It is no secret I have a deep, fond, and probably disturbing love for ramen.  But I mean, who wouldn't want to bathe in a pool of delicious tonkotsu soup? While Jiro dreams of sushi, I dream of ramen; probably a good indication of my ramen withdrawals. That's why I was beyond excited when I was invited to Ippudo's soft opening at their new Central Park, Broadway location. Having previously visited their flagship Westfield CBD store, I was keen to see what their second store had on offer.

IRASSHAMIASE

A friendly and familiar greeting when walking into any Japanese restaurant. Our waiter seated us and went through some of the differences in the menu like the Central Park store not offering a la carte items, as dishes and entrees on the new menu are to only accompany the ramen. There's also additional dishes that aren't available in the flagship store such as Fish and Chips Japanese Style ($14) that's made with salmon and has a deep fried soft boiled egg (!!!) and Japanese Potato Salad ($10). Check out Mademoiselle Mange à Sydney for her review and eye watering photos on these dishes.  

In addition, they have a new Shiromaru Base ($10) that especially caters for students around the area. It features Ippudo's original tonkotsu broth, the Shiromaru base, and its springy noodles served only with spring onions. There's of course always the option for kae-dama for those who are extra hungry.

The interior is pretty much uniform to their Westfield (and international) stores. Bright, clean, and modern with a ethnic twist. Their inspiration of wood, red and white flows throughout the store. I particularly enjoyed the main feature wall background with what has to be a thousand spoons hanging on it. 

Home-made Lemon Lime Bitters $5

Seared Salmon Sushi $13

Unfortunately they didn't have any of the infamous pork buns available today so we chose the seared salmon sushi (as did everyone else around the room it seemed). Bite-sized temari salmon sushis served with mentai mayo sauce and avocado. An Ippudo recomendation and classic that is also found at their flagship store. DDN commented the rice was a bit hard, but the teriyaki like sauce helped with that. The mentai mayo (like seared mayo) made the dish and without it it would be nothing. I found it interesting that it was on the "Rice" section of the menu rather than with the entrees or sides. 

Akamaru Special $24

By far, the Akamaru Shinaji ramen has always been a favourite of mine and DDN agreed without hesitation. This is Ippudo's original tonkotsu broth enhanced with special blended miso paste and fragrant garlic oil, served with pork belly, black mushrooms and shallots. The ball is the special miso paste and you can mix it into the broth to your liking. All the specials comes with a side plate of extra toppings as well, or you can choose the normal ramen and add single additional toppings. Ordering a side plate of special toppings $8, so works out to be the same. DDN, a pro ramen eater just like me, cleaned the bowl except perhaps the last few drops of soup. 

Miso Tonkotsu Special $25

Having always ordering the Akamaru, I decided to try the Miso Tonkotsu Special since it wasn't available at their flagship store. Ippudo's signature creany pork broth is specially flavoured with various miso then topped with pork bell chashu, menma (bamboo shoots), shallots, corn kernels, bean sprouts, and is served with an extra plate of toppings. The broth is intense, rich, full of flavour and much thicker than their usual tonkotsu broth (but no way near as thick as Gumshara). The miso made it a tad too salty for me, still that didn't stop me from drinking its entire contents. 

DDN and I both asked for the noodles to be medium but found it a bit too soft today for our liking. The noodles are still excellent in texture, springy and chewy, but most importantly, slurp-able. 

Side plate of additional condiments: flavoured egg, simmered pork belly, roasted seaweed, flavoured black mushroom, menma and spring onions