THE RAMEN CRAZE CONTINUES AT IKKORYU FUKUOKA RAMEN! - RINAZ

              I’m sorry but I can never memorize the name of this place hehehe. But as hard it is for me to remember the name (sorry all my memory brain cells was sucked out of me during labor hehe), the interior is quite unforgettable with it’s tall wood fences with black Japanese characters written all over them. I believe they were poems. Or was it a story? Anyway it was quite a unique ambiance. 

  It actually feels like you're in a maze. 

"Where's everyone? It's not funny guys!"

             After a while I decided to let Richie know where I was hiding when he started crying hahaha!

            But you'll soon notice that these wooden fences are actually quite helpful because then you'll have privacy with your group. 

            Like this area right here where you can practically hold a conference because of the size and the privacy hehe. 

           I love these semi-private booths! Pang date!

Where's Richie?

         We went to the SM Aura branch but recently they opened a branch in Shangri-la Plaza Mall.

          Here are some condiments that you can put into your ramen. I honestly did not feel the need to. It's very tasty on it's own!

Time for starters!

              As soon as we got the first appetizer, I immediately knew this place really did serve some authentic Japanese food. Take a look at this Takowasa (P120). Would you have guessed that this is actually raw octopus chopped into little bits with wasabi paste? Looks slimy. And it was. But when I got the courage to taste it, it was actually not that bad. Like eating small chewy oysters but the fishy taste is not as strong. I guess that was what the wasabi paste was for.

              The other odd looking dish was the Mentaiko Gohan. This my friends are spicy fish eggs. Spicy Cod Roe over Rice. It’s not actually overly spicy. It was just the right amount.It's one of those dishes that at first sight I wasn't sure how to eat. So apparently you just get a bit of the raw fish egg and eat with a spoon of rice!

              Their Teriyaki Chicken Wings are simply crispy with a good balance of sweet and salty. To me, they’re sort of like Korean style crispy fried chicken.

              The Chasu Maki (P230) is like one of those Korean appetizers as well wherein meat is wrapped in lettuce. This is chasu roll with bean sprout and spring onion. It was good but I was personally looking for something to dip it in. I love dips hehe.

             The Asari Butter (P180) is stir fried clam with butter was good as well. Why wouldn’t it be? The word butter is emphasized on the name and the description hehe. The butter makes it so tasty!

Also I would have to say that they have one of the best Gyoza (6 pcs for P150) that I’ve tried. It’s stir fried but it’s still juicy on the inside.

             The Karaage (P180) on the other hand was okay. When a fried piece of chicken is crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside, you can never go wrong. 

             We paired it with the Original Yakimeshi (P160). It was good as well. Sticky flavorful rice that could stand as a meal on its own.

Now it’s time to bring on the Ramens!

             Ikkoryu serves Japanese ramens that are very tasty and authentic.  So far all the three that we were able to taste were good.

            The Black Garlic Tonkotsu (P380) is tonkotsu soup mixed with special roast garlic oil. And once you take a slurp of the soup, you can really taste the garlic. But in a good way. It’s not too strong that would make you conscious of your breath afterwards. 

                During our 2nd visit, Richie was able to try this and as expected, he loved it! He loves anything garlicky. 

            The Special Vegetable Paste Tonkotsu (P380) is enhanced by a seasoned vegetable paste and aromatic oil.  The vegetable paste to me tasted curry-ish, which I liked. It didn’t seem like I was eating an all-veggie ramen. Richie will for sure raise a disapproving eyebrow at me when I say that this for some reason, this was my favorite among the three.

            The Ajitama Tonkotsu (P380) is their best seller. It’s topped with a special half-boiled egg which is marinated with a special blended soy sauce base. The seasoning is just right and the soup is not too thick which doesn’t make it too heavy.

            During our second visit, I tried the Miso Tonkotsu (P380). And I must say this is another favorite! The blend of the miso paste is really rich (but not overly rich) which makes it a perfect meal. 

           Then for an additional P50, I added an ajitama. Ramen heaven!!!

Others:

             This rice wrapped in nori was something that wasn't on the menu yet  Forgive me if I totally forgot the name. at the time we went. It's a perfect on-the-go rice "meal" because you can munch on it like a sandwich. The rice was very flavorful plus the crunch of the nori wrap was sort of fun to munch on. No need to put sauce or anything!

            Then we ended the meal with an unusual dessert called the Mitarashi Dango (P130). The glutinous rice balls are not the unusual part. It’s the Japanese sweet soy sauce that blankets it. It actually tastes like soy sauce jam.  It’s supposed to be a sweet and salty treat.  Did I like it? I’m not too sure haha! I mean it wasn’t that bad. But I’m not a big fan.

           We also tried their Ice Cream Shiratama Zenzai (P180) which is ice cream with glutinous rice balls with red bean paste. We tried the green tea and the black sesame ice cream flavours. It was quite refreshing and it’s a treat to chew on the rice balls along with the ice cream. My favorite would be the Black sesame ice cream.

           They also have salted caramel ice cream. Good! But this one doesn't have any glutinous rice balls. I imagine it would be weird hehe.

        

 So there you go! Another ramen experience you can add to your quest for all things ramen! Can I just say it has been a torture finally completing this entry because of the bed weather and my longing to eat a miso tonkatsu with agitamaaaa!!! Droooool! I swear if I happen to be in SM Aura I will definitely order some! Miso or vegetable? Hmmm... Choices choices... As long as there's ajitama, I'm good!

Thank you to Kenji-San, and Riza of Ikkoryu Fukuoka Ramen for their gracious hospitality! We will be back soon!