Tag Archives: CBD

don’t use your noodle, eat them at Ramen Ya

It was still summer technically and Melbourne had one of those out-of-nowhere rainstorms. Billy from Half-Eaten had organised a ramen fest and it provided me with my first meeting of some fellow food bloggers. It promised to be quite a dinner. Ryan’s car had failed him and many others had not turned up due to the inclement weather, but I most certainly wasn’t going to let the bloody rain get in the way of my very first visit to Ramen Ya in the CBD. It’s a bit tricky to get to – you can enter from Bourke Street, next to the GPO and walk through the adjacent restaurant, or you can get to it via Little Bourke St if you skilfully avoid all the building work and maintenance in that spot.

This also marked the first time I got to try the fabled tonkotsu. All this time I’d been eating ramen and never tried? For shame, foodie Gem, for shame. Behold – the self-proclaimed Ramen Ya house specialty – the chashu tonkotsu ramen.

Tris was also losing his tonkotsu virginity – to a gyoza tonkotsu ramen. Hel-lo nori squares. Wonder whose origami handiwork is in the background?

While you wait for your ramen, you can help yourself to the origami paper with built-in instructions. Handy! I recall Billy being quite proficient with these. I preferred to save what little dexterity I had for the ramen eating and chopstick wielding, which seemed to be not much…

It was here that I first got introduced to Penny of Addictive and Consuming – rather embarrassingly by dropping a morsel en route to my mouth which caused a ramen broth tsunami. Thank goodness Ramen Ya has dentist bibs for you to wear and keep your clothes dry! Sorry Penny, my chopsticks skills were sorely lacking that night and you suffered for it greatly, sigh.

Penny was on the quest to find the best tonkotsu ramen Melbourne had to offer. I wish I had ordered extra chashu like Penny and her partner. Billy ordered extra noodles – I am in awe of the man’s ramen prowess. Incidentally, it’s very common for people in Japan to request extra toppings and noodles. Lucky things, they even have hot rocks to reheat your broth if it gets cold. Sadly, Melbourne is not quite up there in the ramen stakes to offer Melburnians such thoughtful things. Not yet. In fact, fellow diner Joyce of Mel: Hot or Not predicts that ramen could gain popularity here. If so, then it means more decent ramen eateries, which would be terrific!

More recently, I stopped by Ramen Ya again to grab a quick bowl and get those stamps on my loyalty card (your tenth bowl is free!). Alex from MSG saw we were in the area and dropped by with mate Jillian. Impromptu ramen date, yea! On this occasion, I ordered the chashu shoyu ramen.

Tonkotsu is a broth that takes a very long time to make and consists of pork bone. It’s very rich and fatty, and as a result very flavoursome. I wanted to try the shoyu broth as that is lighter, soy-based and more subtle in flavour.

It’s not easy to see, but the broth is clearer than the tonkotsu. I giggle slightly whenever I see the pink and white naruto (or kamaboko, a type of fishcake) because it reminds of the scene in Japanese cult film classic Tampopo where a truckdriver starts a fight in a ramen bar by flicking his naruto slice onto a rival diner. Pugilism ensues. If you love ramen, you need to watch this film – what could be better than a spaghetti-styled Western about two truckdrivers searching for the perfect bowl of ramen? It’s what led me to try ramen in the first place.

Tris had the tsukune (minced chicken) tonkotsu ramen. As you can see, there is a slight skin on the broth. Yummy, fatty goodness!

Make sure you order a Japanese beer (Yebisu, Sapporo or Asahi) with your bowl, or some Japanese green tea. My personal fave is genmaicha – roasted rice green tea. In any case, now that the winter really is on its way in, I highly recommend warming up with a bowl of Ramen Ya ramen. A bowl will set you back $10, a little more if you order extras. I find myself full to the brim after an entire bowl and have a fairly hearty appetite.

drive-by Mexican

8 Replies

At the very last minute last week, I was invited out to Mamasita which has newly opened in the Paris end of Collins St in the city. Thanks very much fellow foodie @praxxis for thinking of me. If I recall correctly, it only opened last week, on Tuesday. Melbourne Gastronome has posted comprehensively about it, and I’d heard tidbits about it from fellow foodie @jeroxie, and @nedwin.

You’ll have to excuse my photos as the place was pretty dark and these are courtesy of my mobile phone. Real professional-like, eh?

I’ll keep my report brief, and please do note that because of the time I dined there, choices were largely restricted to tapas offerings – they do have a larger lunch and dinner menu that I hope to investigate later on.

My supreme favourite for the evening, the octopus and prawn ceviche.

Tart, refreshing, and wonderfully fresh seafood make this fairly simple dish a gustatory treat! Definite pick-me-up for the palate. My mouth waters just to recall it. I like to think of it as an extremely sophisticated seafood salad of sorts.

