350 Bourke St
Melbourne
9654 5838
After reviewing Ajisen Ramen only a month ago, we thought we would branch out and try the much talked about Ramen Ya, located at GPO and right next door to the wonderful Kenzan. Ramen Ya is very much its own restaurant, with the small menu consisting of 4 ramen noodles, a handful of bento boxes and some rice dishes and gyoza.
Since then, we have been there a handful of times now, for both lunch and dinner. Their specialty as the name suggest is Ramen 'yah'... pardon the comedic touch, but you too may find yourself doing this after having their intense pork flavoured tonkotsu soup.
As you wait for your meal, you are invited to partake in the ancient art of origami (paper folding), we managed to create a bunny.
The seafood gyoza were standard size, but very dense though the filling was light. I normally like my gyoza with a crispy base.
But Ramen was what we were there for, at $10 a serve this is a cheap healthy lunch or great dinner alternative to your pasta dish. The charshu (many variables on the spelling) is much thicker then Ajisen Ramen and we felt the fat helped enhance the flavour, you get 3 slices in a standard serve, but like Ajisen we recommend you ask for extra charshu for a few extra dollars. The ramen noodles are thick and tasty, but it's the soup that one comes to Ramen Ya for, the pork bone based soup is authentic and amazing.
Ramen Ya is packed at lunch time, so best to come early. They also have a happy hour for dinner (meal only) which entitles you to a 35% discount on your meal, but best to check with the restaurant on hours.
We heard from the wait staff that they are thinking of converting to a fine dining menu for dinner in the future. Let's hope this does not take off, we don't want to come across mean spirited but we do have Ramen Ya cravings at all times of the day... night and day.
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