Entertaining Kathleen in humble old Melbourne-town was not just yet done – she was suffering a good deal thanks to the cold and it came up in conversation that a bowl of ramen was just the thing to help. Initially, Ramen Ya was mentioned, but I recalled that I Eat Therefore I Am and Tummyrumbles had mentioned DonToo, the more elegant sibling of DonDon on Swanston Street.

But first, some drinks. A serve of sake will set you back $3.50.

Don’t want cheap alcohol (they have beer too)? Then go for some green tea.

Because K had never had ramen before, I recommended she get the kura ramen – first one on the menu. Chashu, nori squares and crisp vegies. Oh, and the egg! It was brown with a nice soggy yolk, just like I’ve seen on some of the Japanese ramen blogs I read!

Tristan had the chashu ramen which is kura plus more slices of chashu. It looks very similar to the above, so I won’t post a picture. I opted for a seafood soup based one – the asari ramen. Yep, pippis and bean sprouts galore.

We were all given the choice of thin or thick noodles and all went with thin which I’d actually recommend against. I prefer thick noodles to soak up my soup.

What a wonderful quick dinner. Time to head back into the Melbourne chill and secure a seat for the one MIFF film I got to see. Hope we don’t have to line up for seats!