Next up, mushroom and truffle quesadillas.

A much more subtle dish, palate-wise. It’s great that it’s shareable too. It will take all your politeness to make sure you don’t sneak an extra slice that wasn’t really meant for you…ooh yeah.

The next photo shows what was actually on the table just as I arrived a tostada share plate. I also witnessed poor @coliwilso and @tristankenney somewhat overcome by chilli sauce overload. T bore it better than C who at one stage looked like he was going to hurl. Poor lad looked far too unwell for the episode to be funny. @praxxis, who sat there with his arms crossed somewhat smugly, implored that this chilli misdemeanour make it into this post, and I have happily obliged. I did remark on the evening that I had never seen either fellow so quiet in a social situation. I entered to practically no greeting!

Moral of the story is, the red chilli sauce is much hotter than the green one – so folks, no matter how hard-arse you are, please use them sparingly!

My favourites out of this lot are the: the one on the very left – “de Pescado” with market fish with lime, guacamole, nasturtiums & serrano chilli, and then “de Pulpo”: pickled octopus with green chilli, lime and coriander.

Of course, while there, I tried two of the Mexican beers on offer – the Tecate, and the Dos Equis. I much preferred the Tecate, as the Dos Equis is a little too light and watery for my tastes. I don’t really know much about Mexican beer, but I’m always game to try ones I’ve never had. Thankfully, not a Corona in sight! Yes, you did just witness some beer snobbery from me: on a more serious note, if you enjoy Corona, then by all means, drink it!

I wish there were more places that served late-night nibbles of such a high calibre – Melbourne is pretty food-obsessed, so why aren’t there more such places? I know once I start drinking at bars I get insanely peckish. In any case, I’m glad Mamasita has popped up and can’t wait to go again and order some of the lunch/dinner items. Barring the tostada, everything I had when I was there was actually off the tapas menu.

You bet I’ll be going again.

city-parma relations at an all-time low

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I admit it, it was an awful week. I was in struggle town. So when my mates R and N of parma smash fame decided it was time for parma and drinks afterwards, I dragged my sorry arse out of the house. Yeah, life’s pretty hard when your mates want to eat out with you, eh? *wink*

N and I racked our brains, and I consulted Urbanspoon. Based on a review I saw on Spatula, Spoon and Saturday, I suggested we try Coopers Inn. In all honesty, I can’t really think of many places in the CBD that serve a good parma – I usually think of North Melbourne pubs, Carlton, and the outskirts of the city centre when I think good pub food. Coopers Inn is on Little Lonsdale St, and all of us were planning to get drinks at Little Peninsula which was on the same street. Laziness got the best of me.

The lads chose chicken parmas, N had the bangers and mash, and I somewhat bravely had the slow cooked pork belly. Dared by N, I asked if the parma was bigger than my face (I am a small lass, much to my disappointment). He didn’t bat an eyelid and immediately confirmed that yes indeed, it most certainly was.

R waxed lyrical about the cheese and oregano, but later recanted the parma’s deliciousness on account of it being somewhat dry. T was disappointed in the distinct lack of attention paid to the salad (no dressing, not particularly crisp or fresh), and found his chips too salty. I think the worst dish however was the pork belly, and it pains me to say so.

This could not have been slow cooked unless that meant leeching all the moisture out of the meat – the pork was very dry (I don’t think even my parents have cooked such a dry roast) and the crackling could only be broken once I soaked it in the gravy. As N pointed out, I should have been handed a steak knife. I’ve had some killer pork belly before – most notably at Meshiya (also in the city) where the fat and meat both possess that silken texture as you bite or cut into it. The most recent time I had pork belly was at the Northcote Social Club where they didn’t quite get the crackling right, but the meat was satisfactory. Such a shame as the mash was just heavenly – so velvety and it even had mustard seeds. I finished my entire meal, on account of hunger, it must be admitted.

The beer selection is okay – there is a good choice, and I had the Matilda Bay alpha pale ale which is totally for the hop-lovers. After having this beer, the Fat Yak will taste inferior, I warn you! Overall, the Coopers Inn is a pretty laidback place and reasonably priced. If you want passable pub food, then I would recommend it, but if your taste is more discerning, I suggest you go elsewhere. I’d eat here again, but the search for a really good CBD chicken parma continues.

Thankfully, good tunes and cheap but very drinkable cocktails awaited us all at Little Peninsula, a few blocks away.

eat, drink, stagger

a very tame lone wolf (formerly in cahoots with riff-raff) who loves to do the above

Tag Archives: CBD

don’t use your noodle, eat them at Ramen Ya

drive-by Mexican

city-parma relations at an all-time low