07 February 2015

Ramen O-San Bar ~ Japanese Ramen - Dixon House Food Court

Yay, a new ramen joint in Sydney Chinatown's Dixon House Food Court, Ramen O-San Bar.

[Relocated to Sussex Centre food court, 2017]






It's been a while since we've loitered in our beloved Chinatown food courts. We feel a little guilty, like we've locked the kids in the car while we've been travelling and working a lot in the past few months. We feel most guilty about Dixon House Food Court because it seems to be on borrowed time, there's always 'for lease' signs, and as much as we love the surreal grunge of this place, it does need a face lift to attract some classier customers than us.

With all that in mind we are thrilled to see good old Dixon House humming on a Friday night, and with two brand spanking new stalls. There's a new Chinese stall which looks a bit temporary. But the one that has folks excited is the new ramen joint, Ramen O-San Bar. And we're happy to say it's pretty good too.



The front counter lady is super cheery and the guy in the back plays with his huge pots of broth with big sticks. That's precisely what we want to see.


We also hoped to see a simple classic Tokyo style ramen on the menu but that's not what gets the kiddies excited. Sydney loves a thick tonkotsu style ramen and that's number one on the menu. While it's always tempting to compare this to Gumshara, Sydney just has to let go of that lazy 'best ramen in Sydney' obsession. There's other ramen styles out there to try, folks.



Back to the noodles. It's a good tonkotsu, thick, rich and porky and the noodles have a nice bite. We dig. A great deal at $9.80. Make sure you add $1.50 for an egg, it's a fine googie.



Sumo ramen is a mix of pork and chicken broth. The broth doesn't have the insta-wow of the tonkotsu  on first taste but man, when you slurp up those thicker noodles coated with that huge dollop of fresh garlic and the ground chicken, it's a insta-hit. The kakuni pork is sweetly roasted on top and firm and fatty underneath. Mama, it's good. $12.80



The googies are great here, rich and runny in the middle. Optionally essential.

We look forward to trying the chicken and fish based ramens here, we love a fishy hit in our ramen. They're coming soon to the menu.


[BACK AGAIN MAY 2015]

We love revisiting a joint after the initial opening  hoo-har has died down...


#2 Chicken soy ramen - $9.80. A thin, strong chicken broth with semi-nutty kick to the soy. There's couple of rasher thin slices of pork and veggies on top. We love a good chicken broth and they are hard to find in tonkotsu obsessed Sydney.



Char sui rice balls - $2.50 each. These are a great snack or mini-meal, tastes like plain fried rice with flecks of moist rich pork, fresh and simple.


Ramen O-San has wisely chosen the stall right at the main, corner entrance at Dixon House so you can't miss it. Enter via the corner of Dixon and Little Hay Street's Chinatown.


5 comments:

  1. I feel like a dummy because I've glared through the "hole in the wall" several times wondering what this joint was all about. I simply lost the plot. Thanks for the explanation what this joint was all about.

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  2. "it does need a face lift to attract some classier customers than us". Nooooooooo!

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  3. Was just looking at this post again, and your reply. Yes, all class. My idea of taking my wife out for dinner in town is a meal at Dixon House, or Eating World for a particularly special occasion! Your Valentine's Day posts are always entertaining.

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Thanks for your comment joy - please keep your musings happy - if you want to complain about a restaurant please do it on a restaurant review site (or your own blog) - we're all about celebrating cultural diversity and the great eats that come along with it :-)

Our ethics: We pay for all our own meals and travel (though sometimes Mum shouts us).