I love a good bowl of ramen and judging by the lines outside popular ramen joints in town, so does the rest of Sydney. One of the newer players is Ramen O-San, which has just opened up an outlet in the heart of Chinatown, hidden in the underground Dixon House Food Court. It’s nothing flash, but they serve up a very good value bowl of Tonkotsu Ramen which is under $10 and features a thick, flavoursome pork bone broth as its base.
Ramen O-San is the 7th store worldwide for Chef Kazuteru Oh, who opened his first ramen shop in Fukuoka, Japan – a city famous for their tonkotsu ramen. I’m glad he’s decided Sydney’s ready for his ramen, because it’s great to have all these different ramen stores which have a slightly different consistency to their soups, catering to all sorts of palates. The signature Tonkotsu Ramen at Ramen O-San is just thick enough for me (any thicker and I wouldn’t be able to drink it) and is packed full of flavour thanks to the pork bone which has been simmered for around 10 hours and has melted into this delicious, glistening broth.
Tonkotsu Ramen, $9.80
The Tonkotsu Ramen here is not a particularly large serving, but the thickness of the soup leaves you quite satisfied after you finish the bowl. The springy, thin noodles go well with the broth and there’s a few slices of fatty pork to add to the porky goodness too. For an extra dimension of flavour – add some chopped garlic from the condiments section next to the counter.
If you’re after a larger bowl of ramen, you can try the Sumo Ramen which is actually really good value considering its only $3 more and features a double soup mix of pork bone and chicken bone broth (it’s a thinner consistency than the signature Tonkotsu and easier to drink) and a very generous amount of thick noodles, cabbage, bean sprouts, chopped garlic and a mound of minced pork on top. Oh, and it also has 2 pieces of slow simmered pork belly kakuni too, so that it lives up to the “Sumo” name! We were super stuffed after tackling the Sumo Ramen.
Sumo Ramen, $12.80
Ramen O-San is a great addition to the ramen scene in Sydney and while it seems to be a bit of a secret still, once the word gets out about their well-priced ramen, the aficionados will be adding it to their roster of ramen joints for their fix.
Ramen O-San
Dixon House Food Court
Little Hay Street, Haymarket NSW 2000
Phone: 0439 945 245
WOW! Another ramen joint in Sydney – and like you said, it definitely seems well-priced and worth the money! The Sumo Ramen looks so good, my stomach is crying,