My girlfriend L and I have been through some hard times. She’s been amazing to me over the years and really helped me through some of the hardest and loneliest moments in recent memory. Sadly, she is in Sydney, and I in Melbourne, so I bit the organisational bullet and went on a holiday up her way. L is also largely responsible for my personal culinary renaissance. She inspired me to want to write more about my foodie experiences, in and out of the home. Hopefully one day I’ll be as ace as her in the kitchen.

She knows I love a damn fine bowl of ramen. It seemed perfectly fitting that our first culinary outing when I visited was at Ichiban Boshi, a place she had raved about. When we first arrived, we tore off a number to secure a spot at a table. Thinking it would speed up waiting time, we agreed to be seated at a table with other diners. L had worded me up about the tonkotsu ramen, of which only fifteen bowls are prepared daily. Alas, it was not our day and we had to order standard menu items: we shared an entrée serve of the beef tataki. Look how thinly sliced this rare cooked beauty is! Lurking underneath was sliced onion, soaking up the marinade.

L had the aburi chashu-men which had some good thick slices of seared pork chops in it. Being an avid seaweed lover, I chose the nori ramen. At first, the ramen bowl has this black-green sludge hiding the noodles, and a small slice of roast pork sitting quietly on top. L was kind enough to take a photo of me wrestling with it.