Genkotsu Ramen Toowong — Restaurant in Brisbane City

Ambience It’s a small, slightly cramped place, but with a laid back, casual and relaxed ambience. We didn’t care much for the rather hard seating and the table was sticky but apart from that we were quite happy at our little two-seater bench. Décor is cute but utilitarian with faux brick walls, sturdy wooden furniture and low hanging mood lighting. it definitely has an authentic style and feel to it, and I can imagine there must be hundreds of little places just like this all over Japan. And the formula works, because it's clearly popular with the locals. It was a full house, despite it being midweek, with people even queuing up outside for tables. This gave it a lively and energetic vibe. Despite the crowd, the acoustics were fine and we were easily able to converse. Many diners seem to be students from the nearby UQ campus.

Food We ordered the following:

2 veg spring rolls 1 chuka wakame (seaweed salad) 1 edamame beans 1 chicken karaage 2 veg croquettes 1 slightly spicy sesame ramen (veg) 1 water

This is what the crowds really come to Genkotsu for, because the food is delicious. It’s fresh, and tasty and made with love, care and attention to detail. There’s not a lot to choose from, but I guess that’s the secret of their success: don’t offer too much, but what you do offer is of the highest quality. The edamame (beans) and bright green seaweed salad were the perfect way to start the meal. The spring rolls were enclosed in a crispy batter, with a vegetarian filling. The croquettes were soft, smooth and creamy. We saved the best for last: the chicken karaage, our fave Japanese dish, with about eight pieces of tender and succulent chicken in a crunchy batter and served with a mayonnaise sauce. We both thoroughly enjoyed our meals. The cost was a moderate 43 pesos.

Service Service is super fast, friendly and polite. It’s all fairly informal and low tech. You simply make your choice, then head over to the little counter at the front of the store next to the door, to place your order and pay. Within a few minutes, all the dishes will be brought to the table. But next time we come here, we’ll order and pay for the entrees, then repeat the process again for the main meals, as we prefer to have entrees first, rather than have all the dishes coming out at once. The lady who runs the place, and her assistant, are patient and helpful too, and even though they were busy, they still took the time to explain the dishes to us. This all helps to create that homely and welcoming atmosphere that this place is famous for.

Toilets There are toilets in the middle of the little arcade, male on one side and female on the other side, two cubicles in each with a wash basin in the middle. It’s handy having these toilets to serve the few little eateries and other businesses in the arcade, but don’t expect the cleanest toilets in town, although the men’s did have soap in the dispenser and a hand dryer.

Parking There’s parking available across the road in the vacant lot that is supposedly earmarked for a new retail and residential precinct but nothing seems to have happened and at the moment it functions as a car park. And there’s always plenty of parking in the Toowong Shopping Village, a short 10 minute walk away.

Summary Super popular place that serves up delicious food in generous portions. Prices are modest, service is fast and friendly and the ambience is casual and relaxed. Couldn’t ask for more. Will definitely return. Only negative is that they don’t serve alcohol. I can’t quite understand why or is it the nanny state at work again?

Memo As no bookings are taken, it’s advisable to get here early unless you’re prepared to queue up outside, something I wouldn't do. We arrived just before 6pm and were easily able to get a table for two, but half an hour later...

For our fourth anniversary, my partner and I went to Genokotsu at about 6pm on the 15th of November. We love this place, and it is the best ramen I have ever had in Brisbane hands down. Here is why:

I never write reviews for eateries, but this time I just had to.

As soon as we arrived, the staff were friendly, obliging, and proactive; the waitress immediately cleaned our table as we arrived even though it already looked nigh spotless, and even though the place was absolutely packed. Our food came out in about five minutes even though, as I aforementioned, the place was packed.

In the photo, the left dish boasted a cold noodle dish featuring an amazing (sesame and tiny amount of vinegar?) sauce, pieces of crab, sweetcorn, noodles, and some of the best bbq char siu pork I have had in my life. No flavour in this dish was overpowering, all of them blended perfectly; the pork was perfectly cooked, not too dry and not too wet, full of natural flavour, and amazing smokey flavour.

The middle dish is the takana, which was wonderfully pickled and full of flavour.

The dish on the right is the cha siu miso ramen, which boasted an amazing and fresh broth with generous pieces of beautifully cooked pork. The egg was perfectly cooked and the sweet corn was an amazing contribution to the miso flavour in the broth. My only disappointment was that I did not have enough room in my stomach to eat more!

I had to tell the cooks that this was some of if not the best Japanese food in general I had in Brisbane, and the best ramen I have ever had in Brisbane. Perfect service, friendly and proactive staff, and incredibly freshly cooked food with wonderful flavour!

We will be back again Genkotsu, no doubt about that! Thank you again for a...

This is unquestionably the best food in Toowong. It is better than any other ramen that I have ever tasted. It is in an obscure location, at the end of a clean but very-outdated arcade, about 100 m from Toowong Village. And, from time to time it is full at lunchtimes and at dinner times. That's right: full during lunch on a weekday.

I am very disappointed that someone gave three stars because the orders were being taken slowly. The orders have always been taken at a reasonable speed. Because people can order different broths and different contents, the orders sometimes take a little while to take. Also, as far as I can tell, all the staff are Japanese. If you had an Australian, the orders might be made faster, but the effect on the food might not be good. I believe that one of the reasons that the food is good is that it is cooked by Japanese people who grew up eating Japanese food and so have a palate for this sort of thing. I'm pretty sure the staff are Japanese, they do the usual Japanese thing of yelling at you when you walk in!

If you want to experience umami, one of the basic tastes along with salt, sweet, sour and bitter, come to this place. Umami is a Japanese word and has no English equivalent. It refers to a pleasant savoury taste, according to Wikipedia. I thought it was a...