27 May 2013
Little Ramen Bar, a ramen restaurant where you can enjoy ramen with drinks has opened on Little Bourke Street!
The owners Alex and Crystal, couldn’t forget having beer and ramen in Shibuya and this prompted them to open the restaurant. When they returned to Melbourne they went to many ramen bars, but none of them fit their ideal. So they decided to open their own.
From the left, the owners Crystal and Alex, and Michio Kurihara, owner of Tanpopo, who came to help them from New Zealand.
The couple decided to do their training at Tanpopo, a ramen bar in Auckland, New Zealand. Tanpopo’s owner, Michio Kurihara said that he was a little worried at first, because until then he hadn’t taught anyone other than Japanese people, but the couple tried their best and for one and a half months, learnt to master all of Tanpopo’s flavours, from soup to Japanese dumplings.
The recommended ramen are the roast pork and egg ramen (left, $12.90) and the spicy miso ramen (right, $11.90). (For the pork belly soup, one can choose from a base of salt, miso or soy sauce).
The rich piping hot pork back fat soup is rare in Melbourne, and with the medium thickness noodles it has an excellent flavour! Every day the soup is made in the kitchen at the back of the restaurant, and if the flavour is not satisfactory, they are particular that the shop will not open that day. The noodles are not standard but are made especially for the bar by a noodle shop.
For those who aren’t satisfied with the standard size, there is a ‘godzilla’ size topping (left, back), which for an additional $3 is double the ordinary size. For those who feel like eating a lot, why don’t you come and try it? There is also a large side menu. The handmade Japanese dumplings (right, $5.50) go especially well with beer.
The owners are also particular about interior décor. The owners said that they handmade the walls and the chairs, and they handpicked the retro beer poster up on the wall along with the shop curtain when they went to Japan.
Starting with beer and dumplings and finishing with ramen, they have made the restaurant exactly the same as the ones that we remember in Japan. Those who miss the ramen bars in Japan, why don’t you come and try Little Ramen Bar?
Little Ramen Bar
Facebook: www.facebook.com/LittleRamenBar
Website: www.littleramenbar.com.au
Business hours: 11:30am-2:30pm, 5:30pm-8:30pm (Will close if soup runs out)
Address: 346 Little Bourke St Melbourne, VIC 3000
