IPPUDO RAMEN

“Writing this paragraph has caused me to drool all over my keyboard”

There are two kinds of people in this world. Those who are crazy about ramen and those who haven’t really tried it yet. Unfortunately, team ATE. sits in the latter category. But in the spirit of broadening our culinary horizons, we decided to visit one of a slew of new ramen joints in Perth that are putting ramen-tragics to the slurp. Of course, Ippudo Ramen has the added attraction of being located in Perth’s King’s Square, part of the relatively new Northbridge-City link development that has seen travel times to either postcode reduced by roughly half a drunken hour. Prior to this metropolitan rejuvenation, pedestrians’ only choice for accessing the CDB from the north, or vice-versa, was to traverse the famed Horseshoe Bridge, an activity which is absolutely twenty-times less exciting than it sounds.

So where better than this cultural crossroads to open (at the time) Australia’s third incarnation of the Ippudo Ramen empire? From humble beginnings in 1986 in Hakata, in Japan’s Fukuoka prefecture, ramen master Shigemi Kawahara has expanded his reach across 217 stores in 13 countries – proof that the humble bowl of ramen has transcended into something of a culinary cult classic. This acquired status has of course brought a measure of artistry to the preparation and making of the noodly, soupy dish – and Ippudo Ramen contributes a few signature moves of its own. Firstly, I understand that Ippudo Ramen made something of a name for tonkotsu, or pork broth, being the base stock in which the ramen is prepared. At Ippudo, their tonkotsu broth is prepared over a two-day period, and boasts a rich, creamy, porky flavour. Here I must shamefully admit that most of the reason I have neglected to get around ramen up until now is my belief that the dish is nothing more than noodles in hot water. The broth in the ramen at Ippudo more or less annihilated this opinion. It’s soft and smooth yet pinging with complex flavours. Past me was an idiot.

Of course, broth is just the beginning. Your average ramen comprises noodles, meat, vegetables and any number of supporting characters – miso paste, garlic oil, mushrooms, chili, seaweed – the possibilities are endless. At Ippudo, there are four main types of ramen that can be pimped with various add-ons. The akamaru shinagi ($16) constitutes an upgrade on the base-level shiromaru motoaji ($15) ramen, and comes with tonkotsu, thin noodles, pork loin, black fungus, a special blend of miso paste known as umari-dama, black garlic oil, spring onions, bean sprouts, and seaweed. The bowl arrived piping hot, and a good swirl with chopsticks melded the garlic oil and miso paste into the milk-white broth. Each spoonful brought either fresh spring onion, still retaining crispness, or tender pork to the mouth. Switch to chopsticks to best access the chewy noodles, and don't be afraid to get loud - after all, a section of the menu titled “how to enjoy ramen” asserts that the key to enjoying ramen is sound. Specifically, the sound made when noodles and broth are “inhaled” together, known as zuzutto, which allows the complexity of flavours to spread through the mouth, leading to nodogoshi - the silky sensation of food sliding down your throat. This is all very high concept stuff, perhaps, but after a few spoonfuls it’s not hard to see why the Japanese came up with words to describe the particular experience of eating ramen.

Tori Shoyu ($16), a ramen comprised of clear chicken broth, medium noodles, seasoned chicken breast, bamboo shoots, leek, spring onion and seaweed was deep and savoury, the chicken excellently tender. This is your standard chicken noodle soup if it went on exchange to Tokyo.

If drinking a large part of your meal really isn't your thing then fear not. Ippudo also offers a variety of sides and starters which are, well, less wet.  There are nibbles – like sliced pickled cucumber served with garlic sesame oil and chili sauce, yam fries, and edamame – and more substantial entrees such as seared angus beef with enoki mushrooms, kaarage chicken, gyoza and steamed buns. The photographs of these dishes in the menu are so beautiful you'd half expect the fried chicken to be reclined on a chaise longue dressed in the latest Burberry. As good as it all looked, however, team ATE. are only human and we cannot consume every item on the menu, as much as we'd like to. For a food which is mainly liquid, ramen is deceptively filling. At best, I can relate that I've heard good things about the pickled cucumber. What we did have room for, though, was the seared salmon sushi roll ($15 for 5). This was an absolute showstopper. Lightly seared translucent salmon came wrapped around rice, topped with creamy cod roe mayonnaise and a light sprinkling of cod roe; a masterpiece of texture and flavour. The slightly chewy rice provided some resistance to the melt-in-your-mouth salmon and the gooey mayo – a thick soy-based sauce underneath the rolls lending notes of caramel sweetness. Pop a whole one of these into your mouth and you'll be chewing with a look of lurid delight on your face. The phrase "punchy flavours" could not be more adequately applied than to this dish. There should be a printed warning about these in the menu, as writing this paragraph has caused me to drool onto my keyboard.

On the beverage side of things, if you don't consider ramen to be a beverage (and, unlike past me, you shouldn’t), you can choose from a couple of reds or whites, mainly Western Australian. Nothing here is particularly thrilling, and you're better off ordering one of the handful of Japanese or local beers (Asahi on tap) or from the modest list of sakes, which you can have in four different sizes.

The space is distinctly Japanese whilst still being bright, clean and large – this is no hole-in-the-wall slurpery down a back alley in Tokyo like you’ve seen on an episode of No Reservations. The tables, chairs, and much of the interiors are largely pale timber and colour is kept to a minimum – with the exception of red, which pops on the banquettes and behind the bar. Ornamentation is also simple - there are backlit lines of sake bottles, and arrangements of bowls and other tableware on the walls or on shelves around the space – but this simplicity is befitting for a chain restaurant where presumably the aesthetic is designed to be replicable around the globe. It’s certainly miles above your local KFC, unless maybe that KFC is in Japan. During our lunchtime visit, the space was filled with city shoppers, teenagers out and about and families of all varieties, and the presence of a stanchion and belt setup out front indicating that at nights, the venue gets a hammering.

I began by saying there are two types of people in this world; those who love ramen and those who haven’t really tried it. We may have entered Ippudo in one of those categories but we certainly came out in the other.