★★★★☆
$
After Butao and Yukitei, i am growing to love Jap Ramen. Jap Ramen to me before was nothing but Ajisen Ramen, but now I can see why people could get so crazy about them. I have also tried Ramen Santouka (山頭火), Ippei-An and 魔麵 etc, but I still love Butao the most. G. says there is another store she reckons is better than Butan in Gough St. , better go try it sometimes.
So back to Daruma Ramen. Last time I came at 3pm and their soup was sold out, this time I grew smart and came at 2.15pm when there is less traffic and the ramen house is still open. To my surprise, the restaurant was almost full house! There was a couple leaving by the time I arrived, so there was seats available. The restaurant is pretty small in general, the seating is rather packed.
The service is good and caring, the server would offer a change of seat once a nicer seating is available. Other than that, the "cup of tea" that Daruma offers is actually a cup of cold water! This literally save me from the hell hot sun out there.
Broth - The first thing to taste have to be the broth with everything else untouched. The soup was thick and strong in taste but not as slimy as Yukitei Ramen. After mixing the Mentaiko in, there will also be some spiciness at certain spoons which was yum too. The broth was palatable but was also very greasy. There would be a layer of mucous layer formed if left untouched for a while. This totally disgusted me, but I only figured it out after I polished more than half of the bowl.
Noodles - The noodles is white thin ramen which is of my liking! Although they do not ask for how chewy I want my ramen to be, they managed to make it chewy enough.
Pork - I had the pork belly first and found it extremely rough in texture even with fats attached on it. The Cha Siu on the other hand was very tender and yum! I was trying to fish another slice but realised there was only 1 slice per bowl.
Egg - The egg yok is nicely running and the egg had a nice color outer skin. It was quite tasty but the seasoning was a bit too salty.
So back to Daruma Ramen. Last time I came at 3pm and their soup was sold out, this time I grew smart and came at 2.15pm when there is less traffic and the ramen house is still open. To my surprise, the restaurant was almost full house! There was a couple leaving by the time I arrived, so there was seats available. The restaurant is pretty small in general, the seating is rather packed.
Daruma House Special (達磨一品豚骨拉麵) $78
I ordered the most basic Daruma Pork Ramen which ranked 1st in popularity on the menu. There was 1 pork, 3 braised pork belly, a brunch of black fungus, Mentaiko and garnished with some seaweed, sesame and sharp shredded red peppers on top. Quite a nice looking ramen bowl I reckon.Broth - The first thing to taste have to be the broth with everything else untouched. The soup was thick and strong in taste but not as slimy as Yukitei Ramen. After mixing the Mentaiko in, there will also be some spiciness at certain spoons which was yum too. The broth was palatable but was also very greasy. There would be a layer of mucous layer formed if left untouched for a while. This totally disgusted me, but I only figured it out after I polished more than half of the bowl.
Noodles - The noodles is white thin ramen which is of my liking! Although they do not ask for how chewy I want my ramen to be, they managed to make it chewy enough.
Pork - I had the pork belly first and found it extremely rough in texture even with fats attached on it. The Cha Siu on the other hand was very tender and yum! I was trying to fish another slice but realised there was only 1 slice per bowl.
Egg - The egg yok is nicely running and the egg had a nice color outer skin. It was quite tasty but the seasoning was a bit too salty.
Final Comment
Overall the broth and the noodles were both tasty but not the pork which is also pretty important for a bowl of ramen. Although I was put off by the greasy mucous layer forming from the broth, I would like to try the spicy ramen next time, also to check if the bad quality pork is an one-off thing or not. Despite the food, the hospitality is satisfying. One downside about the ramen here is they do not offer variety e.g. ramen's chewiness or how strong the broth, etc as other ramen stores did. Anyhow, its worth trying the ramen in here.
Daruma Ramen House
92E, Tung Lo Wan Road , Tai Han
☏ 2565-6600
12:00-15:00,18:00-23:00 (MON-SUN)
Date of Dinning: 5 Sep 2011
you gotta try mist ramen! their soups are amazing =) though a little on the pricey side!
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