Average Ramen at Ippudo Ramen Restaurant Sydney Westfields

I have eaten ramen at Ippudo in Tokyo a few times. They are a famous ramen chain with restaurnants all over Japan and they are famous for their Tonkotsu pork based broth. I am a big fan of the ramen they serve in Tokyo so I went into their ramen shop at Westfields Sydney, located right in the heart of the Sydney city CBD. How was the ramen in Sydney? Very underwhelming! This is not a bad ramen, just a stock standard ramen, nothing bad, nothing special. Honestly it was a disappointment as I’ve really enjoyed the ramen in Tokyo. Would I eat at Ippodu Sydney again? No way…..there are too many other great ramen available in Sydney, to eat average ramen!

The Ippodu Ramen Restaurant in Westfields Sydney is located on level 5. It is a very impressive looking restaurant all decked out in wood. They obviously spent alot of money setting up the restaurant.

It only took a few minutes from when I ordered before the ramen was brought to my table. It looked good but I noticed the ramen broth was very thin. You can tell when a broth is slow cooked as it will be nice and thick. The longer you cook it, the more flavour it has. In this case, the broth at Ippudo was not really packed full of flavour.

I did hit the ramen with chilli oil which suped up the flavour!

The cha sui pork slices looked good as well but they were a bit firm, didn’t melt in my mouth like a slow cooked pork slice. I saw the chef pull the pork slices out of a bag that looked like it has come from the fridge. Who knows how long it had been sitting there. It also had a bit of a funky flavour, so doubt this was fresh.

I went for the classic Shiromaru ramen which was $20 for the bowl which seems to be the standard going rate for ramen in Sydney city area. When I went to pay, they rang up $22. I asked what the extra $2 was for. They pointed at a sign above the cash register which stated 10% surcharge for Sunday!

Overall a disappointment! I will just have to save up and fly to Tokyo to get some really good Ippudo ramen noodle soup!

Ippodu Ramen Restaurant
Westfield Sydney
Shop 5021/188 Pitt Street
Sydney

Website: http://ippudo.com.au/

Ippudo also have restaurants in Sydney at Circular Quay, Chippendale, Chatswood and North Ryde.