Take Sushi and Sora Ramen Newtown, Sydney

 

Link below to my youtube video:

Mashi No Mashi $100 Ramen by Wagyumafia and Amazing Cheap Yakitori in Tokyo

*If you haven't yet, please subscribe to my Youtube channel and hit the notification bell to say up to date with all my new videos*

Mashi no Mashi Ramen is a Jiro style ramen by Wagyumafia. They are open for lunch (check their instagram account for more details). They are also open for dinner for 1 hour from 6pm. The ramen costs ¥10,000. The broth is seasoned with heavy shoyu tare and the base soup is made from beef bones and topped with expensive cuts of Wagyu. 

We also went to an amazing cheap yakitori shop in Hatagaya called Miyazaki Shouten (I highly recommend this shop).

Check out my Vlog for videos and more info! Click here

Mashi no Mashi Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mashinomash...

Mashi no Mashi location  https://g.page/mashinomashitokyo?share

Miyazaki Shouten: https://goo.gl/maps/ZK1dRh7FDFqb3sWA9

Hiroshi's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hshimakage/...

Sekka Dining St Leonards

What is up guys?! I apologise for yet again another long hiatus. For those of you that follow me on Instagram, ya’ll know that I have put more attention to my youtube channel recently. Having said that, I really miss expressing in writing my love for good food. Now that dining restrictions in Sydney have mostly been lifted, we can enjoy the food scene once again.

Chef Hide Suzuki

My homie Chef Hide Suzuki (ex Manpuku & Ichibandori) has recently opened a new Japanese restaurant called Sekka Dining at the new St Leonards Square complex. They officially opened on the 16th of June 2020. The shop’s vibe and monochromatic space is very modern. Based on the soft opening menu, Sekka is going for the usual izakaya approach but with a heavy focus on ramen. Hide-san is a ramen master after all, so this is something we would expect out of Sekka. I was lucky enough to be invited to their soft opening by Hide-san himself.

Gyoza

Karaage chicken with yuzukosho mayo

Renkon with mentaiko mayo

There will be a decent range of alcoholic beverages on offer from Asahi on tap, to sake and Japanese whisky. You will also find the usual izakaya fare like karaage chicken, gyoza, edamame, renkon chips (fried lotus root). There will be some specials like smoked salmon wasabi Caesar salad and Mackerel (with rice vinegar, shallots & daikon). I loved the kick from the yuzukosho mayo that comes with the crisped and juicy karaage chicken. The mentaiko mayo that comes with the renkon boasts a very sophisticated umami.

Tonkotsu ramen

Let’s talk about the ramen! So at the moment there will be three types of ramen on offer: Shio ramen, a spicy garlic chives ramen with chintan or light chicken & gyokai blend soup (thanks Taka for the info) and tonkotsu ramen.  Hide makes the most consistently great tasting tonkotsu broths in Sydney. So you can’t go wrong with ordering his thick or paitan tonkotsu ramen where umami packed liquid pork goodness hugs onto every strand of noodles with every slurp.

 

Shio ramen

Hands down, Sekka’s shio ramen is the best shio ramen in Sydney to date in my opinion. It is simple yet refined. Hide-san uses a pork and chicken blend for his chintan broth and a salt based seasoning to flavour the broth. It is clean yet it has complex layers of flavour and umami. The noodles are cooked more soft than usual to match the light broth so don’t be surprised as this is the usual practice even in Japan for light broth ramen. The ajitamago is flavoursome and the chashu is buttery, sweet and packed with umami. It also comes with menma, negi and roasted nori.

It’s not hard to get to as it’s along Pacific Highway and there are bus stops nearby. Sekka is a new and must visit restaurant in Sydney. The ramen alone will have you coming back for more. To Hide-san and the rest of the Sekka Dining team, Omedetou Gozaimasu on your shop opening!

*Ramen Raff was invited by Hide Suzuki as a guest of Sekka Dining.

Sekka Dining

St Leonards Square

480 Pacific Highway

St Leonards, Sydney

www.sekkadining.com.au

Hours:

Mon closed

Tues to Sat 12pm-2:30pm, 5:30pm-10pm

Sun 12pm-3pm, 5:30pm-9pm

Hakata-maru Darling Square, Haymarket

My favourite Sydney Hakata ramen shop is back in Haymarket with their range of Fukuoka inspired ramen! I was saddened when Hakata-maru closed their Market City shop a while back. Thankfully, they scored a spot across from The Exchange (on Nicole Walk) at Darling Square. 

