Fukuryu Ramen

Fukuryu Ramen is a new addition to the Melbourne ramen scene. It's only been around for three weeks so  totally worth a visit while they're running some cool promotions.

Located at the corner of Corrs Lane and Little Bourke Street and up some fire stairs, Fukuryu is a trendy modern eatery. The menu is pretty simply - four classic ramens (tonkotsu, miso, shoyu and shio) and three 'modern' varieties (vegetarian, dry oil and 'tam tam'). There's also a couple of izakaya style snacks like karaage and gyoza for those snack-inclined. Order at the counter then pick a table and wait for your food to arrive.

It's still early in the life of this new spot so they're having a smackdown of nori chips and nori tofu. Complimentary samples of both for customers to vote on. It's a little like being on an episode of MasterChef or MKR!

nori tofu vs nori chips 'smackdown'

Both are tasty - the nori really adds a pleasant sublte seaweed flavour to both deep fried snacks. The tofu is slightly crispy on the outside and airy on the inside. Little puffs of tofu-goodness! Not quite crisp enough and there isn't enough seasoning. The chips on the other hand, are crunchy, well-seasoned and a delight to eat. No guesses which one I voted for.

miso ramen

My miso ramen is really good. Nice springy ramen noodles and slices of pork are drowned in a salty miso broth. The half boiled egg still has it's gooey yolk. And my favourite part - the corn tastes like it's been cooked in butter...yum!

tonkotsu ramen

The tonkotsu ramen is also a hit, but lacks the corn. Too bad for H.

As soon as our dishes are cleared away, our complimentary ice cream is brought out.

green tea ice cream

The ice cream is soft and creamy - more like soft serve than ice cream or gelato. There's a strong matcha flavour through it and we're told it's made on site. Such a good way to end a meal! The ice cream promotion ends 7 April, so get in while it's free!

Basically a three course meal at just $9.80 each - it is a very good Friday night feed indeed.

Overall impression: 9/10

Shanghai Village

Location: 112 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne
Cuisine: Chinese, Dumplings

Who wants cheap dumplings? Me!!

After initially planning to try out the Post-Deng Cafe and finding out that a vast majority of the food was spicy (it was a warm day and my two companions are not fans of spice), we wandered by Shanghai Village and decided that it was going to be dumpling day.

Fried pork dumplings

Nice and crispy, and very juicy on the inside. These dumplings were an instant hit for me. There was quite a fair bit of meat inside and the oil from frying had been drained off quite well. Nothing is worse than oily drippy dumplings.

Steamed pork dumplings

These were equally as good (although my two companies loved this one more). The filling was the same, but the pastry was much more noticeable on these ones. Nice and even thickness, not too thick but strong enough to hold the meat and soup inside.

Szechuan mince sauce noodles

This was a disappointment.The mince and sauce lacked flavour and was quite bland, which along with some fresh cucumber and plain noodles, did not make a very appealing dish. We didn't even finish this one.

Xiao long bao!

These were pretty good, but not as good as HuTong. The meat and soup inside were nice and tasty, but the pastry was just too thick and not quite sealed. Soup would escape out of the top 'spiral' if you took your first bite elsewhere.

All in all, go here for the dumplings. From previous visits, they have some nice noodle soup dishes as well. Don't expect much service - they'll take your order and bring you the food, you get everything else yourself, which is fine by me given the prices are relatively cheap.

Overall Impression: 7.5/10

Sammy's Kitchen

Location: North Quarter, Canberra Centre, Bunda Street, Canberra City 2601
Link: www.outincanberra.com.au/sammyskitchen
Cuisine: Chinese, Malaysian

After stepping off the plane in Canberra, we decided we were hungry and went in search of food. Having read that a majority of the food was in and around the Canberra Centre area, we went for a walk and Sammy's was the first place that jumped out, so we went in.

Hokkien prawn mee

These noodles were actually quite good! There was actually a decent amount of prawns and the sauce was very tasty as well. The hokkien noodles and vermicelli worked quite well together and the whole dish was quite balanced except for the oversaltedness.

