Ramen Bar Goku in Glebe in early 2017. It’s owned by the same people behind Menya Noodle Bar, a favourite for a quick meal, so we were eager to try it out. Unfortunately, it’s closed on Mondays, T’s day off, so N and I made our way there ourselves much to the envy of T who enjoys ramen more than the rest of us.
On the busy strip of restaurants on Glebe Point Road, Ramen Bar Goku sees lines through the door during lunch hour. The interior is wooden with lanterns brandishing ‘ramen’ in Japanese.
This is the most basic ramen on their menu, Goku Ramen ($11.90) in a miso-based chicken broth with egg noodle, roasted pork, bamboo shoots, shallots, sesame and seasoned boiled egg.
You’ll recall that I’ve never been much of a fan of ramen, finding it decent and enjoyable but nothing I’d ever crave. This, however, is easily the ramen most suited to my tastes. The chicken based miso broth is rich and flavourful but the true standout is the noodles, which have a delectable bite and taking on some of the flavour of the broth. The sesame seeds are very fragrant, the egg is perfectly gooey inside, and the bamboo shoots add a crunchy freshness to the bowl. The roasted pork is a bit dry compared to Ippudo.
N tries the same ramen in a soy-based chicken broth. She finds the ramen comforting in a simple satisfying way, although found the broth to be a tad salty by the end and would’ve enjoyed more vegetables and bamboo shoots to balance the saltiness.
On a second visit, I try the Black Garlic Ramen ($12.90) with a salt based chicken broth. It’s egg noodle with roasted pork, bamboo shoots, shallots, sesame, fresh garlic and homemade caramelised garlic oil.
There is no doubting that this is a black garlic ramen – you can smell the fragrant aroma of the garlic before your taste buds get anywhere near it. It’s immensely pleasant, and the noodles are generous and have the same consistently delectable bite to them that set them apart from other ramen joints. The pork on this second visit is tender and juicy and no longer dry like on the first visit.
N eyes the Katsu Don ($12.90) on the first visit but restrained herself to their signature ramen. This second visit though is fair game. The katsu don is deep fried chicken cutlet with egg, onion, carrot, shallots and sesame on rice.
A common experience with katsu don has been soggy crumb on the pork, and unfortunately, this is no different and results in a general ‘mush’ texture for the bowl along with the runny egg, which was a tad salty. That said, the serving was generous and the seasoned rice added flavour.
Ramen Goku has the accolade of serving the first ramen that I’ve actually wanted to return to enjoy again. The non-ramen items may be hit-or-miss but their signature ramen items are something to return for.
2018
We’d hoped that autumn would be on its way upon our return from Japan. Unfortunately, summer stuck around until the end of April. Fortunately, we’d rectified the air-conditioning situation in our home thankfully, so we didn’t have to spend more time as heat-induced sleep-deprived zombies. The late arrival of autumn, though, did mean that N and I jumped at the chance to eat cooler weather foods like at Ramen Bar Goku at the slightest dip in temperatures.
We both go for the Tsukemen ($12.90).
These were ‘cold ramen noodles served aside by homemade dipping sauce with roasted pork, bamboo shoots, seasoned boiled egg, shallots, sesame and dried seaweed’.
The cold noodles have a good texture with a firm bite that we enjoy and carried the broth well. The broth comes in a pre-heated bowl to retain the heat but tasted rather flat, lacking richness. The pork needed to be warmed in the broth prior to eating to avoid the glugginess of the pork fat, while the bamboo shoots were tasteless. Overall, the lack of depth and richness of the dipping broth left the dish tasting much like a deconstructed ramen bowl.
N’s order swapped the soy broth for a seafood broth. As with the soy, this one had a generic seafood flavour that lacked complexity.
We’ll stick to the hot ramen at Ramen Bar Goku.
Ramen Bar Goku is located at 30 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe NSW 2037.