You might have to queue for the eagerly awaited second ramen joint in Saint Germain (after the first Ippudo near the Louvre) but that comes as no surprise after the resounding success in London. The numerous staff are smiley and seat customers quickly in the long, sophisticated room. The menu even includes a little key to get to grips with the ramen dishes and all the ingredients, including the encouragement to ignore all French etiquette and slurp the ramen to enjoy its full potential – pointing out that slurp has a more technical term in Japanese: ‘zuzutto’. It seems that teaching diners about what they’re eating is just as important as tradition and quality at Ippudo.
The Akamaru spacial smells incredible and is one of the famous tonkotsu broth dishes that made the establishment's name. Every element of the ramen is worth savouring and tasting separately: the pork chasu is a joy, a soft-boiled egg is on the right side of runny and the sesame mushroom kikurage is succulent. You can choose how the noodles are cooked – we went for ‘kata’ (al dente). More discerning foodies will love the Karaka, the spiced Japanese ramen with a spicy sauce. One bugbear: the gyozas were very small and a little on the expensive side (€6 for 6). But that certainly won’t stop us from going back. Ippudo – it was well worth the wait.
Second address: 74 Rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Paris 1st