22 November 2021

Abura-soba gyokai at Ramen Zundo, World Square, CBD ~ Japanese soup-less noodles




We are big fans of the ramen at Ramen Zundo, the broth with a mix of dried bonito is one of our favourites. But what if you took the broth out and just left all the goodies and the flavour base? Abura soba (also known as mazesoba) originated as a soupless ramen where the noodles are coated in oil and the tare flavour base is left at the bottom of the bowl to stir through the soba noodles.

There are three versions at Ramen Zundo, original, spicy and one with a dried bonito blend. Each version has chopped softly cooked pork, bamboo pieces, soft cooked egg and lots of chopped spring onions. The gyokai (dried bonito blend) version not only has a fish flavoured sauce at the bottom of the bowl, it has a generous amount of ground bonito powder sprinkled over the top of the bowl.

Chilli oil and vinegar are brought to the table to add to the noodles, but we didn't add too much. A sprinkle of shichimi togarashi over the delicious pork cubes does us for a bit more flavour. Once you get along and the noodles become easier to stir together, the bonito powder mixed with the tare creates an incredibly flavoured brown sludge that coats the noodles. It might not sound enticing but brown food is beautiful.



Ramen Zundo is at World Square, 644 George Street (enter via Liverpool St).


This post is brought to you by a big fan of bonito from Enmore, singing the praises of fish dried or otherwise.

1 comment:

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).