O-San Ramen, Haymarket

Thanks Ms Spoon, Forks and Chopsticks for hand modelling this noodle-lift shot

It sounds cliché but I love ramen so much that I go bananas over them! Soon as I heard that there was a new ramen playa in town, I made plans to check them out straight away.

 O-San Ramen is the latest kid to hit the block and it's a name that many will line up for. They are hidden within the underground Dixon House Food Court, which is located in the heart of Sydney's Chinatown. They specialise in tonkotsu (pork bone) broth and other meat-based broths such as: tonkotsu with garlic oil, chicken, and a broth blend of pork & chicken. One of the things I've noticed straight away is that for a bargain price of $9.80, you get a medium-sized bowl of basic tonkotsu ramen with four generous slices of cha-shu! Here's what I got up to in my two visits:

Visit number one

On my first visit, I had lunch here with the lovely couple Ms.SpoonForkandChopsticks and Mr@Whatever_Guy.

Tonkotsu ramen

Ms. SpoonForkandChopsticks had the basic tonkotsu ramen ($9.80), which consisted of tonkotsu broth, ramen noodles, four slices of cha-shu, diced spring onions and cloud ear mushrooms.

Tonkotsu ramen with extras (Pork kakuni, nori seaweed, bamboo shoots)

I got the same ramen but with extras (pork belly or kakuni for $1.50, nori seaweed for $1.59, and bamboo shoots for $2.50) or super-sized tonkotsu ramen as Ms. SpoonForkandChopsticks called it. We both agreed that the cha-shu is probably one of the best we've had in Sydney as it was tender like most but very flavoursome. It may have something to do with the caramelisation around the edges of the fat. The pork kakuni was tender as expected with a nice sweet barbecue-ish flavour. The noodles were cooked al-dente. But it was the rich potent pork-flavoured broth that held it all together. The consistency was close to being gravy-like (yes, almost like Gumshara's broth consistency but not quite) that when you lift the noodles you could see some broth hug each strand.  It was love at first sip! The green onion's zingy flavour was good for cutting through the rich broth.

Black garlic tonkotsu ramen

Mr. Whatever_Guy opted for the black garlic tonkotsu ramen ($10.80). It had tonkotsu broth, ramen noodles, slices of chashu, spring onion, bean sprouts and cloud ear mushrooms. He said that the broth wasn't too garlicky and that he liked it.

We were a little bit sad that their egg wasn't available at that time. But nevertheless, we still enjoyed our ramens!

Visit number two:

I returned during dinner time on the same day to try their sumo ramen ($12.80). This time I was lucky to score their Ajitsuke Tamago (Marinated soft boiled egg)! The sumo ramen was larger than their bowl of tonkotsu ramen! It had generous servings of cabbage and bean sprouts, thicker ramen noodles (normally used for tsukemen), two pieces of pork kakuni, diced fresh garlic and pork & chicken blend broth. There was a lot of crunch from the generous amounts of veggies but the broth was the star of this bowl. It was lighter than the tonkotsu broth with more emphasis on the chicken flavour. The fresh garlic didn't make sense at first but it lifted the flavours in the broth and added extra sweetness.

By the way, the Ajitsuke Tamago ($1.50) was perfect! Sweet with soft whites and runny egg yolk!

O-San's ramen game is strong and tight. In my opinion, they definitely belong up there amongst the other big boys of Sydney's ramen scene.

O-San Ramen, Japanese Noodle Bar

Shop B1, Dixon House Food Court

Little Hay Street

Haymarket NSW

Website: http://sendachi.net/o-san/

Opening  hours

Monday: 11:00am - 8:30pm

Tuesday: Closed

Wednesday to Sunday: 11:00am - 8:30pm