Genkotsu Ramen - Runcorn, Brisbane

March 16, 2019

Late night ramens are great and soothing specially when the place isn't packed. Luckily as soon as we entered the little eatery, there was two seats straight away. During peak times, there would be a queue out the front.

Takoyaki are deep fried octopus balls. The melted cheese topping was an extra add on but seemed worth it at the time before ordering it. After ordering it, I think that I still preferred the original takoyaki with the fish flakes on top instead. The cheese slice melted over the takoyaki balls evenly and was well combined with the mayo drizzle and takoyaki sauce drizzle.

Black Garlic on Shoyu ramen. Having the shoyu as the base topped with black garlic oil along with half boiled egg, spring onions and bamboo shoots. The piece of seaweed placed in the middle is always a nice crunch texture however I do feel that it was a bit too big for the bowl and could've been sliced in half. This is to enable us to actually chew or bite into it even after it is soggy. Once it touches the bowl, it will slowly dissolve and become quite rubbery, hard to bite off. But no biggy I guess.

I found that the best way to enjoy was to mix the black garlic oil with everything before digging in. This will allow every element in the bowl have that hint and scent of the garlic. If not, there would be some spoonful where the black garlic may just be a bit too strong or too oily for the palate.

SHIO, means salt. Having the shio based broth allows a more saltyness within the dish and not too strong of the soy sauce after taste. The chashu pork was well cooked and not too fatty. The addition of bamboo shoots and spring onions gave the dish that freshness along with the half boiled egg which is always a winner.

It sucks literally if you go to a ramen shop and the egg is not included in any of the ramen, hence you would need to pay extra for half or a full egg. Thankfully, the egg was inclusive of the prices here.