5 Market Lane, Melbourne
Phone 03 9650 0848
OK, so now I’m on a ramen roll 
From previous posts, we have mentioned that Shoya is one of our favourite Japanese restaurants in town, possibly even our favourite. Sure, their service can be a bit scatterbrained and sometimes their “nouvelle” Japanese fare can be hit and miss. But overall, we’ve always enjoyed our meals there. They do a set lunch that’s one of the best value in town, given the amount of food you get. Their yakiniku is superb and I rate Shoya’s sashimi as one of the finest anywhere.
However, a little known fact is that Shoya does offer donburi and noodle dishes, which can be overlooked given the size of their menu. These one-bowl meals are perfect if you don’t want to lash out on a multi-course omakase. And kiss my grits, they also do a ramen y’all! But how does it rate??
Well, first to the positives. The chashu was pretty damn fine – fatty, tender, moist and bursting with umami goodness. The noodles, too, were tasty; not too soggy, but quite katame (al dente). At $15, it was also not too badly priced, given the surroundings. But now to the deal-breaking negative: it was badly let down by the broth. Not that the broth was not tasty. It simply wasn’t ramen broth, tasting more like a broth for udon or soba. In fact, the broth was so generic-tasting that I couldn’t really discern if it was shoyu or shio style. There was no guts to the stock, no umami. Which is a shame, because with mind-blowing broth, this could have been a devastating ramen.
I still heart Shoya, but not for their ramen 
New blog post: Shoya Ramen http://bit.ly/34oL0u
That is such a crying shame. I am a broth freak.
shame. i was hoping for a recommendation for a good ramen.
Where are the good ramens? I went to Kenzan @ GPO today and their Miso ramen is not that good- once again, it’s the soup! :’(
Hey… I go there every now and then and I agree that it’s a hit and miss.
My favotire for ramen at the moment is Ramen Ya. I got so hooked onto a tonkatsu ramen after my trip to Japan. I had the god-moment bowl of ramen. It was so good and still in my memory. I wrote about it here. http://6lumens.com/blog/2009/02/ramen/
What a shame! I’ve read such great things about Shoya from you. I guess Ramen just isnt their strong point. I’ll make sure to stick to their other dishes.
I love the slow cooked ox tongue. It is my favorite dish from shoya(with their jewel like presentation for the entre sashimi in a ice bowl
Yeah Shoya ramen is so bad.
Thanks for the comments guys!
I must qualify by saying that I didn’t like the ramen not because it was bad to the point of being inedible. It just wasn’t ramen in the traditional sense. However, if you haven’t had a noodle epiphany in Japan (like myself or Tzu-yen’s God-moment :p), or you’re not a stickler for the traditional, you probably would think that the ramen wasn’t all that bad, which it isn’t. I just found it curious that they would use udon broth and call it ramen. Ah, Japan has forever ruined Japanese food for me in Melbourne
Having said that, Shoya is still one of my faves and yes, Tzu-yen, I also love the ox tongue. Slow braised, salty and perfect with mantou.
I’ve been here a few times and can be honest that the ramen is actually not that bad( as per japanese standards), sure the broth isn’t 3 years old and thick as it should be. But for those that have been to Shoya a few times would realize that its not what this restuarant aims to achieve. There must be dozens of japanese restaurants within a stones throw of the place and apart from a few exceptions (e.i. tempura and edemame) its hardly your typical japanese restaurant! Much like Vue de Monde, Jacque Reymond and Flower drum they make little attempt to become the usual crusine… it’s like can you judge Vue de Monde on their escargots? and flower drum on their black bean beef? Sure Shoya excels at their Sushi and Sashimi’s but really, its Shoya’s modernization of authentic japanese food which sets itself above the rest of other restaurants… As a regular at Shoya I consistantly order the chefs menu and advise the (pretty welcoming) staff what i want and they never cease to amaze me with what they dish out to each time. Prices are reasonably high though so come prepared with an open mind and a decent credit card.