As someone who's usually not a big fan of ramen, I love this place because it offers brothless ramen and rice bowls (donburi), and has a good selection of non-meat / seafood and vegetarian options. In fact, they don't only have 1 vegetarian option, but 3 (mapo tofu, vegan BBQ, and vegan karaage).
From the outside, the place looks very average. But I could see why this place is very popular and is one of the highest rated ramen restaurants in the city. The food was delicious, noodles were chewy and bouncy, and they had a good selection of items with lots of customization options (able to omit or add certain ingredients).
The inside was quite small and often packed, especially during peak lunch and dinner hours. The walls were adorned with Japan-inspired murals including Mount Fuji, cherry blossom trees, and a cat eating a bowl of ramen - very cute. Service was hospitable and very friendly.
Every table had 2 bottles containing konbu vinegar and chili oil that you could mix into your bowl. After finishing your bowl, you can ask for a complimentary extra scoop of rice (oimeshi) to mix with the remaining sauce.
Ordering was done via QR code on the table. We tried 3 items and everything was excellent:
1) Aburi Salmon Mazesoba - The noodles we chose with this bowl was thin ramen. I liked how chewy and bouncy the noodles were. It was even better because it was brothless (not a fan of the typical ramen broth because I always found it too salty). This mazesoba bowl was perfect - very flavourful, and the salmon was much like the aburi salmon you'd get in other Japanese restaurants. The spicy mayo was omitted by request through the online ordering system. Every mazesoba came with soft-boiled onsen egg (perfectly runny and great for mixing with the rest of the bowl), shiitake mushrooms, green onion, corn, nori, minced garlic, and roasted sesame seeds. We opted for extra corn, nori, and garlic. A fully satisfying flavour bomb in one bowl.
2) Garlic Shrimps Mazesoba - The shrimps here were sautéed with garlic and we could taste the strong garlic flavour, which I loved. Tender pieces of shrimps sat on top of soba noodles (we could choose between 4 different types of noodles), along with all of the mazesoba toppings. The soft-boiled onsen egg was perfectly runny, just like in the other bowls. We also added extras into this bowl (corn, shiitake mushrooms, green onion, and garlic).
3) Unagi Donburi - This was also 10/10. The rice was nice and soft, what you'd expect in a good donburi. The unagi was perfect, and I wish there were more slices of unagi in the bowl. It also came with onsen egg and shredded nori (seaweed), and we added fried garlic for the extra topping.
Besides being able to customize the ingredients, we were also able to customize the spice level (we chose no spice for all bowls) and add additional toppings. We added vegan BBQ to one of the bowls, just to try it. The vegan BBQ wasn't my cup of tea because the taste and texture reminded me of actual char siu which I didn't like, but it was good to have tried it as a side / add-on item instead of having to order a whole bowl of it.
The only downside of the menu was the lack of actual vegetables (as a side or add-on). It would've been nice to have the option to order bok choy or some green vegetable to eat with the bowls.
Dessert selection looked pretty solid (Japanese Mille Crepe, Matcha Cheesecake, Kinako Ice Cream, Taiyaki), but we were too full for dessert.
Overall it was a very satisfying and delicious meal, with nice and jovial service (both servers who served us were very warm and friendly). read more