Hakata Gensuke Hawthorn — Restaurant in Melbourne

TLDR: Delicious food, excellent service, a bit too pricey for an everyday meal

Full review: went out with my family to celebrate my sister's birthday and decided to go here they don't take reservations but we only had to wait while they cleaned up and set up a table for us.

We had a ramen bowl each ($18pp) and also ordered gyozas ($13). I had the signature ramen, plus chasu and egg which cost extra as usual. It was delicious. The noodles were nice with a slight springiness to them and the broth was tasty. The chasu was thinly sliced which meant flavour was added to without the fatty feeling you'd get from a large chunk. It was also cool temperature-wise. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be but because it was thinly sliced it warmed up with just a quick dunk into the broth. The egg was perfectly cooked. The yolk was solid, no liquid, but golden and soft.

Note: I'm not super familiar with ramen so I've been comparing this to general Asian noodle soup dishes rather than Hakata Gensuke ramen vs ramen dishes elsewhere.

The service level was amazing!! The staff were friendly and polite, extremely helpful and attentive. Without being asked, the table was set up with a high chair, plastic plate, bowl, cup and cutlery for my toddler. Next, they noticed my parents' seemed a little uncomfortable so they came over and swapped out their stools for chairs with backs. Again, without being asked. When I asked for scissors to chop up the noodles for my son, my request was acknowledged with a smile and it was provided promptly. Even when we were leaving, one of the staff helped push the stroller to the door as my son was getting tired and clingy. This was completely beyond my...

We used to like to go this place for its customer service and one of good ramen in Melbourne until a recent disappointing experience. Recently we went to the Hakata Gensuke in Hawthorn for lunch. It was relatively busy day. Ramen came first. As usual, we picked some spicy pickles which is usually on the table after I tasted the soup which was okay. However, we smelled the pickles strange, like smelled -off and we let one of the staff members know. He said “he smelled it okay even though he does not normally eat this. He will check to kitchen”. He took the pickles and came back with new one. He said “the pickles was not off yet and it was still eatable”. He also said “would you like to get your ramen replaced with new one”. I said yes and he took it back. Within 5 min, he came back with a ramen which looked new. I thought it was very quick. I tried the ramen soup and taste very different from the one that I tried before the replacement, like boiling water added. I got my family checked the soup. One of my family member ordered the same dishes so we were able to compare before and after the replacement and it was clearly different. We never know what happened on the day. I was very disappointed as:

1. manger did not come and see us even though manager was there on the day
2. manager let a young staff member to handle this and ended up making me very disappointed as above
3. not sure what happened to the soup and I was served with the ramen which I left whole soup

My family has been recommending the place since the first visit, however we are not...

✅What you should order: aka tonkotsu, chicken karaage⠀ ⠀ 🌡 process: you have to sign in via a QR code. great social distancing between me and other patrons too. I came at 11:30am and there were very few customers, but it quickly got busy by the time I left. ⠀ ⠀ Review: I went for the Aka Tonkotsu because I prefer ramen broth that’s both robust and spicy. Oh boy did it deliver - love the rich and spicy cod roe broth which indicated that no shortcuts (read: msg) were taken to create this lovely bowl of ramen.⠀ ⠀ You can also request for al Dante or harder noodles if you don’t like the standard soft ramen. I also enjoyed the three tender charsiu pieces. You have to pay extra $2.3 for soy marinated egg, but it’s worth it - who eats ramen without those delicious perfect eggs? So much umami! ⠀ ⠀ 🍗Special shoutout for the chicken karaage - they were juicy, crunchy and very generous in portions. They are the perfect companion to a solid bowl of noodle soup and are highly recommended if you would like a diversity in textures. The fish katsu curry rice was equally delicious and generous in curry sauce. There’s something about chicken working better as a katsu curry dish though, but that’s just a personal preference ⠀ ⠀ Cost: about $16pp including the 10% discount ⠀ ⠀ Taste: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⠀ Ambience: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⠀ Presentation: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⠀ Price: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⠀ Service:...