Noodle Lover’s Awesome Sydney Ramen Adventures: Final Thoughts & What’s Next Noodle Lover (NL), 31/08/202408/09/2024 Now I have gathered them all for the last time in this series… Welcome back to my final entry to the Noodle Lover’s Awesome Sydney Ramen Adventure series. I’d like to thank those who have been following this series since its inception. It’s been a roller coaster of a journey sharing the ramen I had in Sydney and Newcastle over the last couple of weeks and now, we’re coming to the end of this series. It’s sad to say farewell to something you have worked on all day and all night, but good things must come to an end. However, this is not the end of this site as I have plenty of stuff to share shortly. So take a seat, wait for your order and let’s get slurping! Go For It, Hold Back Because… Initially, I planned to provide a proper send-off of this series with sharing my rankings from my least favourite to my all-time favourite, but after some serious consideration, it would be much more preferable to mention the pros and cons of each store. After all, rankings are subjective to a reviewer’s taste, and I don’t intend to limit anyone with my top choices just because I said so. I wouldn’t call any of the stores ‘bad’ by any means, but that said, each store do have their own charm and strengths in terms of staff service, quality of their ramen, and overall atmosphere in making customers feel at ease. Pros & Cons (in place of the ranking system) Ramen StoreGo For It…Hold Back Because…Ramen ZundoIf you like tsukemen very, very much.If you like your ramen with plenty of variety and stronger flavours.Ramen broth is too salty, and you prefer something milder for your broth. Long queues during peak hours.Yasaka RamenIf you like strong garlic-flavoured ramen and quality tsukemen at an affordable price.Ramen choices are too basic, and you prefer going for more sophisticated options.IIKO MazesobaIf you like dry noodles, and you like taking your time to eat your noodles. You prefer ramen and/or tsukemen. Broth’s too important to omit for a dish like ramen and tsukemen and you find mazesoba heresy. Gogyo Surry HillsIf you like plenty of toppings in your ramen and you like Hakata-style ramen.If you like trendy places with a side of sake or cocktail with your ramen, you might like it here.Too many toppings. Miso broth may not be palatable to some.Mensho Tokyo SydneyIf you prefer ramen that thinks out of the box and supports sourcing for local ingredients. Any toripaitan ramen fans will definitely love this place.May be pricier compared to most competitors. Those of you who prefer to stick to classic tonkotsu (pork) and nothing else may not find what you’re looking for.Ichi-Ban BoshiIf you want ramen at an affordable price (as affordable as you can get in Sydney) and a ramen that reminds you of ‘home’.Similar to Yasaka, Ramen choices are too basic, and you prefer going for more sophisticated options. To anyone picky about toppings of decent quality, you might want to find someplace else.Chaco RamenIf you prefer ramen without being too heavy and prefer chicken stock over pork stock.Ramen options may not be the most traditional here. Menya MakotoIf you have time to spare. The ramen in their menu items won’t disappoint. A two-and-a-half hour drive north of Sydney, more valuable time spent here if you have plans to visit other attractions in Newcastle along the way. Ramen eating experience with no regrets. Some observations Australians do love their tonkotsu, it’s everywhere! Though toripaitan’s popularity is also emerging as seen in Mensho and Chaco. Most of the time tonkotsu’s mixed with other soup bases (mainly shoyu and shio). Like the above comment, it’ll be nice for anyone familiar with the ramen scene in Sydney to recommend good (and underrated) ramen that’s outside of the tonkotsu base like purely shoyu and purely shio. I’m a sucker for miso ramen, so any suggestions of good miso ramen in Sydney would be nice. You can either post your recommendations in the comments or hit me up on my IG PMs. Personally, I find that good miso ramen is so hard to come by these days, not just in Australia but also in Singapore and Thailand (which will be a story for another time). Returned to Singapore with my stomach feeling rather full every time I eat anything, ramen or not. I’m not used to the bigger portions in Sydney, and I’ve overestimated myself by Day 3 of my trip. My mind’s been pondering about this constantly ever since I tried Mensho’s classic toripaitan, but would any of you consider toripaitan tonkotsu? Or a related type? IMO I consider it a different type since toripaitan’s made of mainly chicken bones, but I’ll put both within the same family if you know what I mean. What do you think? Let me know in the comments section below and I would like to hear your thoughts. So, what’s next? From here on out, I’ll be focusing more on noodle dishes in Singapore even though I started off this site by recommending ramen from Sydney. Deceptive advertising/start, I know. But for anyone who might have overlooked the ramen scene in Sydney, I’ve provided some suggestions through the Sydney Ramen series to change your minds about your preconceived assumptions. Disclaimer: I don’t claim to be an expert of Sydney’s ramen scene, but at least this is a starting point for anyone who wants to decide where to go to curb your ramen cravings. The series format may return depending on demand and what I find interesting on my content backlog. The next posts over the next couple of weeks or so will be standalone. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Feel free to share any suggestions of what stores you want me to try, or ideas for my next series if you have any. Try to keep it within Singapore; all the meals I tried so far are paid from my wallet, and not free-of-charge or sponsored from the stores I visit. Depending on my budget and time, I may or may not be visiting the stores from your suggestions. That said, I’m glad that you’ve been with me the entire ride for those of you who have followed me since the beginning. For everyone else, thanks for dropping by my side. To all of you, I’ll see you in the next one. I’ll return soon with new content, so keep your eyes peeled. Awesome Sydney Ramen Adventure Insights Ramen RamenSydney