January 2014
Tonkotsu is a requisite test of any ramen chain worth their salt, and at Japanese import Ippudo that’s the Shiromaru motoaji. Ippudo’s version of the dish is a ramen for purists – nothing to cloud or confuse the palate, just textural additions of beansprouts and spring onions to ultra-thin noodles and the all-important broth. First sip reveals an interesting fact: the Ippudo tonkotsu is surprisingly light and subtle. In comparison to competing restaurants’ tonkotsu, there’s no overpowering waft of porkiness here, just a complex, flavourful broth with a lighter body. It may not be as rich as some of its competitors but it’s also less cloying, so eating as much ramen as you can is a much more achievable feat here.
But the Shiromaru motoaji was completely blown out of the water by what arrived next: the Akamaru shinaji. It’s a ‘modern-style’ ramen, which means it takes the original tonkotsu broth and beefs it up with miso paste and garlic oil, resulting in a deeply fragrant, layered soup. Thin noodles, pork belly and spring onions complete the dish, although you can order a vast array of sides to complement it – poached egg, salted soft boiled egg, extra chashu, seaweed, etc. The poached egg we ordered arrived separately in its own little dish, and was a textbook example of an excellently poached egg. Tender but contained, and with a beautifully runny yolk.
On the side we had a slightly incongruous serving of curry cheese rolls – crispy spring rolls filled with mild curry and melted cheese. They weren’t hugely memorable but provided a pleasant break from slurping soup (not that we were looking for one). Anyway, you don’t go to a ramen shop for spring rolls. You go for comforting noodles and perfectly poached eggs. Emma Chong