Tasty ramen at Bankara Ramen @ Avenue K, Kuala Lumpur

Bankara Ramen in Avenue K is the first Bankara Ramen shop in Malaysia. Originated from Shinjuku area in Tokyo, this Malaysia outlet does serve quite good ramen. My another favourite ramen shop is Ippudo in Pavilion KL. Its hard to get good ramen with similar standard that you get in Japan. Both Bankara and Ippudo made the cut to be among the best ramen shop that I tasted so far in Kuala Lumpur. When I was here, I ordered their signature kakuni Bankara which is their original Bankara ramen with braised pork belly. They got a few choices of broth including the bankara (original extra rich and oily), tonkotsu (milky pork bone), miso, tsukemen (noodles served dry with broth in a separate bowl) and spicy version. Additional add-on available here are garlic, corn, char siew, eggs and gyoza.

Taste:8/10(Good. The broth is rich and thick with porky goodness. I like the soup as it's flavourful. However, the soup is rather oily and slightly over salty. Both chashu and braised pork belly were great. Tender and melt in your mouth. Mix with sesame and garlic to get extra kick you need to enjoy ramen).
Price:4/10(Near expensive. A bowl of kakuni ramen at MYR34.80. The portion however is quite big with two big slices of pork. You get a piece of chashu and a piece of braised pork belly).


My bowl of kakuni Bankara signature ramen.

Bankara Ramen shop located at level 2, Avenue K.

Food model showing actual size of their ramen.

Good ramen shop should always provide garlic, ginger and sesame.

Nice environment to enjoy your ramen.

Two thick pieces of pork. Melt in your mouth.

Eat while its hot. I like my ramen to have a lot of garlic and sesame. Oily but taste good.

GPS/Coordinate: 3.159385, 101.713930
Address: Avenue K, Lot 2-7, Level 2, 156, Jalan Ampang, 50450 Kuala Lumpur, Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Dark shoyu broth ramen from Shinpuku Saikan @ Nagano, Japan

This ramen is the largest portion of ramen I ever seen. I didn't expect the ramen to be such huge bowl with all the ingredients. Shinpuku Saikan ramen originated in Kyoto have an outlet in Nagano. Since this is the first time I tried dark shoyu broth ramen, I was surprised by the dark color of their soup. After simmering chicken and pork bones thoroughly, their secret special rich sauce made from Kyoto-made soy sauce is added. Though the dark colour of the soup makes the soup looks very strong, the taste is surprisingly light. The ramen bowl that I have consist of straight noodles, slices of roast pork, plenty of chopped green onions, bean sprouts, two eggs (one raw and ajitama egg), bamboo shoots and the soup create a perfect match. Surprisingly this bowl contains 8 pieces of roast pork!

Taste:8/10(Good. Shinpuku Saikan ramen seems to be a healthier option of ramen as it contains balanced amount of vegetables and meat. The roasted pork or char siu is good with tender noodles. Ajitama egg were perfectly done and taste good. My only comment were the bamboo shoots are a bit crunchy. Would be better if softer).
Price:7/10(Moderate. This bowl of ramen is a good deal if you are big eater. Priced at 1,100 Yen, you get 8 pieces of roast pork, plenty of bamboo shoots and two eggs. The noodles portion is huge and you can drink the soup as well if you don't mind the saltiness of the soup).


Shinpuku Saikan ramen. Contains all the ingredient that a bowl of ramen should have.

Lovely dinner.

Ramen noodles. Slightly different type of noodles.

Ajitama egg.

The cook busy preparing ramen. You can sit at the counter or individual table. Its open kitchen concept. You can watch all the ramen preparation process if you sit at the counter.

Environment inside the restaurant.

Visit this ramen restaurant in Nagano if you looking for budget eat.

GPS/Coordinate: 36.645297, 138.187291
Address: Nagano-ken, Nagano-shi, Minaminagano, Kitaishidōchō, Japan.
Opening hours: 7.30am until 10.00pm.
Public transport: 10 minutes walk from Nagano station.
Website: Shinpuku Saikan (Japanese)

Pigeon hole dinner at Ichiran ramen @ Shibuya, Tokyo

Having ramen in Ichiran was an unique experience. The serving was fast and its delicious. The restaurant is located at the basement of a building in Shibuya. As you enter the shop, you need to order your ramen via a vending machine. Choose on the type of ramen that you like based on the pictures. After you have purchased your ramen from the vending machine, the hostess will give you a piece of paper to specify your preferences of your ramen. You need to specify the thickness of the broth, richness level of the taste, the size of onions, garlic amount, noodles texture and option to have their sliced pork. Then you will go to the hall and seat to a booth where you are separated from others. This is pigeon hole concept. Then a person who you can't see will take your ticket and gives your your ramen. After that she just shuts the window and let you eat in isolation. Ichiran ramen is a chain restaurant and currently have more than 40 stores around Tokyo.

