Yasaka Ramen126 Liverpool St
Haymarket, Sydney
Sydney and in particular the CBD is home to many Japanese restaurants. Every corner seems to be a display of Iron Chefs, skillfully carving sashimi, nori and other delicious dishes. Japanese food however is more than just raw fish and bento boxes. Noodles and specifically Ramen are equally as famous and for some, the best product of Japanese cuisine. Yasaka Ramen is a modern ramen restaurant in the Sydney CBD, located on Liverpool Street, close to World Square. It might be a modern restaurant, with an industrial bar style fit out downstairs and a more relaxed restaurant style set up upstairs, but when it comes to Ramen, Yasaka is a place full of tradition.Arriving early for dinner on a weeknight we took our seats upstairs, surprisingly, Count N felt like a beer (it may have been the weather, it was a hot evening). We don't drink beer very often but when we do, Asahi is one of our favourite choices. Japans No 1 beer has a clean, crisp and refreshing taste.
We haven't met many people that don't like Gyoza ( we love it ) and here at Yasaka, they are made fresh on premises (like everything else). Filled with delicious pork, shallots, these light yet tantalising flavours explode in your mouth as you bite into each piece. This dish didn't last long.
We then moved on to some very special Takoyaki. According to the menu - once you try you will love. These fluffy Octopus balls were slightly crispy on the outside, tender soft in the inside and smothered an in rich sweet sauce that had us coming back for more, ball after ball. They look like they would be heavy to eat but quite the contrary, they are quite light and so addictive.
Whilst we were waiting for our first dish we had the pleasure of meeting Yasaka's head chef, Takeshi Sekigawa.Full of skill and precision, Takeshi showcased to us how using only whole wheat noodles, he creates authentic ramen so delicious, it has people lining at the door waiting to try it.
Takeshi also gave us a sneak peak of a new menu item, yet to be introduced, a mouth watering pork bun.
This Kakuni bun was a heavenly soft milky bun wrapped around a succulent piece of pork and drizzled with a creamy heavenly sauce.
Just a word of warning with this one, it isn't made to share. If you are in a group, make sure you get on each, as you may end up fighting over it.
It was now time for some Ramen.The Kakuni ramen with simmered soft pork bone came out first. This spectacular ramen with thick whole wheat noodles and a delicious thick sauce was bursting with flavour. We would expect to see pork belly in a Kakuni ramen but this one had the softest pork falling off the bone that melted in your mouth. It was amazing and we enjoyed it with a hot chilli sauce.
We then tried Yasaka's special Tsukemen ramen. You may be familiar with Tsukemen which is basically a dish of ramen, eaten after dipping your noodle in a separate bowl of soup. It's a great way to enjoy ramen and here at Yasaka they have 5 soups to choose from. Black garlic, soy miso and spicy just to name a few. The ramen is, as you would expect, delicious and mixed with the soup, a great noodle dish.
There's a trick to eating this dish though. You need to pick up the noodle and dip it into the sauce. Never mix soup and noodle. Although we tried, I don't think we mastered the Tsukemen skill.
The motto at Yasaka is no ramen no life and we can tell you, they mean it. They also have a cool members loyalty program which gets you some cool discounts with all their partnered restaurants.If you like Japanese food and you love Ramen, then you need to make your way down to Liverpool St.
The Counts, who review for Sir and Mlady Dine Out, dined as guests of Yasaka Ramen.
