Lulu Ramen - Paddington

 

I wasn't too keen on having ramen as my most recent experience has been quite disappointing. However I was keen to still go to Lulu Ramen whilst they were still in their soft opening period and I had a promo that was expiring soon, so Dr L and I decided to go for a friday night date after work.

I hadn't been to the Nash street hub for a little while but it was extremely packed for a Friday night and we were lucky to find parking. The restaurant is located in the complex with Uncle Don. It was surprisingly large for a ramen restaurant and there were plenty of seats.

 

Paper menus were provided, we had the option of ordering via the QR code on the table or at the counter. I understand that the menu will change once they officially open. Special mention ought to go to their unlimited free extra noodles.

Unlike other ramen restaurants, each table was pre-set with a number of condiments as well as a small box of hair ties, which was a very thoughtful gesture for those with long hair. 

It didn't take long for our gyoza to come out. These were filled with a meaty prawn filling and fairly juicy. The skin was crispy and they had some skirt on them but the skin was a bit thicker than I would have liked. Otherwise, it was a solid gyoza, albeit a little bit expensive at $15 for a serve of five. 

 

Our ramen arrived perfectly timed as we finished off our gyoza. We had two to share so that we could both try and compare.

First up was the Special Chicken and Bonito Chitan Ramen. It comprised of clear chicken and fish broth, dried bamboo shoots, king oyster mushrooms, duck breast char siu, chicken breast char siu, soft boiled egg, black truffle sauce, black pepper, shredded green onions and snow peas. My first impression of the bowl was that it was surprisingly small in portion, being roughly half the volume of our other bowl. Having said that, the bowl was very delicious, I liked the umami but not too salty chicken and fish broth, the duck char siu was melt in mouth buttery whilst the chicken char siu was tender. The egg was also perfectly cooked with a runny yolk, the noodles had a deliciously al dente texture and the truffle sauce elevated the experience to a whole new level. Overall a very satisfying bowl, but considerably steep in retrospect when considering it is only a few dollars off from Taro's annual truffle special.

Our other bowl was the Spicy Chicken Paitan Ramen.  It contained chicken white broth, chilli oil, fried minces garlic, king oyster mushrooms, chicken char siu and shredded green onions. Although the bowl appeared larger, this was not as exciting as the special. The chicken and noodles were again very enjoyable but the soup, although creamy and rich, lacked the depth of the other clear broth and we also found it to be a tad sweet. Having said that, this was still a solid ramen, with Lulu managing to pull off a delicious creamy soup despite being chicken based. I can't wait to come back and try their new menu.

Price Range: $25 - $35pp

Taste: 8.5/10

Value: 7/10

Service: 8/10

Environment: 8/10 

Ramen Works - West End

Although I haven't played Pokemon Go for years, I have been told by some friends that the community is still alive and thriving. Catching up with some friends who are huge fans of the game after a day of hunting, they ended up in West End and we decided to enjoy some ramen together at the moderately new Ramen Works along Montague Street.

Although they didn't take reservations and the restaurant was fairly small, it didn't take that long for us to get a table for six (luckily), but people who came after us did have to queue outside.

 

The menu was short, as is for most ramen shops. There were less than a dozen ramen options and side dishes. Rice dishes are available during lunch hours. Notably, extra noodle comes at a steep $2.50 per serve. We ordered and paid at the counter.

Although extra noodles came with a charge, they were generous with condiments as well as pickles, ginger and crushed garlic, which was available on a self serve basis.

Our food arrived fairly quickly despite the large order.

We started with a serve of takoyaki to share. This was freshly fried, hot and crispy. It tasted like the the store bought ones I frequently get from Japanese supermarkets and weren't anything special.

Dr L and I both ordered the Works Ramen, being the signature that contained all ingredients.

We opted for the karaage chicken to be served on the side so as not to get wet from the soup. The bowl itself was impressive and very full. It contained charsiu, egg, wood ear mushroom, seaweed, sprouts leek and spring onion. The charsiu was tender but not overly fatty and the egg was a tad overcooked. The chicken was freshly fried, crispy but a little dry. However what stood out to us above all else was how unbelievably salty the broth was. It was so salty that it would have met the threshold for me to have spoken up if asked how our meals were, and if it was any saltier, I probably would have taken active steps to speak with staff to have this addressed. The saltiness definitely overpowered any flavours of pork bone the broth would have had. Other than that, the noodles tended to be a lot firmer than I ordinarily prefer.

For $2.50, this was the serve of extra noodles, it was even firmer than the ones in our bowl and I didn't particularly enjoy it. 

Perhaps this experience was a once off fluke on the part of Ramen Works, but given the abundant variety of choices in the area for ramen, I don't think that I would be inclined for a revisit anytime soon.

