It hardly needs to be subzero to enjoy a bowl of ramen. In Sydney, many vendors offer hiyashi chuka – a chilled variation of the beloved Japanese dish. Part of the joy of ramen is it’s not just a question of hot or cold. That life-affirming bowl can often feel like a game of choose-your-own-adventure. Is it a rich, porky tonkotsu base you’re craving, or the lighter, umami-rich shoyu and clear shio broths? Chashu pork and a jammy egg? Black garlic? Shichimi? Roll the dice. Whatever the combination, everyone leaves a winner.
When Ryosuke Horii opened his namesake Chatswood diner in 2003 and gave Sydney-siders a taste of his hometown Fukuoka – birthplace of tonkotsu – it was infectious. Now, two decades later, the city boasts a healthy ecosystem of options, whatever your ramen persuasion. Here’s 14 of our favourites.
Prefer to eat at home? Here’s 5 ramen recipes to replicate in your own kitchen.
Chaco Ramen
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Where: Darlinghurst and Bondi Beach.
As soon as those noren curtains are up, you can count on a line of hungry mouths trailing outside Chaco Ramen. This Darlinghurst operation, the first-born of chef Keita Abe, originally dished up ramen at lunch and yakitori at night for those lucky enough to get a booking. But in 2019, Abe gave the yakitori its own digs in Potts Point, and so Chaco Ramen was born. While Abe hails from Fukuoka, he’s not a stickler for tradition – at least where ramen is involved. Preferring a nose-to-tail ethos, the four recipes were devised from what was available in his kitchen at the time. There’s the silky and familiar fat-soy, a chilli coriander bowl, the delightfully bright yuzu scallop and a complex fish salt. Come winter you’ll find a Japanese curry as a seasonal special, while summer brings a cold, meat-free tomato and truffle ramen (there’s that variety we’re talking about).
Gumshara
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Where: Haymarket
Frankly, it would be disrespectful to talk Sydney ramen without a nod to Gumshara. The venue opened in 2009 and for 14 years it traded out of Eating World food court before getting its own dedicated site in Haymarket when the food court was forced to shut. Co-owner and head chef Mori Higashida is the architect behind the city’s most notorious tonkotsu broth. Taking notes from his apprenticeship at Tokyo’s Muteppou, before opening Gumshara Higashida made a base soup over a week using two tonnes of pork bones, which he’s topped up with water and fresh pork bones every day since. It’s not for the faint of stomach. A viscous soup, with firm noodles, a whole egg, and enough free condiments to carry you through each spoonful. Go famished.
Bones Ramen
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Where: Potts Point
At Bones Ramen I’m reminded that it’s not size that counts but how you use it. The restaurant is compact; the menu, short. But at this hole in the wall on Bayswater Road, everything is well-thought and packed to the hilt with flavour. While the Tokyo-style shoyu ramen feels like a natural choice, the scallop and prawn, vegetarian shiitake, and chicken tori paitan options tug at your stomach. Got room for more? Why not add on the Bannockburn chicken karaage or whole prawn toast to soothe those rumbles. Wash it all down with a Resch’s.
Rising Sun Workshop
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Where: Newtown
Want ramen with a view? The “workshop” in the name isn’t for embellishment. This Newtown institution is also a community hub, below the mezzanine you’ll find a workspace for bikers to tinker on their motorcycles. Thankfully, the hard work and elbow grease underneath is memberships and bookings only. So you can hunch over your steaming bowl of noodles and broth without any expectation of getting your hands dirty. Your mouth? Well, that’s another thing entirely. Choose from three bowls; the Lightness, a chicken-based broth paired with a three-fish dashi; the Darkness, where chicken, shiitake mushrooms, pork bones and ham hocks co-mingle; and the Monk, an addition for the vegetarians but certainly not an afterthought.
Ichiban Boshi
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Where: The Galeries, CBD
Did you just spend the last hour trawling the shelves at Kinokuniya? Maybe your arms are sagging from the weight of all those purchases. Located above The Galeries, Ichiban Boshi is widely loved as a refuge for weary shoppers and CBD workers alike. Inside this no-fuss interior you can get any kind of ramen you like: Tokyo, tonkotsu, tantanmen. And with that, whatever toppings and additions your heart desires. The menu is admittedly a little overwhelming. But Ichiban Boshi is a great place when you’re in a fix (screaming kids, shopping mall migraine). Dishes come at a rapid pace before you’re eventually ejected back into the chaos below.