We also ordered a gado gado which I didn't get a photo of. It was quite tasty too, although the sauce was a little saltier than I had expected, and there was probably too much sauce for the amount of vegies and bean curd inside. It even had pineapple which was a bit of a surprise, but it surprisingly went well with the rest of the dish.

The price was more than typical Melbourne prices, but we had been warned that was the case with Canberra food generally. You can definitely get the same sort of food in Melbourne for a much cheaper price.

We didn't get a chance to go back, but we certainly discussed it plenty of times!

Overall Impression: 7/10

Ajisen Ramen

Location: 130 Bourke Street
Cuisine: Japanese

Reasonably priced and a reasonably extensive menu of ramen, however the menu is somewhat repetitive, with Chasyu in nearly all of them. Some of the variants were pretty much the same dish with extra corn, or extra chasyu, or something else. However, the soup base is rather tasty and the noodles are tender like the should be. Pricewise, a little more expensive than the above places, but still around $9 - $13. Worth a try!

Chasyu ramen

Overall Impression: 8/10

Hokka Hokka

Location: Australia on Collins Foodcourt
Cuisine: Chinese

Fast, cheap and as varied as you want. This little joint has a number of suggested ramen and noodle soups displayed on a large board at the counter, as well as create-your-own noodles. It's as simple as selecting:

• Either fried noodles [noodle boxes] or noodle soups
• The type of noodles: udon, egg, rice noodle, hokkien
• The soup base (for soup noodles): miso, chicken, tom yum, laksa
• The sauce (for fried noodles): chicken, beef, BBQ pork, prawns, crab meat, fish cake, fish balls
  

They add some vegies and in around five minutes time, you have your noodles!! Mmmmm... Pricewise is also quite cheap - it can cost anywhere between $8 and $10 depending on what ingredients you choose.

Miso soup

Fried hokkien noodles with seafood and oyster sauce

Another specialty of Hokka Hokka is this...

Chicken teriyaki stone bowl

There is so much food in this bowl that you could literally share it amongst two people!! Or eat some for lunch and take the rest away for dinner (or another meal another time).

The best thing about this place is that the fried noodles are perfect for a short lunch break. Let them know you're running short on time and it'll be ready for you in 5 minutes!! Comes in a cute little noodle box!

Overall Impression: 8.5/10

Noodles Noodles and More Noodles

Cuisine: Chinese, Japanese

Winter isn't even here yet and the weather is already so so cold. After a long morning of classes, what better than to fill yourself up with some nice warm noodle soups? Here are a couple of suggestions for noodle soup:

~Yamamizu~
271 Swanston Street [near corner of Swanston and Lonsdale Streets]
Awesome ramen - the bowl if usually filled to the brim and full of ramen, vegies and meat. My favourite is the BBQ pork with miso soup base, but the others are all great too. Prices range from $9 to $12. There's also a vast array of rice (don) dishes and plenty of drinks and dessert options.

~Meshiya~
200 Lonsdale St Melbourne [just outside QV next to the BHP building]
This place never fails to impress me with the generous servings and beautiful soups. The ramen definitely fills you up, and there are about 8 options to choose from. Prices around $8 - $10. Meshiya also has Japenese pancake (yet to be tried) and the usual don dishes.

~Old Town~
Next to Yamamizu
Another one of those typical Chinese restaurants you would find scattered throughout the city, Old Town managed to impress me with it's comfy booth like seating down both sides of the room and the friendly and fastservice. Foodwise, it's not the greatest. The egg noodles can be a little tougher than expected (could be cured by cooking them just a little longer) and the beef wasn't quite cooked the last time I went. The prawn dumplings are my favourite as you can actually see the prawn inside. Servings are reasonable, but it's generally a pretty large bowl with a lot of soup, a mound of noodles at the bottom and some vegies, meat or dumplings scattered across the top. Unlike Japanese ramen, presentation here is not their strong point.

~Hokka Hokka~
See individual review.

~Ajisen Ramen~
See individual review.

