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
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