A trip to Menya Noodle Bar had been on N and my agenda for a very long time. Except ramen always lost out to other Japanese rice and noodle options in the vicinity. This time, though, we were determined to eat there.
You place and pay for your order with a lady at a desk immediately to the left of the entrance. With the trend towards the digital in Japanese restaurants, it seems only a matter of time before she’s replaced by a touch screen ordering system (we seem to have skipped vending machines).
I order the Menya Tonkotsu Miso Ramen (10.4). I’ve never ordered a thick collagen-rich soup based ramen. I’ve never thought I’d appreciate it and have always opted for shōyu and shio based soups, which are mostly clear. On a moment of whim, though, I ordered the thick soup.
The soup means the noodles leave a gritty (from the miso?) collagen film over your lips and teeth that lingered until you brush your teeth. It’s not a pleasant sensation to eat or to taste, so in the future, I’ll stick to my clearer soup bases. The slices of pork looked rather dry, but were actually rather fatty – I like fatty but I’d like more than a slither of meat with my fat.
Overall, the ramen was mediocre, but I’ll have to try their shōyu ramen before writing them off.
And just for fun, N had the ramen that came with nothing but 3 eggs. It seemed far more filling than my ramen, and it was only $0.50 more.
There are two types of ramen: 1) the fresh kind you find in restaurants, and 2) the instant kind you find in Asian grocery stores. Other than both being noodles, the two types taste nothing like each other. Even the texture of the noodles are different.
I love the instant kind, which come in an endless array of flavours, and even have craving for certain flavours sometimes. The fresh kind, though? I’m not too keen on, and never crave – it’s a very average food. But if I ever did crave ramen, or if anyone ever wanted to eat ramen with me, there are definitely places that are better than others.
I went back to Menya Noodle Bar to try their ramen in a clearer broth – Menya Ramen in a soy chicken broth ($9.30). The miso pork broth that I tried earlier was unpleasantly collaganeous.
The ramen comes with one half of a soy sauce marinated egg, one slice of chashu (stewed pork), two slices of naruto (fish cake), some bamboo shoots, fried and spring onion, and a sheet of nori (seaweed). I breathed a sigh of relief at the clear as it meant the noodles didn’t leave a lingering, gritty and thick film over my teeth. The noodles had a good bite to them and the soup was flavourful. I also quite enjoyed the bite of the bamboo shoots, the novelty of eating naruto, and can never resist a soft gooey egg. I still found the pork too fatty, but on the whole it was tasty for ramen.
So yes, I’d take someone wanting to eat ramen here!
Menya Noodle Bar is located at 8/8 Quay St, Haymarket NSW 2000.