Zenya Noodle Bar

On one of those not-so-exciting weekdays, we wandered around the streets of Eastwood together. After going through a few Asian restaurants, we paused in front of Zenya.

It was a quite typical setting inside, with rectangular wooden chairs and tables sitting neatly across the restaurant. We saw a lot of students and business men having their dinner there at the time, and it was quite full too. We looked through the menus briefly until something caught my eyes, and it was the "Mini Ramen & Mini Curry" set at $17.80. You get the mini curry, mini Ramen (with choice of chicken or pork soup), a drink (choices of coke, diet coke, lemonade etc) and a Vanilla ice cream with a choice of topping.

Mini Curry
Curry has always been one of my favourite dishes, especially Japanese curry. When this dish arrived, I immediately inhaled the nostalgic scent. This was a cute little dish, although not too much meat and vegetable pieces can be found. Regardless, I loved mixing it with rice, as it totally evokes your appetite.

Mini Ramen
The bowl was tall but relatively small, and the soup was about half way of the bowl. I noticed the usual sheet of seaweed, egg, spring onions, pork, bean sprout etc swimming comfortably in the pool of pork base soup. The bowl was generally acceptable except for the egg...in which I could not understand why it was so salty!! Oh well, there goes the yolk again.


It was probably not the best Japanese restaurants we have been to, but the idea of the combination dishes was brilliant! It gave people (like me!) who usually want to eat a variety of foods a chance to do so. There were also other combinations of 2 dishes and the usual Japanese dishes to select from.



Address:
217 Rowe St, Eastwood NSW

Phone number:
02 9874 2122

Opening time:
Monday CLOSED
Lunch: 11.30am - 3pm
Dinner:
Sun - Thu 5.30pm - 9pm
Fri and Sat 5.30pm - 9.30pm


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Ramen Ikkyu

On this raining weekday, we decided to visit the Ramen place that we have been hearing over and over again recently. We have gone to some places such as Gumshara and Ippudo, but we were still searching for more Ramen. So when we heard about the irresistible Paitan soup (signature soup) and the unbelievable Cha-Shu (soy braised pork), we knew that this visit will be memorable.

It was located at the end corner inside Sussex centre food court, along with loads of other food stalls and large amount of people. The orders can be taken from these touch screens, unless they had special ones such as the ones we have seen below...

On the night they had 2 special Ramen, and Bun landed his eye on the Hokkaido Ramen with Miso flavour and Salmon topping. I was being indecisive of whether to try the signature Ramen or the Chilli Oil Ramen, but in the end I couldn't resist the sound of "Chilli Oil" and the imagination of the flavours in my mouth.

Hokkaido Ramen with miso flavour and Salmon topping $14.00 (Daily special)

Bun's eyes were locked on these 2 floating Salmon as soon as they arrived on the table, and it came with corns and egg etc. It was simpler comparing to the rest of the Ramen on the menu, and Bun said the bowl made him full and satisfied. I loved how soft the Salmon were cooked, as they seemed like they were going to fall off as soon as you picked them up with chopsticks.

Chilli Oil Ramen $11.50 + Extra 3 slices of Cha-Shu $3.00

As we heard the Cha-Shu here was SUPER good, I have decided to order 3 extras for us as side dish, and I am so glad that I did!!! I was staring at the Chilli Oil floating on top of the soup, and ready to drool from eyes, nose and mouth. The creamy broth actually made the chilliness more tolerable, and I totally enjoyed the tiny bit of sweat drops emerging from my forehead. The noodles were lively, like as if they were dancing around when you chew or break them off. I liked the addition of seaweeds and black fungus as they added more textures to the Ramen. Surprisingly I really loved the egg too (as I usually don't really eat the egg inside Ramen), the soft and flavoursome yolk reminded me of the feelings of "home" from my memory, and the only time I actually enjoyed yolk more than the egg white. But of course, nothing can beat the impression of Cha-Shu here, they were incredible. They truly melt in your mouth, and you will get so addicted to the juicy fat bit.


Free Kaedama
The initial serving of Ramen in the bowl can be a bit small for some people, so if you are still hungry, they allow additional order noodles per each Ramen as long as you present the receipt of your order at counter.


After the meal, I felt like this place was special. That feeling was like...when you walk on a road full of dry grass, and then come across that one little, sweet, and colourful flower standing there firmly as if it had lived a thousand years. Well, there goes another place to add to the favourite list.


PS. Chef Harunobu Inukai was there greeting and chatting with customers, he seemed like such a cheerful person :D ( I really should've got a photograph!!!!)



Address:
Shop F1A, 401 Sussex St Sydney NSW

Phone number:
02 9281 0998

Opening time:
7 days, noon-8pm until sold out (150 bowls a day)


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