After much anticipation, Ippudo Ramen finally opened its door at Pavilion KL early this year. Hailing from the ramen capital, Hakata (Fukuoka) in Kyushu, Japan, IPPUDO has a strong international foothold as seen in Singapore, Seoul, Shanghai, Sydney, Hong Kong, Taipei & New York.
We were fortunate enough to be one of the first few diners at their KL outlet. This interior of Ippudo Ramen is not like an ordinary Japanese Ramen shop; it has a posh, stylish look with dim lighting and an enticing display of “wall of bowls”.
Hakata style ramen is Ippudo’s piece de resistence, but they do offer their patrons an extensive selection of starters.
Goma Q (RM 9). The cucumber slices were marinated in salt and dress with sesame sauce and paprika powder, resulting in a crunchy consistency and concentrated sweetness.
Fried Young Corn (RM 8). I’m a corn lover and I have been ordering this whenever we visit Ippudo KL! The corn was coated in a light batter and deep fried before a generous sprinkling of seaweed flakes and paprika powder. Deep frying does not actually make the food greasy if it is done properly, just like this one!
Curry Cheese Haru Maki (RM 10). It resembles our local popiah on first inspection. However, within the thin spring roll sheet, we found a creamy curry filling with cheese. It was such a great combination with an explosion of flavours of textures – sweet, salty, creamy and crispy!
Pork Bun (RM 7) is essentially Chinese mantao stuffed with a thick slice of pork, lettuce, IPPUDO’s secret BBQ sauce, Japanese mayonnaise and mustard. The pork slice was so tender that it melts in your mouth immediately. The bland mantao and the tantalising sweet taste from BBQ sauce balances out each other.
Spicy Shrimp Mayo (RM 15). The deep–fried shrimp shells turned a wonderful orange color, while the spicy seasoning added extra flavour. Now where is my beer!
Hakata-Style Soup Gyoza (RM 15). The soup base reminds me of mum’s cooking – it tastes like chicken and ginger soup. The gyozas were fat and plump, filled with delicious minced pork.
When it comes to Ippudo’s piece de resistance, there are three type of ramen and soup base to be chosen from:
Shiromaru Motoaji. A timeless IPPUDO classic, Shiromaru Motoaji was the very first ramen served at IPPUDO. Since then, IPPUDO’s naming of its Shiro (White) and Aka (Red) has set an industry standard that has been adopted by many other ramen restaurants. The combination of Hakata-style ultra-thin noodles, topped with lean slices of pork, black fungus, soybean sprouts and scallions, produces subtle and gentle flavours.
Akamaru Shinaji enhances the flavour of pork bone topped with IPPUDO’s secret miso, garlic oil, lean slices of pork, black fungus, soybean sprouts and scallions.with special blended miso paste and fragant garlic oil.
Karaka-men incorporates special spicy miso paste and ground pork.
Karaka-men
The waitstaff asked how do we like our noodles to be -soft, regular or hard. We elected regular, as it is probably the safest bet if you want something al dente but not too chewy.
We ordered Ippudo’s signature bowl, the Akamaru “red sea” Ramen that comes with apecial blended miso paste and fragant garlic oil. The white, milky broth was definitely salty and robust on first taste. However, it got smoother as our taste bud quickly adapt. The combination of pork broth, spicy miso paste and garlic oil has added some layers of complexity to the broth as well. The noodles were distinct – firm in texture and ultra thin, straight and white in appearance.
Our bowl also came with two measly pieces of pork belly chashu, fresh scallions and dried black fungus. The chashu, with a good ratio of fats and meat was tender, but not melt-in-the-mouth tender like Santouka’s.
For that extra “ooomph”, one may crush some garlics and dunk them into the soup base.
IPPUDO MALAYSIA
Lot C4.07.00, Connection Level 4,
Pavilion KL,
No 168, Jalan Bukit Bintang.
55100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Tel: +603 2110 6233
Website: http://www.ippudo.com.my
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IppudoMalaysia
Business Hours: 11am to 11pm Daily
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I like the pork buns but find their noodles a bit too hard for my liking.