Kenzan

Location: GPO, Bourke Street Mall
Cuisine: Japanese
Company: Jie, Liz, Helen

Not to be confused with the Kenzan on Collins Street, this Kenzan was tucked away in a small arcade behind GPO. It's a place for a quick, but fulfilling lunch.

~Food~
The menu was what you would typically expect from a small Japanese restaurant - an array of sushi, udon, ramen and rice dishes. Being cold and hungry, we all ordered noodle soups. My niku udon came with an amazing mushroom broth, the beef was also 'well-seasoned' as the menu said it would be, but cooked for too long such that it was on the tough side. The udon was soft and slipped into your mouth easily. We still wonder why Japanese people like to give out massive, spoons, it's not as though their mouths are any bigger than the rest of the world's!

~Atmosphere and Service~
Service was minimal. The place was very casual, with minimal seating inside the actually restaurant. We sat outside under some heaters, which were turned up just that little bit too much. It was actually a little like a fast food joint - pay at the counter for your meal, take a number and they bring the food out to you when it's ready. The lady at the counter could have smiled, but the waitresses who brought out our food out were friendly enough.

~Price~
A bit on the pricey side for a bowl of noodle soup [normally you would expect to pay $7-$10], but the udon was softer than I would normally get and the soup had it's own distinctive flavour.

~Overall Impression: 9/10~
Really really awesome food. Liz said that the sushi is also really good, so we'll have to try that one day too.

Tasty Thai

Location: Food Court, QV or Australia on Collins

Cuisine: take-away, Thai

~Food~
Menu is rather specific and includes a variety of stir-fried, pad thai, curries, appetisers, salads and so on. I had the Tom Yum Prawns which was pretty much Tom Yum soup with a few prawns, some tomatoes, mushrooms and various leaves. Quite tasty, but a little spicy.

~Atmosphere and Service~
Very quick, and the food was made in 3 minutes as promised - less time than it took for Jie and Liz to get their KFC!

~Price~
Slightly overpriced for food court fare - my soup was $8 and only contained 3 prawns. The soup was nice and full of flavour. For an extra $1 you can get rice to go with it. Combos are also available.

~Overall Impression: 7.5/10~
Quick and tasty, I might try out the Pad Thai on Saturday.

Ghin Khao

Location: Swanston Street, between Lonsdale and Little Bourke Streets
Cuisine: Thai
Company: Mandy

~Food~
The menu was rather large in size...with the dishes grouped under logical headings such as 'rice' and 'noodles' etc. There were some key dishes such as Tom Yum with variants - chicken, prawns and vegetarian, and some unique dishes too. Mandy went for a fried rice, I opted for the Tom Yum prawns with noodles. The soup was nice, not too spicy, just the right taste. The noodles were like thin rice noodles and carried the flavour of the soup well. The prawns were fresh and there were plenty of them. Mandy's fried rice took a little while to arrive but with a squeeze of lemon, tasted wonderful.

~Atmosphere and Service~
Very casual, the waitresses were attentive when you needed them, otherwise they just left you alone. My Tom Yum arrived rather quickly, the fried rice took a little longer.

~Price~
Slightly on the expensive side compared to the usual $8 - $10 cheap Asian food, but for dishes that were rich in flavour and satisfying, well worth it.

~Overall Impression: 9/10~
Good food, rich in flavour, rather quick service.

Vietnamese Grill Restaurant

Location: Swanston Street, between Lonsdale and Little Lonsdale
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Company: Jenn

Both our parents had been to this place already and given us great feedback, so we decided we would try it out for ourselves.

~Food~
The menu had a range of traditional Vietnamese dishes like betal beef and rice paper rolls, as well as some with more of a Chinese influence like roast duck noodles. There was also a rather extensive range of drinks on the menu too. I ordered the crispy chicken on rice and a coconut and green jelly drink. Jenn ordered crab meat noodles and the same drink. My rice was somewhat ordinary, I guess after ordering I wish I had ordered the betal beef instead. The jelly in the drink was a little tougher than it should have been.

