Gourmet Corner

 This week our resident food critic Mr OOmori decides it time for Ramen.  He heads off in search of a hearty bowl and comes across a well known spot in Sakae by the name of Nandenkanden.  The Shop origins are from Kyushu thus the soup is a rich Tonkotsu base.  Apparently it takes 3 days to boil the pork bones to get the soup to the desired flavour and consistancy.  Noodles are also flown direct from their Kyushu factory, keeping the end result as authentic as possible.

Comments:

A quite evening at the shop but I was there before 8.  Apparently it starts to get very busy around 8:30 - 9pm when customer come in for a late dinner or late evening snack.  The Ramen overall was good although the soup wasn't as flavoursome as I had expected.  The very creamy broth allowed for the pickles to slightly overwhelm the flavour of the soup itself.  The Charshuu was the most dissapointing thing as I love my charshuu.  It was too lean, almost like thinly sliced roast pork with not much flavour and too much of a chew to it.  The best charshuu should melt in the mouth, be very fatty and have that distinct charshuu flavour.  The Charshuu on many an occassion can rescue a poor bowl of Ramen.  In this case the Ramen didnt need rescuing, but did a kick and the charshuu certainly didnt give it that.  Aside from the Ramen, I ordered a serving of Gyoza, which were pretty good.  Slightly smaller than average but the flavour was there and they were succulent enough to make you immediately reach out for more.  The condiment selection was good for a Ramen shop, plenty of sesame seeds, extra soup sauce, pickles of at lest 3 kinds, garlic, pepper, soy sauce and chillis.

Mr OOmori's rating:              5 / 10