine. Located in a cosy space along Clarendon Street, Wat Da Pho’s dining room exudes informality - whitewashed brick walls with splashes of colour from the quirky furniture. 

We started with a few rice paper rolls which were pleasant. Given we were visiting a Vietnamese restaurant and one that was pho-centric at that, it only seemed proper that we order a couple of bowls of pho – in our case, one served with beef and one served with chicken. 

TaiNam - Classic - Rare sliced beef + beef brisket 

Ga– Chick a Dee - Sliced chicken

Both the broths had a beautiful flavour and tasted natural. The ingredients used were fresh and of a good quality. We were both pleased with our phos. 

Wat Da Pho is a wonderful addition to South Melbourne’s culinary scene. The food tastes authentic and the service is friendly and prompt. 

Restaurant Review: Kokoro Ramen

Location: 157 Lonsdale Street,  Melbourne
Phone: 03 9650 1215
Link: http://www.kokororamen.com/
Cuisine: Japanese, Noodle Shop
Overall Impression: 7/10

Kokoro Ramen is a Japanese noodle house centrally located on Lonsdale Street. As the name suggests, the focal point of this café is ramen – Japanese wheat noodles.

While the quality of the ramen offered by Kokoro Ramen may fall short of the noodles offered in Japan, in Melbourne it compares favourably. Ten dollars will buy you an amply sized bowl of above average soup noodles, making this ramen-centric establishment a suitable haunt for economical lunch seekers. 

The house-made noodles are great - firm and al dente. There are four varieties of broth, our favourite being the classic tonkotsu. Kokoro Ramen’s broth is pleasant but is much lighter than the tonkotsu broths found on the streets of Japan which are a thick, cloudy and somewhat creamy concoction of decadently rich pork flavours. It is nevertheless a sufficiently tasty blend of ingredients and is perhaps the closest thing Melbourne has to an authentic Japanese tonkotsu ramen. 

Whilst not revolutionary, Kokoro Ramen is a welcomed addition to Melbourne’s dining scene which lacks good ramen noodle shops and is definitely worth a visit if you have not already. 

Restaurant Review: Noodle Kingdom

Swanston Street Noodle Kingdom 
Location: 264 Swanston Street, Melbourne
Phone: 03 9650 1818
Cuisine: Chinese, Noodle Shop, Vegetarian
Overall Impression: 6/10 

Russell Street Noodle Kingdom
Location: 175 Russell Street, Melbourne
Phone: 03 9654 2828
Cuisine: Chinese, Noodle Shop, Vegetarian
Overall Impression: 4/10

I’ve had unpleasant experiences at the Russell Street Noodle Kingdom. Simply put, the staff were miserable, the food was below average and I remember waiting unreasonably long for my food to arrive. As a result, I was particularly sceptical when my friends told me that the Swanston Street Noodle Kingdom is one of their favourite lunch time spots. 

I’m happy to say that my fears (while reasonably grounded, given the Russell Street Noodle Kingdom) were alleviated very quickly by my visit to Swanston Street Noodle Kingdom. 

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The service was prompt. The noodle dishes tasted fresh and the dumplings were of a reasonably good standard. 

The menu provides the soundest bang for your buck – the servings are generous and every dish is around the $10 mark. While this is also true of the Russell Street restaurant, the Swanston Street Noodle Kingdom is miles ahead. So, don’t let a bad experience from the Russell Street restaurant deter you from visiting the one on Swanston Street!

Restaurant Review: Shanghai Master Dumpling

Location: 173 King Street, Melbourne
Phone: 03 9077 0919
Cuisine: Asian, Chinese
Overall Impression: 6/10

Even though Shanghai Master Dumpling is more "amateur" than "master", it is still a dumpling eatery that is worth a visit.

The dumplings and noodles are of a good standard and quite tasty. All in all, this is a pretty good dumpling and noodle restaurant with menu prices that will not break the bank. 

Restaurant Review: Misschu

Location: various (please see below)
Phone: 03 9077 1097
Link: misschu.com.au/
Cuisine: Vietnamese, Food Truck
Overall Impression: 6/10

Misschu tuckshops are a modern day Vietnamese hawker/ takeaway/caterer. The menu features traditional and fresh Vietnamese cuisine. 

Darlinghurst Tuckshop

 There are now 8 locations in Sydney and Melbourne.

Wagyu Beef Pho $14

While Misschu is probably most famous for being ‘the Queen of the rice paper rolls’, my favourite item on the Misschu menu is their Wagyu Beef Pho. The soup is incredibly flavoursome and much more refined than your usual beef pho. The noodles are delicate and the wagyu beef is very tender and juicy.