~Atmosphere and Service~
If you want a place with proper service, this is not it. The waitress not only had a limited grasp of English, they were completely clueless. There were special combos on the walls for certain set meals, all of which came with a logan drink. I checked the menu and the jelly drink was the same price, so we both asked to change it. Not only did the waitress say it couldn't be done, she also couldn't give us a reason! Later on we called another waitress over and asked her, she also didn't know.

~Price~
Quite cheap, around $8 - $10 for mains, about $4 for drinks. Combos were about $13 but quite limited in flexibility.

~Overall Impression: 5.5/10~
May come back for a quick feed if after Viet food - since Mekong was found to have some health issues - but won't be sitting on my top food list.

Ishikai Japanese Cafe

Location: 177 Russell Street, Melbourne [between Bourke and Little Bourke Streets]
Cuisine: Japanese
Company: Jenn

In accordance with our plan for ramen, Jenn and I headed in search of a good Japanese restaurant to try out. Walked past Ishikai and decided that the dessert and drinks menu was enough to tempt us inside.

~Food~
I found the servings for the mains quite large. I ordered the Karaage Age Ramen, which was essentially fried chicken marinated in some nice sauce on top of ramen noodle soup. The soup had a nice flavour to it, not to salty to complement the strongly flavoured chicken. But the serving was HUGE! Jenn opted for some sashimi and sushi, then ordered another raw beef entree. The raw beef dish seemed a little small, and came with a raw egg in eggshell and onions on the base. To me it looked like a dish of beef waiting to be put into hotpot.

~Atmosphere and Service~
Friendly and casual enough for our liking. Only drawback was the amount of time they took to get Jenn's dessert order. In the end, we canceled it because it was taking too long.

~Price~
Very cheap for the serving size. There are a whole range of desserts and drinks for a very reasonable price too.

~Overall Impression: 7.5/10~
It was a good feed, especially on a rather cold day. Will probably go back again for the ramen some time.

Thanh He

Location: Victoria Street, [near Hoddle Street] Richmond
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Company: Dad and aunties

~Food~
My dad took my aunties and I out to Richmond for lunch at a place called Thanh He. He had been hanging out to try this ‘seven course beef feast’ for almost a year and finally had an excuse to go. It was awesome, basically beef cooked in seven different ways. From memory they were:

1. Rare beef with lemon juice: basically really thinly sliced beef with carrots and onions marinated in fish sauce and lemon juice. I still think that this was the best dish of them all.
2. Beef in betel leaves: minced beef wrapped in leaves that tasted very much like banana leaves
3. Beef on skewers: well, there was no stick, but it looked like it was only one skewer. Can’t remember if the menu had it as plural or if I had just assumed it was another fobby typo.
4. Beef quiche: well, that was the English translation; the Chinese version called it a beef ball. Apparently the Viet version was something different yet again. I don’t think any of them could really describe it though. Basically it was a flattened ball of beef mince with peanuts and other stuff, covered with some other leaf.
5. Vinegar-dipping broth: weirdest name but essentially it was a small steam-boat filled with vinegar and sugar. We were given a plate of raw beef and onions, rice paper rounds, lettuce leaves, cucumbers and dipping sauce, and left to our own devices to cook the beef in the broth and then make rice paper rolls out of it…mmm….
6. Sizzling beef: the usual sizzling plate, but this time empty and with a plate of raw beef and butter. Basically we were supposed to grill the meat and eat it in whichever way struck us fancy. I ended up making more rice paper rolls.
7. Beef congee: typical viet style congee with beef… nothing spectacular but good to wash down the meal with

~Atmosphere and Service~
Service was a little gruff, but the focus was all on the food. Will so be going back there one day for more.

~Price~
Quite cheap. The banquet was $20 per person, but between of the four of us, we ordered a three person meal, and had leftovers. Well worth it.

~Overall Impression: 10/10~
Was very impressed by the variety in the ways the beef was cooked. And very surprised I managed to try all of them, given my pickiness with foods.