ippudo, sydney cbd

Ippudo has long been the talk of the town since its opening with branches in New York, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Taipei, Seoul, Shanghai, Hong Kong and now Sydney. The adventure to Ippudo had been delayed a couple of times simply because the weather was too hot and bit too humid for a hot steaming bowl of ramen. Now that Summer is coming to an end with rain for the past week or two, I managed to gather two friends to have ramen with me.

ippudo:

We arrived at 6:30 on a Monday night and were almost immediately seated. Once we stepped into the restaurant, all the staff welcomed us!

We were extremely hungry and decided to order two entrees to start the meal off.

ippudo karaage chicken ($4.00)

Three pieces of deep fried soy marinated chicken arrived on a bed of salads and was served with a wedge of lemon and some mayonnaise. The skin was so nice and crispy. I don't think it's possible to go wrong with karaage. Our second entree was the famous Ippudo pork buns. How could we not order them?

pork buns ($4.00):

Sandwiched between the fluffy steamed bun is a thick slice of braised pork belly, iceberg lettuce and Ippudo's original sauce. Loved it - the pork belly was just so smooth and literally melted in your mouth. The fresh iceberg lettuce made the bun look better, taste somewhat lighter from the Japanese kewpie mayo and adds a different texture to the soft pillowiness of the whole bun.

karaka men ($17.00):

The Karaka Men is noodle soup with very thin noodles and contains Ippudo's original tonkotsu broth with special spicy miso and ground pork. The spicy miso isn't too overpowering but still adds that extra spicy kick to the lovely tonkotsu broth.

akamaru shinaji tamago ($19.00):

The Akamaru Shinaji includes miso, garlic oil, pork belly, black mushrooms, bean sprouts and shallots with a rich tonkotsu broth. I loved the rich broth, fragant garlic oil and black mushrooms. These noodles felt thicker compared to the Karaka men and the broth was thick but not sickeningly rich.

onsen egg

I decide to go with the onsen egg instead of the flavoured egg today which is kind of like a reversed half - boiled egg. The yolk is cooked and the white is slippery and runny. The slightly cold, silky smooth eggs with a gooey yolk threatening to ooze out taste divine with the hot bowl of ramen.

I quite enjoyed the ambience and the super friendly staff of the restaurant. Although the menu is not cheap, it is definitely a worthwhile experience! I definitely want to come back and try their Shiomaru Motoaji, unagi stone pot rice and goma q.

Ippudo
Level 5 Westfield
Sydney 188 Pitt St
Sydney NSW 2000
f: https://www.facebook.com/ippudo.syd
t: (02) 8078 7020
w: http://www.ippudo.com.au/