Ryo’s Noodles
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Where: Crows Nest
As previously mentioned, Ryosuke Horii can pat himself on the back for introducing Sydney’s palate to ramen. I’m sure there are many Japanese expats and Japanophiles who are grateful for his service. Safe to say, a bunch of culinary epiphanies have occurred inside these yellow walls. You know it’s Ryo’s Noodles by the shop’s hand-painted sign or the snaking line around the block. Things move quickly, though. So you’ll never be twiddling your thumbs outside in the queue for long. Slurp on toothsome noodles accessorised with bamboo shoots, thin slices of rendered pork, narutomaki, gooey egg, sesame, thread-like noodles, spring onions and your broth of choice – soy tonkotsu is popular here.
Gogyo
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Where: Surry Hills
You have the group who brought Ippudo to Australia to thank for Gogyo’s presence. The brand has six branches, three of which are in Japan, one in Hong Kong, Melbourne and Surry Hills. Some ramen masters take a reverential approach to tradition. Not Gogyo’s founder Shigemi Kawahara. He threw caution to the wind in 2000 in Hakata when he charred miso and coined the kogashi method. It’s when you overheat lard in a pan, add in a glob of miso paste before deglazing with chicken stock. That’s why you’ll find scorched dots swimming in your bowl but don’t be alarmed – this only adds a smoky complexity to the otherwise light, salty broth.
Gaku Robata Grill
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Where: Darlinghurst
Gaku Robata Grill hits that perfect middle ground between casual neighbourhood haunt and austere fine-diner. You can roll in for a midweek dinner and keep things informal just as easily as you could drop a month’s worth of rent on French wine and the restaurant’s tasting menu. But if you’re here for ramen, come for lunch and get in quick. There’s only 40 serves to go around, and if you’ve ever tried the duck consommé for its duck yuzu one-two punch, you’ll move heaven and earth to ensure a bowl is yours.
RaRa Ramen
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Where: Randwick and Redfern
Where ramen culture in Japan is built around an eat-and-run lifestyle, Sydneysiders like to sit over their bowls and take their time. As such, owners Katie Shortland and Scott Gault, with the help of masters Go-san and Hyodo-san, engineered a Hakata-style noodle that could withstand this extra heat exposure. House-made every day with a steel machine imported from Japan, RaRa’s noodles are exemplary of the attention to detail that occurs inside this kitchen. But it’s more than just mastery, it’s an insistence on quality too. The pork is from Bundarra Berkshire, the eggs are free-range, and I like how the chashu is finished over a coal grill, giving it a little colour and a touch of smoke. It’s no wonder people arrive in droves.
Sekka Dining
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Where: St Leonards
For wide-brimmed dishes of steaming ramen in a modern, slightly slick venue, this lower North Shore spot ticks all the boxes. Stacked under the local Virgin Active, Sekka Dining straddles the categories of izakaya and ramen diner. Make ramen the main event or take advantage of the mini ramen if you’d like to get around the yellowfin tuna and chicken karaage.
Ippudo
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Where: CBD, World Square, Circular Quay, Macquarie, and Chatswood.
Like a lot of international chains, Ippudo’s reputation precedes itself. For good reason. The Japanese behemoth has managed to maintain quality as its established outposts across Australia. Our favourite is the original in Pitt Street, but it hits the spot whichever venue you choose. Noodle firmness is a thing, with five kinds to select from. Though tonkotsu broth is king here. It’s either the 30-year-old Akamaru Shinaji recipe or the traditional Hakata style topped with pork loin, black fungus and bean sprouts. Go ham.
Manpuku
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Where: Chatswood and Kingsford
The clear favourite of Victoria Avenue – AKA Chatswood’s ramen strip. What’s special about Manpuku is the noodles: all are made in house with three options for thickness. They’re also perfectly cooked, firm with a little give, closer to al dente than anything else. Better yet, diners have the option to order a half-serve, life-changing for those who can never seem to finish their bowl or those looking to sample other Japanese staples such as donburi, curry, takoyaki and gyoza. We recommend the gara-shoyu broth, light, clear and faintly stained with soy.
Cool Mac Cafe
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Where: Kirribilli
Just like its sister venues Poketto in Chippendale and Kurumac in Marrickville, you’re more likely to find udon or soba on the menu at Cool Mac Cafe. But there are odd days when luck is on your side. Perhaps the sun is bearing down? A cold ramen may await you, with shredded cucumber, sesame and drops of energising chilli oil. Even rarer is the tori paitan, a creamy chicken tonkotsu broth cooked by boiling down chicken bones.
Ramen Goku
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Where: Glebe
This Glebe haunt is an essential ramen eating experience for vegetarians who are sidelined by the pork and chicken of it all. There’s a kelp-based broth which is made with soy and vegetables and tastes peppery and savoury. Goku is also great value. Deep servings of broth, chewy tangles of noodles, tender free-range eggs, sweet corn, bok choy, and bean sprouts. A medal to the person who can find the bottom of their bowl.
