There were only two things that I was thinking of on a Sydney Saturday afternoon when I looked outside the shop in which I stood and saw the torrents of rain falling down: ramen and soft pork buns. So when Mr NQN came to pick me up, I wasn’t worried about my shoes getting wet from the run from the shop to the car. I was thinking that it was just about the perfect time and weather for us to head towards Ippudo, the famous Japanese chain of ramen restaurants that has sent the blogosphere into quite a spin.
Ippudo which means “one wind shrine”, started in 1985. They make Hakata style ramen which is a style of thinner ramen originating in Hakata city in Japan. Made thinner than other ramen so that it would cook faster in order to feed the fisherman patrons, it is also served in a thick tonkotsu broth made by boiling pork bones for twelve hours to extract all of the flavour and goodness from them.
The flavour of Ippudo’s tonkotsu broth changes every few months and there is a difference between the broths between cities, changed to suit the customer palate through feedback. For example, the tonkotsu broth in Sydney’s branch is said to be saltier, creamier and richer than in New York. The original ramen was the Shiro Maru (shiro meaning white, maru meaning bowl) and this was followed about ten years later with the modern take on it called the Aka Maru (red bowl) which is bolder on flavours with a fragrant black garlic oil.
The Ippudos in Japan are different from those outside Japan. For example, the soft steamed pork buns aren’t sold in Japan and it is more of a faster eating experience there while overseas, people tend to linger. The owner Shigemi Kawahara wanted to create a ramen place where women would feel welcome and the interior is actually very nice indeed with a wave and wind like pattern echoing through the design from the rippled wooden ceiling and the wind dragon imagery. Regulars at the New York branch include Anne Hathaway, Martha Stewart, Sarah Jessica Parker and Jessica Alba according to the Sydney restaurant manager Andrew who is originally from the New York branch. Lines at the New York branch are reportedly up to three hours long.
Wind dragon
The Sydney branch on the fifth floor of the Westfields food court is the first Ippudo in Australia and the 12th overseas shop. There are around 75 seats in total including a bar area at the front. All of the tonkotsu stock is made off site as is the ramen. A Japanese ramen master and his team of 10-15 staff produces enough fresh ramen to sell 600-700 bowls of ramen a day.
Queues and a no reservations policy had originally put us off dining with friends – Mr NQN hates to queue and so it was late afternoon when neither of us had eaten much the whole day that we headed to Ippudo. It turns out just before 5pm is the ideal time to dine if your stomach is predisposed to that sort of early dining. At this time, there is no queue at all and there is actually a separate dinner menu which starts at 5pm. This has quite a few additional offerings to the lunch time menu which is more concise with mostly ramen and a few sides like the famous pork belly buns and other small starters. The dinner menu has range of wagyu steaks, salmon, some modern Japanese creations and three desserts, some designed just for Australia including a green tea lamington and an ice cream parfait called The Blue Mountains.
Pork buns $4 each
We had to start with the buns-that was a no brainer really. Softer as a down pillow, the folded over steamed buns are filled with Japanese mayonnaise, a small crisp piece of iceberg lettuce and a single slice of sweet, soft pork belly. Mr NQN proclaims that he could easily eat ten. I eat mine slowly, savouring the bites.
Goma Q $7 Taken on a Sigma 17-50mm F2.8 EX DC OS lens, focal length 50 mm, ISO 100, 1/25s
A perfect snack for beer or something refreshing to eat while waiting for your ramen (not that there is a long wait), is the Goma Q or the sliced cucumber, fresh and served with a sesame and garlic based sauce with sesame seeds and chilli powder on top. It’s crisp and refreshing but I must admit, all I wanted was another pork bun!
Shrimp bun $5
Another option for bun lovers is the shrimp bun, where a large battered prawn is wedged in the soft bun with mayonnaise and lettuce. And whilst it’s good, the pork bun is still the pick of the two.
Ramen time! With the ramen itself, you can get several levels of doneness from soft to fresh (fresh is when it is just briefly dunked in the water and is not recommended). There are also firmer levels like kata (hard), bari kata (very hard) and harigane (hard as wire). I don’t like soft ramen preferring it firm and springy so we opt for a bari kata and a harigane ramen type. Also, they have an option called kae dama where you can get an extra serve of just the ramen to add to the broth. It’s not something that you would order straight away but when you have a few spoonfuls of ramen to go, you signal to the wait staff that you want this extra serve and it is made to order and carried over so that you can make the most of the last of the stock.
Shiro maru $19 with $2 nori seaweed
The shiro maru comes out and we notice that the spoon is quite a bit deeper allowing us to pick up more soup and ramen. The soup is thick but not gluggy and served piping hot and has a really smooth, creamy flavour to it. The ramen noodles are actually quite a bit thinner than I’ve ever had and they’re delicate but still nice and springy and not soft at all. The cabbage gives it a nice contrasting crunch as does the mushrooms and we also ordered a side of nori seaweed sheets that we submerge into the broth.
