A Sydney food blog celebrating the world's great culinary underbelly. We are ham-fisted enthusiasts who dig traditional foods, hole-in-the-wall restaurants, and international supermarkets of mystery.
14 January 2011
Ichi Ban Boshi ~ Japanese - Bondi Junction
Back to the future - we revisit our first ever ramen experience and wonder why we stopped visiting.
It's summer, we want to avoid the city so head to Bondi Junction for a wander. After getting off the train past the McDonalds with the best view in Sydney, we head out to the mall on Oxford St. We discover a huge new 100 yen style shop (although it's $2.50 here) and I'm instantly in heaven. Shawn patiently waits outside and dreams of lunch.
We've come to eat as well as shop, and we decide to give the re-located Ichi-Ban Boshi a go. This was the first ramen joint we ate at in Sydney, when it was further up Oxford St in a smaller store. We remember having a really salty soup that made our tongues tingle, and we hardly ever went back. We had the same experience at the one outside the Kinokinuya bookstore, and sought our ramen elsewhere.
Today we decide to give it another try. We start with a little dish of Chasu rice, a little bowl of soft and tender pork and rice, a measly $3.50 and worth every piggy mouthful.
Shawn goes with his standard tonkotsu ramen, $10.90, and I lovingly order a soft boiled googie egg for only $1.00 as a secret extra. Only so I get the other half. Shawn is over the moon with his ramen and its light, milky, porky broth. One of the best in Sydney, if not the best he reckons.
I order the Aburi Chashu-men, a stewed Pork ramen in a rich broth, $12.00. I'm keen to try a different soup style to the milky pork broths. The noodles in this were also slightly thicker, but still had that great slippery slurpiness. Of course, there's corn too, and bok choy as different vegetable to the usual chopped shallots.
Another visit Shawn tries the ice tea and is most excited to see it served the same way he has had it in Japan. The tea is non-sweetened with a small serve of sugar syrup on the side so you can sweeten to taste. Right on!
I'm keen to go back and try the cold Hiyashi noodles that are only served in summer. Oh, and maybe another visit to the $2.50 store.
Ichi Ban Boshi is in the Bondi Junction mall, Shop 1, 171-173 Oxford St, Bondi Junction NSW. Ph 9369 3980. They are open every day from 11.00 to 9.30. There's also a branch in Southport on the Gold Coast.
http://www.ichibanboshi.com.au/
10 comments:
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 :-)
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Best Ramen in Sydney - that's a big call, but it sounds like you may have finally found your Ramen Mecca after years of searching.
ReplyDeleteUntil The Chronic I loved Itchy's and used to get the tsukemen or tantanmen but after a very disappointing tonky that I found despite being too salty and tongue tingly, strangely and unsatisfyingly insipid, with the noodles overcooked and gluggy, I feel as sad as I was disappointed. I fear I've been spoiled by The Chronic, but I suppose it's one man's pleasure, another's poison...
ReplyDeleteI think every ramen I have is the best in Sydney...
ReplyDeleteThe tantanmen at the galleries victoria shop is one of my all time favourite meals anywhere.
ReplyDeleteThe Chasu rice looks loverly. :-) And don't you hate it when you get that salty, MSG-filled broth that makes your mouth tingle and your throat gasp for water?
ReplyDeleteI love aburi anything and those soft-set eggs look perfect. But the most exciting thing in this post - the $2.50 shop! Must check it out soon.
ReplyDeleteI've had a couple of salty experiences at ichiban-boshi too and ever since in my head they've been in my "wagamama" category of japanese restaurants - ie not good. whenever i'm in bondi junction i generally go to ramen-kan or chikyuu-ya, but maybe i'll give this new ichiban-boshi a go. in any case until this humidity subsides all my noodle dollars will be spent on the cold soba noodles at Mappen.
ReplyDeletehttp://thealimentarytrack.blogspot.com/
I have never been to the Bondi junction store before. Is it as busy as the one at town hall?
ReplyDeleteHelen - It was almost as good as a smaller Daiso, it will fill the hole until the next trip! I like that I can get a lot of the wooden things now I couldn't bring back from Japan. And bento accessories!
ReplyDeleteHungry hungry hippo - We generally go to Ramen-kan too, but hought we'd give ichi-ban another chanch wich worked out well. Love the cold soba!
Susan - it has a large outdoor seating area which is very pleasant if it's not too cold or hot. It was pretty busy - grab your table first and then order at the counter!
ton ton ramen (in galleries victoria) is the best in sydney, hands down!!! Awesome blog too BTW!
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