Taste:9/10(Delicious. You are able to customize your ramen according to your preferences. From the noodles texture to the richness of the broth are customizable. The broth was flavourful and spicy).
Price:6/10(Moderate. The basic ramen with sliced pork price at 780 Yen).


My delicious bowl of spicy ramen.

Ramen Nagi Niboshi Golden-gai @ Shinjuku, Tokyo

This Nagi ramen shop located at quiet Golden Gai street in Shinjuku. The area famed with old school bar district and seems deserted when I visit it on sunday. The ramen shop located on the second floor of an old wooden house. The smell of the sardine broth is so strong even you can smell it from ground floor. The stairs going up the shop is so narrow and cramped. The speciality in Nagi ramen shop is their thick sardine broth which they claimed boiled for 12 hours. The taste is distinctive and boldly flavoured sardine soup. Nagi is open for 24 hours a day.

Taste:9/10(Delicious. I ordered their regular Nagi ramen without seaweed, egg and bamboo shoots. The broth is thick and pungent sardine taste. The noodles is a mixture of broad and thin noodles. The broad noodles is something different as its soft and smooth. The pork slice were great as it was done medium rare and the taste were so good).
Price:7/10(Moderate. The niboshi ramen that I ordered cost 820 Yen per bowl).



Nagi ramen with some anchovies spicy sauce. See the broad noodles which is different from other shop. The great thing about ramen is you get a variety of taste from shop to shop and not just limited to pork based broth. The topping and the noodles offered are different as well.

Famous ramen of Menya Musashi main restaurant @ Shinjuku, Tokyo

Menya Musashi is a famous chain ramen restaurant in Japan and their outlet in Shinjuku is their main restaurant. Do come here early or later if you would like to have their delicious ramen queue free. The restaurant is a bit hard to locate as the signboard does not have any English wording. The shop name is in japanese and I was standing outside the restaurant for a while figuring whether I am at the correct restaurant. Until someone came out from the shop then I asked whether this is Menya Musashi and they said "yes".

Taste:9/10(Delicious. The lean pork slice were tender and fatty meat were good as well. You can taste a hint of orange peel in the soup and maybe that is the secret to tasty soup. The soup was moderately thick and enough saltiness. Noodles texture were good and the place were clean and comfortable - unlike some of the places that I went which is cramped).
Price:6/10(Moderate. I ordered their ramen with everything in. I had the version which the noodles inside soup with bamboo shoot, egg, pork and seaweed. The price was 1080 Yen including tax. You need the specify the amount of noodles that you would like to have either small, medium or large. Do make sure you are a big eater before ordering large portion).


Finally I found the shop. Located two streets away from the underneath izakaya of train lines.

Ramen at Hakata Ippudo @ Pavillion, Kuala Lumpur

Since back from Tokyo trip, I have been looking for good ramen meal around Klang Valley. This time I tried Hakata Ippudo in Pavillion KL. The restaurant looks posh inside and nice ambience environment. Food wise, the tonkotsu soup is light but flavourful. If you are looking for thick soup, this ramen might not for you. They have 3 main ramen type to choose from which are
1. shiromaru motoaji: original tonkotsu broth
2. akamaru shinaji: original tonkotsu broth with miso paste & garlic oil (slight spicy)
3. karaka-men: original tonkotsu broth with spicy miso, cashew nuts and ground pork.

For each of the ramen type, you can order a vast array of sides to complement it which includes poached egg, salted soft boiled egg, extra chashu (pork belly) and seaweed.

Taste:8/10(Delicious. The shiromaru special does taste better compared to the new misoshiromaru ramen. The shiromaru shop is tastier. The misoshiromaru taste is covered by miso which makes it less desirable. Bamboo shoot which is usually present in original ramen is none here).
Price:5/10(Near expensive. A bowl of ramen in Ippudo will cost around RM26 to RM32. Additional 10% service charge and 6% government tax).


Shiromaru special. It comes with salted soft boiled egg, pork belly and seaweed.


My bowl of misoshiromaru ramen.

Raw garlic is by request. Good ramen should be accompanied by raw garlic.

Pepper, sesame and chili flakes are provided.

Trying new type of ramen. Misoshiromaru ramen with lots of garlic.

New type of ramen to try. Misoshiromaru ramen.

Ippudo Malaysia.

Ways of enjoying your ramen.


Hakata Ippudo in Pavillion shopping centre.

GPS/Coordinate: 3.148200, 101.713247
Address: Lot C4.07.00, Connection Level 4, Pavilion Kuala Lumpur, 168, Jalan Bukit Bintang, 55100 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Public transport: Wisma Genting Monorail station or Bukit Bintang Monorail station. About 5 minutes walk towards Pavillion shopping centre.

Quick dinner at Chuka Cafe @ Saujana Villa Condominium, Subang

Chuka Cafe located inside Saujana Villa Condominium is a Japanese restaurant which serve quick meal for Japanese community and workers in the area. In order to access the cafe, you need to register yourself at the condominium guard house. After registration, please walk straight and you can see a small cafe.

