Ajisen Ramen

130 Bourke St, Melbourne
Phone (03) 9662 1100

OK, so I’ve been to Ajisen Ramen many times before, but I’ve just never blogged it. Therefore, I am writing about it now in order to be as complete as possible in my noodle quest, and also to win back some kudos after being dissed by the Ajisen fans on Vogue forums (no, really. I am). As many of you might know, Ajisen is a world-wide ramen chain that originated in Kumamoto, which is on the Japanese island of Kyushu. This region is famous for tonkotsu-based ramen, which uses a pork bone stock for a very rich and intensely flavoured broth. I personally am a very big fan of this style of ramen, especially the Hakata version and of course my drug of choice, Jiro. The full fatty flavour onslaught appeals very much to my swine-attuned palate.  It’s not surprising that I’ve always rated Ajisen’s version of garlicfied tonkotsu ramen. Sure there’ve been some misses too, but overall, their ramen is mucho similar to the ones in Japan. There is one thing that prevents me from going there more often; more on that later.

The Melbourne Ajisen is run by Chinese, who methinks are also the owners of the neighbouring Cafe Ito. The place is quite huge, with dark brown square tables and stools.  Near the front door stood a small statue of Ajisen’s mascot, a winking Chinese-looking little girl (not to scale) who is holding a large bowl of noodles. It’s not a bad place to dine, though it can be freezing when they crank up the air-con.  Atop each table were the usual seasonings for ramen, including La-Yu (chili oil) and Ajisen’s own garlic powder.

The menu is large, offering about 30 types of noodles, donburi (stuff on rice), appetizers like gyoza and tori no kaarage (JFC = Japanese Fried Chicken), mains like sashimi and teriyaki chicken, as well as bento and lunch sets. Prices  were reasonable, with noodles starting at $9, although most hover around the $11 mark. The place is licensed and BYO, with plenty of Japanese drinks and beers on offer.

The gyoza were pretty damn good.  Plump, juicy and gingery. It went nicely with the dipping sauce.

As you can see, the Chasyu (sic) Ramen ($11) certainly looked the business, the abura (FAT!) floating on the surface of the soup promising plenty of good times ahead. Toppings were generous, with a good few slices of charshu, beni shoga, and egg. The taste of the broth was everything as you would expect from the picture: bloody fantastic!! On first sip, you get assailed with an intensely rich and salty flavour, that is plenty porky and garlicky as well. This taste was reminiscent of the type of ramen you’d find in Japan. Ramen expert “K”, who commented in my divisive Ramen-Ya post, also rated the chashu, and no wonder: it is tasty, moist, and very tender.  The egg was, unfortunately, let down by the yolk, which was completely hard-boiled rather than runny. At least it had been braised in stock (or soy), as evidenced by the brown coating on the egg.  The straight noodles were also nicely katame and eminently slurpable.  Verdict: definitely close to being The One but, for the egg, I’d have to peg the rating back a bit.

Mellie had the grilled salmon miso ramen, which came topped with a very nice and well-cooked piece of fish. Not a usual ramen topping, but a tasty and healthy one nevertheless.

Bria went the omurice ($11), which is an omelette encased with fried rice. I ask you – what could be friggin’ better??  It’s one of my favourite Japanese fast foods and Ajisen’s version was excellent. The nicely cooked omelette was lashed with tomato sauce and filled with a very fragrant fried rice. Oishii!

Misses?  Well, I would not recommend the Spicy Miso Ramen, unless you want to be passing out molten lava for the next few days.  It was so bloody spicy that it damned near burned the roof of my mouth off.  It’s quite inedible.  The service, too, can be pretty slow, especially when they’re busy. They forgot Mellie’s order one time, and it eventually arrived after everyone had finished their meals.  But the biggest put-off, as hinted previously, is that the place has a rather discernable odour that is quite off-putting. I’m not sure exactly what it is, but it’s somewhat of a toilety, mouldy funk that emanates near where the toilets and adjacent stairwell are. I don’t think it’s the smell of food going off or any hygiene issue; their toilets are very clean.  It might actually be the pipes or something else that they have no control over, but nevertheless the smell is there.  On our latest visit, it wasn’t as pronounced (it helped that we also sat well away from the area).  They did try to mask it with plenty of deodorising spray, which almost got me high when I visited the loos, but Bria who hadn’t been there for a few years did still notice the smell.  It certainly does not scare me off from going there, but the funk kinda detracts from the experience, which is a shame because the food is damn good.  They should definitely try and fix this whiffy issue.

So in summary, as close to a ramen in Japan as you can get, just that the place can be a bit stinky.