Ryo's, Crows Nest

Some month and a half since returning home from holidays, and still suffering from mild post-Japan depression, I thought I'd treat myself to some ramen. Even if the recent 30 something degree heat was more a salad kind of weather.

I'd been meaning to try Ryo's, having driven past the bright orange building and the long queues numerous times. It's not exactly located in the most convenient place, but after driving around the block in circles for a while we eventually found street parking and breathed a sigh of relief when we saw that the queue wasn't as long as we had expected.

The queue moves quite quickly too, and before we know it, we're sitting by the bar sipping our ice cold drinks. The interior reminds us a bit of ramen bars we've visited in Japan with its 90's decor, menus stuck on the walls and the coziness of the small space.

Tonkotsu Ramen ($13.5)

The menu has a variety of offerings but it appears that every is only here for the ramen. The ramen menu is simple- consisting of either a tonkotsu (pork) or chicken soup base with your basic toppings like roast pork and egg. Nothing too extravagant- and it works

I'm a huge fan of tonkotsu ramen but interestingly, the tonkotsu offerings come either in salt, soy sauce, spicy or miso varieties. I order the shoyu (soy sauce) option with roast pork, nori, egg and shallot. At first sight, it doesn't appear anything special- but looks can be deceiving.

The soup is very tasty, with a deep pork flavour without being too thick, and the flavour not overwhelming. Being a soy sauce broth, I was a little worried it would be too salty, but it's flavoured well such that the soy adds just enough flavour. The egg is cooked with a beautifully runny yolk, and the noodles are a good bouncy consistency.

Karaage Chicken ($8)

There's no doubt that the karaage chicken is cooked to order as it arrived burning hot. We're quite fond of the batter used for the karaage as it has a night and light crunch. We also notice (only as we're leaving unfortunately) that they also do fried soft shell crab which I'd imagine would be fried similarly to the chicken- definitely something to try for next time!

Tokyo Ramen ($13.50)

The Tokyo Ramen also has a shoyu broth, made on the chicken soup base. The toppings are essentially the same as the tonkotsu ramen (with the addition of bamboo shoots) but it's quite a different bowl of ramen. It's much lighter than the pork version, and you can definitely taste the soy more but it's not plain nor bland.

I'm quite a fan of this ramen joint- even if it's a hassle to get to. Perhaps a couple of visits will cure me of my post-holiday depression? :)