Taste:5/10(So-so. The ramen broth does not taste like original ramen tonkotsu broth. The broth have a strong pepper taste and not thick. The pork belly portion were small and the egg is just a normal boiled egg. Their gyoza taste perform better than their ramen. Their chicken tonkatsu rice taste just average).
Price:7/10(Moderate. The portion were small and that makes up for the cheaper price. A bowl of tonkotsu ramen at MYR13 and chicken tonkatsu rice at MYR14.00. There is 10% service charge and 6% government tax).


My bowl of tonkotsu ramen. It comes with three small pieces of pork belly, bean sprouts and half egg.


Chicken tonkatsu. The serving is a bit weird as the whole chicken tonkatsu rice were covered with cabbage.

Gyoza or also known as pot stickers.

Inside the restaurant.

Chuka Cafe in Saujana Villa Condominium.

GPS/Coordinate: 3.106433, 101.580201
Address: Saujana Villa Condominium, No. 13, Lingkungan Golf Saujana, Seksyen U2, Subang, Malaysia.

Ramen at Bari Uma @ Jaya Shopping Centre, Petaling Jaya

Bari-Uma located on third floor of Jaya Shopping Centre in Petaling Jaya. Bari-Uma has over 40 restaurant in Japan and it is a new comer in term of ramen into Malaysian market. Besides ramen, they have delicious yakitori and Gyoza. The restaurant in Malaysia were managed by Nippon Delicious Sdn Bhd.

Taste:8/10(Good. The attraction here seems to be their pork belly yakitori which is succulent and fragrant. Adequately grilled to perfection with tasty sauce. Their ramen is good with not so thick soup. What lacking here is raw garlic which I think is a must for good ramen. They provide dried garlic instead which lack of flavour).
Price:6/10(Moderate. The lunch set is quite reasonable with a bowl of ramen of three options, yakitori or ice-cream or Gyoza as side dish and a glass of green tea. All this at MYR29.90).



My bowl of bari-uma ramen (Pork flavoured shoyu soup with thick-cut flamed chashu). Request to add an egg at MYR2.00.

Closer look at the ramen.

Two sticks of pork belly yakitori. Tasty.

Green tea.

Lunch set special. From 11.00am to 3.00pm. The lunch set includes 1 bowl of ramen, 2 sticks of pork belly yakitori or 3 pieces of Gyoza or ice-cream and 1 glass of green tea. All this for price of MYR29.90. They also have Yakitori special at night. It comes with yakitori combo which is 5 sticks of yakitori and a bottle of tiger beer at MYR19.90.

Besides set, you can order their ala-carte meal.

GPS/Coordinate: 3.109244, 101.637113
Address: L3-11, Level 3, Jaya Shopping Centre, Jalan Semangat, Seksyen 14, 46100 Petaling Jaya.
Phone: +603-7932 2958
Opening Hours: Daily 10.00am-10.00pm
Website: www.bariuma.my

Yummy ramen at Mutekiya @ Ikebukuro, Tokyo

Mutekiya is a popular ramen shop in Ikebukuro. They are famous for their delicious pork belly in the rich ramen soup. They have menu in various languages, so ordering a meal here shouldn't be a problem. The staff can understand English as well. Be ready to queue about 30 minutes when you arrive to this restaurant. There is only 17 seats in the restaurant and you will satisfy with the waiting time once you have your ramen in the shop. The "chashyu" (pork belly) in the ramen here are know to be the most tender and delicious.

Taste:10/10(Excellent. Thick and flavourful soup. With cloudy and rich soup from pork and chicken simmered for 16 hours, no doubt that the soup is great. The pork is odorless, sweet and enough portion of fat which melts in your mouth. The noodles were cooked to the correct level which soaked up the soup aroma into the noodles).
Price:6/10(Moderate. The bowl of hontorotokumarumen that I ordered cost 1,030 Yen. The pricing for large and small portion of noodles are the same).


Mouth watering ramen with thickest soup. I choose hontorotokumarumen. This is among their most popular ramen with very thick soup. The others are nikutamamen and honmarumen. It comes with one slice of delicious pork belly, seasoned bamboo shoot, seaweed, an egg, some vegetables and spring onion.

Delicious bowl of ramen with melts in your mouth pork slice.

In mutekiya, they provide raw fresh garlic. Use the tongs to press raw garlic and squeeze the juice over your ramen noodles.


The egg were done just right. The egg yolk still in half cooked in liquid but not harden. The yolk colour resemble that they use better quality egg.

Fresh whole garlic and spicy pickles are provided.

Usual long queue outside Mutekiya restaurant. You will forget about the queue once you tasted the ramen.

The frying pan showing the ingredient in honmarumen.

GPS/Coordinate: 35.726911, 139.711548
Address: 1-17-1 Sakimoto Building 1F, Minamiikebukuro, Toshima, Tokyo.
Phone: +81 3-3982-7656
Opening Hours: 10:30am-4.00am
Public transport: Ikebukuro train station in Tokyo.