Gumshara Ramen,
Eating World Harbour Plaza Shop 209 25-29 Dixon St 
Haymarket, NSW
Haymarket, NSW
Posts Tagged tonkotsu
Gumshara Ramen, Sydney
Posted by tzuyang in Restaurant, ramen on December 6, 2011
Gumshara Tonkotsu Ramen (thick soup)
Gumshara Ramen, Sydney
Sydney is filled with eateries especially Chinatown. Urbanspoon seemed to have good reviews so here I am on a freezing cold summer night. The dish to judge ramen joints is the Tonkotsu ramen. The two critical constituents of a good ramen dish being the broth and the noodles. So many places attempt but so few places get it right. Hakataya, Brisbane, Taro’s Ramen, Brisbane (blog post pending) gets it right. Bringing me back to Kyoto, Japan.
Gumshara is located in a food court within Chinatown. Not much sign or fancy decors except for a wall of photos of each dish. There were a few people waiting in line. As the noodle enters the bowel, somebody stirs it to ensure it is well separated.
The ramen has to contain the thickest soup I have ever tasted in a ramen. It might be a bit too thick. There was plenty of pork bone flavour for sure, but it was missing something. Possibly umami. The noodle was perfectly cooked along with good quality cha shu meat. (The half cooked egg was extra). Is it good? yes. But not for ramen beginners.
Best ramen in Australia
Posted by tzuyen in Restaurant, ramen on November 1, 2010
Update: More pictures, including from Taro’s Ramen.
It’s a big statement from me. But I would like to think I have tried a few bowls of ramen in my life without being completely obsessed (ok, a little) about it. In the 8 years I have been in Melbourne, many soups bases have been devoured. On the Brisbane front, My brother lives there so he would be pretty in touch with which ramen shops are singing out. In Sydney is my friend and along with my pre-visit research, I have tried a couple of places with good words said about them. I am going to first admit my limitations and will be more than excited to hear about other places to see some porky goodness.
Best ramen in Australia?
A better view of heaven
I have made a couple of posts on ramen in Japan, including the best ramen I have tried to date. In Melbourne, Ramen Ya, Momotaro Ramen (great soft-boiled eggs) are my favorites. Sydney has Gumshara Ramen and Ichi ban Boshi posted by Grab Your Fork. One thing I have yet to try is Ichi ban Boshi’s limited-number tonkotsu ramen. I tried waiting for one last year by getting in early, ordering food and then asking the waitress that when the special ramen was ready I am also ready for round 2. Sadly it was too far away and I would be sitting there for another 45 minutes twiddling my fingers. This year I went to Gumshara ramen which is stuck in a crowded food court in Sydney’s Chinatown. Their limited 20 serve pork spare rib with thick soup was hand-down the most pork-rich soup I have ever come across. The first spoon full was so intense that I wasn’t sure it it was soup or something gravy-like. But the flavours were just too much to take in a bowl. Maybe I was already feeling hot and greasy from walking all day. Notably, Gumshara has choice of thin and thick soup base. My friend suggested a thin base might be more balanced.
Hakataya Noodle Shop
But this is where Melbourne and Sydney’s ramen fade in comparison to… Brisbane’s Hakataya Noodle Shop in Sunnybank (first shop in Surface Paradise called Nagahama Ramen Hakataya). The shop is small (good), menu short (good), had a japanese style curtain at the entrance (good) and the tonkotsu ramen is just bloody good. Soup is porky all over, yet clean and slick and PERFECTLY seasoned. I think the hardest thing about tonkotsu soup base is getting the deep, porky taste while maintaining a clean and almost light taste. A bit like how French cooking might add cream/butter to ‘lighten’ the sauce up. The noodle is wonderfully dense and bitey (and free second serve to add to the soup. Shavings of pork (chashu) floating on top. There is a line outside ever day and so there should be. My brother has tried the shop in Surfers Paradise and he thinks the one in Brisbane is better.
Hakataya Noodle Shop, Shop 27b Sunnybank Plaza (Cnr Mains Rd and McCullough St)Sunnybank, 4109, Brisbane, Australia. (07) 5526 7055
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Update: Taro’s Ramen
3 trips back to Brisbane later and I finally tasted Taro’s Ramen. The first one they were closed for holidays. The second time closed for other reasons. I was getting rather worked up every time the umami and tonkotsu taste buds were rubbing their hands together – only to have to wait some more. When I did get to eat it, it was certainly delicious. Soup was complex and porky. Clean and refined at the same time. It was probably less porky and more complex than Hakataya. Noodles were thin (my favorite type) and had a good bite. Importantly, the half boiled egg sit on top with a rich, amber glow that is only seen the moment before sun sets on a hazy afternoon. Splendid. Taro’s Ramen and Hakataya are easily the best 2 ramen restaurants I have tried in Australia.
Taro's Ramen
363 Adelaide Street Brisbane QLD 4000, Australia
(07) 3832 6358
Ramen like my first date
I am full – 7 different ramen shops in Hokkaido. From the humble eatery in the cable car station to get to the highest mountain (Asahidake) to the packed ramen shops in the Ramen Alley in Sapporo. Those who know me well would also know that I have a weakness for ramen – specifically the tonkotsu based broth. Warm, full of bony goodness and marrow, the soup makes my heart beat like I am on my first date. Heck, for less than $10 a serve, the date has serious competition!
The Japanese really pride themselves on what they do. Each bowl is served with great attention to detail. The movie The Ramen Girl sums it up (despite the crap and annoying acting). The master-apprentice relationship and the kind of soul that people speak of when referring to the broth. The chef Maezumi might be a tyrant but each bowl is ‘a gift to the customer’ and ‘if you look at the ramen you feel it’.
The original shop of Santouka
My favorite on this trip is Santouka (fire, head, mountain) in Asahikawa. I later find out that shop is the original shop, now having a chain of restaurants in the US, Canada, Singapore and Hong Kong. The shop was busy, fluorescent lit with basic chairs and table on the side while a stool lined bar was adjacent to the kitchen. I ordered their signature dish – the shio (salt) ramen. The stock is essentially a pork bone based (tonkotsu) that is salted, like all ramen soup base is. What this shop did well was not over salt their soup. My friends often complain that ramen soup is mostly too salty. I have to agree. But this bowl hit the salt level perfectly for me. Enough to really bring the broth to life but also to be able to finish all the soup without feeling that your blood pressure is shooting above 180 systolic. David Chang describes in his Momofuku cookbook that salt need to be almost ‘too salty’ for the soup to be ready.
Expect awsome ramen
The shio ramen - a bowl of awesomeness
Just look at how creamy the soup is! For a similar reaction to what I had…try this clip on a ramen shop in Tokyo. The soup in the clip is a triple stock, using 60 hours to make!
Simply amazing. Has anyone visited Santouka or one of their offsprings?