Cherry blossom 2013

It was a bit late to enjoy the cherry blossom this spring as in most places the bloom period has come and gone, lasting less than a fortnight. It's nice to see some still in bloom at Commonwealth Park in Canberra when I visited the Capital last weekend. 

Enjoy the cherry blossom ..

Ikkyu Ramen

Ikkyu Ramen by chef Haru Inukai, former owner-chef of fine dining Blancharu, has opened at Sussex Center food court in Chinatown last month. I dropped by last week when they have special menu of Pork Rib and Hokkaido ramen which I chose as a change since normally, if not always, I picked tonkotsu ramen. 

The hokkaido ramen comprises slices of salmon, half boiled egg, bean sprout, served in a tasty miso based broth and topped with spring onion and corn kernels. It was my first time having ramen with salmon, but it's not bad at all even I still prefer chasu slices in a tonkotsu broth better. The miso broth itself is perfect but the noodle's chewiness could be better, at least to my liking. 

Would love to go back for their Pork ribs ramen .. 

(free kaedama on the menu)

(touch pad for ordering)

(Hokkaido miso ramen)

Mappen Bondi

We happened to walk around Bondi last month and stumble upon this new Mappen outlet which basically offers same service, food, and vintage atmosphere as their original outlet in CBD, but this Bondi outlet serves more options from ramen to donburi which is not available in their CBD outlet. 

We tried their beef steak with curry and tonkotsu ramen. The beef steak comes in generous portion, their beef is quite tender and served with tasty curry. The tonkotsu ramen is not bad but frankly it's not a recommended one. The good thing from Mappen is that their price is very affordable.

Their traditional vintage style decoration is very amusing with old posters on the wall, an old bike on the corner and old Japanese songs on the speakers.

 (Beef steak with curry)

(sweet potato and vegie tempura)

 

(tonkotsu ramen)

SMASH Cosplay 2013

The SMASH 2013 is over, it was on yesterday at Sydney Convention Centre, Darling harbour.

I didn't really plan to go to the event since there were urgent things to do but didn't really want to miss this out either so went there to have a quick look and ended up taking some pictures. 

Could'n give any comment since I didn't enter the hall, just wanted to share some shots of amazing cosplayers..

Taro's

We went up to Brisbane last month and it was a short trip but we managed to get to one of the most famous ramen spots in Brisbane.

Taro's Ramen is on the ground floor of Boeing Building (363 Adelaide st, Brisbane). A down-to-earth place but we could see the authenticity of a Japanese ramen shop, order and pay at the bar, self serve free drinks and pickles and a service with smile. 

We picked fire tonkotsu and normal tonkotsu ramen, a regular portion comes in a quite big bowl but they might need to add more soup to make the bowl doesn't look half empty, also the broth won't be enough for a 'kaedama'. As the reviews you would find on the web, it's one of best ramen in Brisbane, couldn't disagree with this but my favorite ramen(s) in Sydney are more to my liking. 

(Tonkotsu ramen)

(Fire tonkotsu ramen)

Ryo Tei

The ramen battle in Jakarta goes on... over the past couple years ramen shops in Jakarta just popping up in almost every corner especially around Kelapa Gading area, from local ramen to famous franchisee like Ikkousha, Ikudo.. you name it. Call me a 'ramen snob', those franchisee shops don't fancy me at all except  Tsurukamedou which is still my favorite one in town.

This Ryo Tei  in Jakarta does catch my attention since the original Ryo's ramen indeed is my most favorite one in Sydney. Ryo Tei Jakarta just opened few weeks ago in Kelapa Gading, if you enter from the main boulevard, it's next to the sports club on your left. I made my visit yesterday, ordered  a spicy ramen (actually the taste is not spicy at all), number 3 from the menu which is my favorite in Sydney.

(spicy tonkotsu, menu no 3)

The noodle's chewiness is perfect, the cha siu is lovely but the boiled egg is a bit overcooked (I prefer half boiled one) and broth is very rich and thick, thicker than the one in Sydney's shop and it's very salty. They put a sign advising that you could request a less salty soup to the waitress though, which I would highly recommend, or maybe it's their strategy that the taste has been adjusted to the local taste, perhaps..

(a picture of the original Ryo's in Sydney)