Aka Maru $20 plus $2 onsen egg
The Aka Maru comes out second, it’s the one with the firmest harigane ramen in it. I try some of the ramen expecting something quite firm but it’s quite similar to the other one with just a tiny bit of added firmness to it. The top of the soup is divided into the white tonkotsu and the other half is the black garlic oil that sits on top. The red fireball in the centre is a ball of miso and paprika which adds so much to it and it is recommended that you swirl this through the soup.
My first mouthful is interesting, the garlic imparts a bitterness to the broth but a few mouthfuls in and it really grows on you once you get used to its strength, especially compared to the more delicate shiro maru. It’s also served with cabbage, negi green onions and mushroom but this one has a disc of bara chasu pork belly. We also order an creamy centred onsen egg to have in it which was perfect in it.
Crispy chicken $12
One last dish although we were getting quite full – the ramen is a filling meal in itself and I have never been able to finish off a whole bowl by myself. There are two types of sauces available with the crispy chicken-sweet or spicy. We went with spicy (although it is actually quite sweet too) and the four pieces of thigh fillet are coated in an earth shattering thick layer of cornflakes, the chicken inside remaining juicy.
J. Lamington $8
We couldn’t resist one dessert (okay, that was more me than Mr NQN) so we ordered the J. Lamington. It’s a Japanese take on a lamington with a green tea white chocolate coating on a vanilla sponge, split and filled with sweetened red bean paste and a topping of some too as well as a light sprinkling of desiccated coconut. It’s not quite as neatly presented as a regular lamington and it’s also extraordinarily sweet with the white chocolate outer and the sweetened red beans. There’s a scoop of green tea ice cream which is less sweet which it really needs to counteract the exaggerated sweetness of the lamington.
The bill comes to a reasonable amount considering the amount that we’ve eaten and how full we are. As for ramen loving Mr NQN, he suggests a return visit-the next day!
So tell me Dear Reader, do you ever return to a restaurant the next day after a meal? And at what time do you usually eat out? And how would you order your ramen? Soft, hard, very hard or like wire?
Ippudo
Westfield Sydney, Level 5, Sydney New South Wales 2000 Australia
Tel: +61 2 8078 7020
No reservations
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38 Comments | Add your own
Oh, what an interesting place! That Wind Dragon is quite scary! How do I like my ramen? Hm, good question. I don’t know, I haven’t had that many ramen soups to really be discussing this. I am so new to Asian cuisine, just making my first steps actually. It is a whole new world of flavor and ingredients to be discovered and tasted. I am quite exited about it though.
I think I’d probably order my ramen a bit like yours – it comes from years of education in al dente pasta probably!
These days we try to eat out as early as possible (kids!) I don’t think I’ve ever come back the next day after a meal, but perhaps I would. Everything on this menu looks AMAZING!
Not been to an Ippudo but London is blessed by a rash of proper ramen places having opened in last several months. I’ve been to Shoryu several times already!
Wow, Mr NQN must really enjoy it if he wants to make a return the next day. I know there are lovers and haters out there, but I think ippudo put up great dishes (yes on the steeper price of things). Their pork buns are delicious and I’m a fan of their ramen. It’s different, like all other restaurants are, and they have their own unqiue style and flavour. It’s too hard to compare to all other places as each are there own take on things.
Shrimp bun?! Yep, I’v gotta return for that now
I’ve walked past Ippudo a few times! Like Mr NQN though, I’m not very good at queuing, so I’ve bypassed it every time as it’s been peak time.
I was introduced to Asian food early , in the 1960′s when my uncle married a Korean girl. When they came home from overseas she fixed supper for every one in the family one night. That was when I was introduced to Nori seaweed sheets. My aunt toasted them over a gas flame and said try it. I could only taste iodine and said I didn’t like it. But I like everything else she fixed.
Ramen noodles I can take or leave, I am not a fan of them.
Oh god, I love ramen. Jealous!
I really enjoyed my meal at Ippudo – it’s one of the only times I’ve really “LOVED” ramen. I always going to popular places like this early. I’d rather eat at 5pm than wait 3 hours for a table.
I don’t think I could ever convince the husband to return the next day but quite a few times I’ve been to dinner with friends then returned the next day for lunch with my man.
I love that the Aussies like a creamy, salty broth!
I love Ramen. This restaurant looks amazeballs, I have to try it. I have been known to long to return to the same restaurant when it’s really good, especially when I’m travelling and I might not be able to experience it very often.
Everyone falls in love with the pork buns! I’ve only had the ramen here which was fantastic, but looks like they have a variety of other good dishes too
This current country bumpkin has to plead igorance to the marvellous chain: methinks I would have liked to return the next day also! Fantastically interesting food right up my alley and I wish I was chewing on a Goma now [yep, heritage showing
!]. Actually every dish appeals! Ramen: al dente! Prefer long, long lunches to dinners [love to have friends over for those at home!]. Return to restaurants: yes, one may find a favourite! Still remember a ludicrous return on three consecutive nights to a cellar restaurant in Heidelberg in my ‘igorant’ foodie years: loved their beef marrow as first course and had it on all three days: darn wonder we did not have a heart attack by night 3, in our twenties or not 
! Pure, solid fat in teutonic proportions!