I’ve always liked their no-nonsense approach to their ramen and the price point is probably one of the best in Sydney. The space is like a contemporary tavern. They have communal tables,
two areas of window counter seating near the kitchen and lots of outdoor tables for two.

The usual Hakata-maru ramen choices are available on the menu including the white tonkotsu ($12.50). This is a classic Hakata-style ramen that uses a shio (salt) based tare to season the pork bone (tonkotsu) broth and because of that, the broth retains its milky colour and consistency. The shio tare brings out more of the porky flavour and umami. It also has that classic thin noodles cooked katame (or al dente) and topped with chashu, kikugare, negi and nori.

From all the Hakatamaru dishes that I’ve had in the past and present, my personal favourite is the bonito shoyu tonkotsu ramen ($16.50).The noodles used are the standard curly type used by most ramen shops but cooked katame. The broth is soy based with a double soup of katsuobushi (bonito) broth and tonkotsu broth. The broth had a lot of umami and depth with some smoky notes from the bonito broth. Topping includes chashu, bean sprouts, negi, nori and half ajitamago (flavour egg).

If you want your tonkotsu ramen with depth minus the smoky fishy flavour, try their shoyu tonkotsu ramen ($16.50). It pretty much has the same toppings as the shoyu niboshi ramen but the difference is in the seasoning. As the name states, the broth is seasoned with soy tare that gives depth and complexity to the pork bone broth and with added sweet notes.

The Darling Square shop offers more than just ramen. They currently also have curry rice dishes and sides like karaage chicken and gyozas. Soon they will also have Japanese inspired gua baos like kakuni bao and karaage bao at $5.50 each.

Hakatamaru Darling Square
Nicole Walk

35 Tumbalong Boulevard

Sydney NSW 2000
Soft opening hours:
7 days 11:30 pm to 2:30pm, 5:30pm to 8:30pm

Ramen Zundo Sapporo - Chatswood

When asked where my favourite tsukemen is in Sydney, I direct people to check out Ramen Zundo in World Square. The gyokai tsukemen there is absolutely amazing. 

Hiroki-san

Touch pad ordering system

Lychees with yuzu and mango with yuzu smoothies

The head chef and owner Mr. Hiroki Nagao has opened a new and bigger shop not long ago in the form of Ramen Zundo Sapporo. It’s located on the second floor of Chatswood Place. This shop specialises in Sapporo style ramen.

What makes Sapporo style ramen different from most ramen is the method of assembly. Most ramen bowls are prepared in layers starting with the tare, fat, followed by the broth, then the noodles and finished with laying the toppings. Sapporo ramen mostly uses miso tare. The tare, most toppings (minus the egg & chashu) and broth are all combined in a fiery wok to elevate the umami. Then the contents of the wok are all poured on to the bowl of noodles. 

For first timers, I suggest trying the Deluxe Sapporo ramen ($17.50). The broth is a blend of chicken, pork and konbu seasoned with miso tare.  The broth is quite cloudy and had medium level of umami. The noodles used for all their Sapporo ramen are imported from Sapporo. Due to the minerals in Sapporo’s filtered snow water, the noodles have more bite and are quite springy. It’s topped with wok fried veggies with pork, ajitamago, menma, nori, negi and a fatty tender chashu.

There’s also vegetarian options on the menu! The vegetarian shoyu ramen ($16.50) is interesting. For a konbu based broth and shoyu, the broth had a lot of umami. The shoyu tare in particular had a very deep bold flavour. It uses the same noodles and the toppings included fried tofu, renkon (fried lotus root), radish, stir fried veggies, menma and nori.

Delicious snacks like karaage chicken and gyozas are also available.

Great news! They have a promotion coming up fam! From the 17th of July 2019 to the 21st of July 2019, all Sapporo ramen on the menu will all be $10 only! 

Ramen Raff was invited as a guest of Ramen Zundo Sapporo.

Ramen Zundo Sapporo 

260 Victoria Street

Chatswood NSW

Hours:

Open 7 days

Lunch 11:30pm to 3pm

Dinner 4:30pm to 9:00pm (Thurs, Fri & Sat), :4:30pm to 8:00pm (Mon to Wed, Sun)

Instagram: https://instagram.com/ramenzundosapporo