Price Range: $20 - $30pp

Taste: 5/10

Value: 4/10

Service: 7/10

Environment: 7/10

Dough Craft - Brisbane CBD

How much would you pay for a coffee, a pastry and a sandwich? How much is reasonable? I thought I had an understanding in my mind but I was recently taken aback at my lunch at Dough Craft last week. Having seen on social media that they had a newly opened branch out on Mary Street, I arranged a catch up with a friend there for a mid lunch.

Arriving just past 12 on a Thursday, the place was bustling but not full. There was an assortment of pastries and sandwich on order at the counter (notably with no price tags) and QR codes on the table for other items. I was taken aback when told the price, which in turn lead to fairly high expectations for my meal.

After ordering, we found our own seats and sourced our own water and serviettes. 

My fig pastry and long black was first to arrive. The long black was fairly standard in size and in taste, I wouldn't say it was particularly smooth, but it definitely gave me enough caffeine to power through the afternoon, and didn't come with an excess of ice.

 

I also had the Victoria sandwich containing ham, mushroom as well as some greens (spinach if I remember correctly). Being a bakery, I had high hopes for the bread. This turned out to be very hard, crunchy and dry. My companion made the same remarks about her sandwich too. As for the fillings, the flavours worked well to complement one another, however there definitely could have been more filling when the sandwich alone cost almost $16.

We also shared the daily special, fig danish. It was fairly pretty with a fair amount of fig, atop a generous amount of fresh cream. In spite of what one of my friends had said, I quite enjoyed the flaky pastry of the danish, and the sweet yet tart fig. Having said that, the layering was not as buttery or as indulgent as the not too far away Lune. Although I would say I liked this danish, I have to say it wasn't worth the $10.50 price tag.

So back to my question at the start. How much would you pay for a coffee, a pastry and a danish? It's fair to say that $32 total is still a fairly shocking price (to me) in this day and age and it goes to show why Doughcraft probably don't put prices on their signs. Lesson learned for next time and I'll definitely be going to Lune instead. At least I satisfied my curiosity.

Price Range: $25 - $35pp

Taste: 6/10

Value: 2/10

Service: 6/10

Environment: 8/10
 

Lert Rod - Sunnybank

Exploring the fairly newly opened second storey to the open air part of Market Square, we noted the opening of Lert Rod, sister store of Doodee Boran in the city. We finally don't need to sort out city parking to get authentic thai food. 

Arriving at 6pm on a Sunday night, the place was packed and we almost weren't able to get a table without making a reservation. I suspect that Fridays and Saturdays would be even harder.

The menu was very substantial, with a large assortment of dishes. It was very lucky that we had a relatively large group to share more dishes.

First to arrive was the combination beef noodles. This was allegedly large size but it wasn't particularly big. The dish was very shallow and didn't contain too many noodles. There was a generous amount of toppings though and the soup was wholesome but reminded me of a sweeter version of pho.

This was the duck red curry. It didn't come with rice so we had to order rice on the side. There wasn't too much duck but there was a lot of curry and the curry was fairly delicious. The duck was also well marinated and tender, I just wish there was more meat. 

The only dish that came with rice was the piggy rice. This was served with roasted pork and bbq pork with a side of clear broth. It was well seasoned with delicious bbq sauce, the roast pork was very crispy and I liked the soup. I found the portion size to be very reasonable for this dish. 

This was the grilled chicken som tum. It was very well received in the table and provided a good variety of textures and flavours in one dish. The chicken was moist and zingy with a light bitter to the charred edges. I really enjoyed the crunchy tangy papaya salad as well as the fresh crispy lettuce. I only wish the portion was larger.

On portions, our beef pad thai was also somewhat disappointing as it was so small it didn't even fill half the plate it was served on. What it lacked in size, it made up for in flavour though and we really enjoyed the intense lime flavours infused with the tender beef and the chewy rice noodles.

Onto one of their specialties, this was the ox tongue. I had enjoyed this previously and it is definitely a must order at Lert Rod. Each cube of meat is grilled to a charred perfection with a tender chewy inside. Coupled with the sauce, it made for a wonderful dish to go with rice or on its own.

Another dish we had to have again was the sirloin steak, this was fairly thinly sliced and came with a chilli dipping sauce. Although not as delectable as the ox tongue it was still a crowd pleaser and went well with rice.

We had two types of rice to share, coconut and sticky rice. Both were executed well and I particularly enjoyed the fragrant coconut rice which complimented the curry wonderfully. 

Like with Doodee Boran, I found the portion sizes to be underwhelming at Lert Rod, however the taste of the food really does make up for this and I am keen to come back and try more dishes off their menu.

Price Range: $30 - $40pp

Taste: 8/10

Value: 6/10

Service: 8/10 
Environment: 7/10