I would have ordered more of the pork buns – they look amazing. As does the fried chicken. I must get my blogosphere spinning and head to Westfields xx
I don’t think I could line up for three hours either, so going early sounds perfect to me Lorraine.
Pork buns!! So sublime!! I would like to try the noodles quite hard I think, rice noodles are so soft and squidgy that they break up easily, so I prefer bean noodles that have a bit of bite and chew to them
There are lots of places I’d like to go to the very next day, but BigJ is usually wise enough to stop me
You know have me in a pork bun frenzy, rest of the food does delight, TRUE!
Am only up to drinking my first cuppa, JUST finished brekkie too!
I like my ramen like you!
What another unique experience and if it wasn’t out of the way, I would probably return the next day for a pork bun or two!
Aaaah! Matcha red bean lamington!!
I love Asian food! Japanese is definitely my favourite. Those pork buns sound spectacular!
Ippudo! Hope they open in Melbourne soon ~ They’ve opened quite a few stores around the world last year, in HK, Sydney and Malaysia from what I know of already ~
I’m a really weird one and not really a fan of ramen but when I do order it, I like it softttttt
I went to the Ippudo im HK but I find the dishes in Sydney look more delicate ~
I’ve done that before going back to a restaurant the next day because it was THAT good hahaha
Especially when I’m on holidays if I find a good place I go back ~
I am DYING to try that green tea lamington! I’m a total Matcha addict!
Ooh I love this! Ippudo opened in Singapore not that long ago and I’m a regular there!
love those pork buns and the rich pork broth the ramen has. Eating a bowl of this makes me feel like I’m in Japan!
The green tea lamington must be a special in Sydney.Sounds good! I always love green tea with azuki beans…
I don’t usually go to the same restaurants two days in a row but if I’m really impressed and would like to share the experience with another friend, I would.
Very inventive, I think, but I don’t know if I could line up for this, especially in the rain. In which honsen did they cook the egg?
LOL! MR NQN must really love this place to want a return visit straight away!!
I love Japanese food and it has really been the weather for Ramen here!! All the food looked lush
What a classy Asian establishment
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Why not return straight away? I remember in Hong Kong, we once went to this restaurant everyday for an entire week, trying everything on the menu!
I am going to dream about those pork buns tonight.
Damn you.
It is a bit sad to say but on two trips to Sydney from Queensland, my husband and I at Criniti’s Darling Harbour night after night. In the end I think the staff thought we were mad.
Definitely the hard ramen for me; I love noodles that are a touch on the chewy side. And the lamington looks fascinating.
Would you believe I tried a Mexican place once, came back the next day, and still eat there on an average of twice a week. (Seriously, the food is just plain AMAZING…)
I love Ippudou. I lived in Fukuoka for two years and ate at the original one on a regular basis. I actually ate at a number of ramen shops on a regular basis, but Ippudou was one of the better ones. It’s probably a good thing I moved, because thinking back, I ate way too much ramen.
Ippudo just opened in KL last week, but I have not been yet. But will definitely go once there are no longer crazy long queues.
I had been avoiding Ippudo to check it out for the same reason as Mr NQN, I hate to queue and I like to make reservations. An early dinner there proved a fuss free, seated immediately alternative. Loved the crispy chicken!
I don’t think I’ve heard of this place before but it sure does sound intriguing. I adore all Asian soups, so even though I haven’t had ramen before, I’m sure I’d love it. But waiting in a queue isn’t my thing either. I’ll have to check it out when I’m in NYC next.
This food looks like perfect rainy day comfort food. I’ve never heard of a ramen chain–what a grand idea. Once again,I am dazzled by all your options.
The Japanese lamington looks sooo interesting! I’ve never seen anything like it but it sounds worth a try!
I’ve not heard of this ramen chain but now I can’t wait to go to Westfield Sydney to order everything you’ve ordered! I love Japanese food and nori sheets. Those pork buns and ramen dishes looks yummo:-) yes, sometimes I do get a bit embarrassed returning to dine at the same place 2-3 times a week when their food and staff are great:-)
The food looks interesting and different Lorriane! Btw I also share Mr MQN’s allergy of queues.
The place looks something out of a movie set. Lovely!
Ahh I really have to try those pork buns! Seems a bit too hot these days for ramen though…!
The food looks so interesting. I am quite unfamiliar with these not so popular Asian dishes and am hoping to try a few more of them for the blog as well!
Def will be heading to Ippudo- thanks for the review!
I actually haven’t been one in Japan but last time when we were in Taipei we could visit one there. We only ordered 3 kinds of ramen and buns, next time I have to try other stuff!
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