Ichi-Ban Boshi — Restaurant in Sydney

A cute little Japanese joint in the heart of the Bondi Junction mall, with indoor and outdoor seating. Service is fast and friendly, the prices are reasonable and the food is first class.

My friends and I dined during the busy lunchtime session on a gloomy Thursday in Oct. Unfortunately, this place seems to cater mainly to single diners or couples, there are no larger tables, and not even tables for four people, so despite the overcast, chilly weather we elected to sit outdoors, where at least we could put two tables together, and that worked fine, although on such a day, I would have preferred to sit inside.

I ordered chicken katsu curry and a bowl of edamame beans. The beans were nice and crunchy, just the right thing to start off with. My chicken was tender and succulent and smothered in rich curry sauce. It came accompanied with a generous portion of white rice and a small mixed salad with Thousand Island salad dressing. It was just the right quantity for lunch. I thoroughly enjoyed my meal, and it cost only 23 pesos for the katsu chicken and the edamame beans. Not bad value for money, when, sadly, our country is heading towards “Weimar Republic'' levels of hyperinflation. What a pity no-one bothered to tell the Reserve Bank governor that keeping interest rates at zero and turning on the money printers like there’s no tomorrow, will eventually have consequences.

I note from Google, that I.B.B. is open till 9pm, six nights a week and is only closed on Tuesdays, but given that B.J. becomes a bit of a ghost town after hours, I'd say this is preferable as a lunch stop, and for that it’s ideal.

There are no toilets on site, but not far are the Eastgate and Westfield shopping centres, both with ample toilets.

In summary, I.B.B. is a decent place for lunch with lovely food, fast service and a super casual, relaxed ambience. Not surprising then, that it’s popular with the locals, so you’ll need to get here early, to ensure that you...

The standards on the ramen here have been dropping and dropping over the years. Now it's hardly any more exciting than making your own ramen at home using frozen ramen and different things you can buy frozen. Since covid you can buy so much restaurant food online and it's actually as good or better than the ramen here. As a person who has been to Japan many times and a fan of Japanese food, it is disappointing to see how a once good restaurant has let its quality drop. The ramen is still ok at times if you have a huge craving, but the rice and other sides are no good. Just dull, blunt flavours. Their cooking time is also hit and miss, once one person's came and the other had to wait another 20 minutes. Their speciality is noodles and their attempt to expand the menu without using actual chefs has failed spectacularly. Basically it's not worth the high price. In the city there would be so many other options with authentic ramen but sadly in this area they think you don't know how it should taste. Even then the other problem is the cleanliness of the shop which is ok but not great. They also do not let you get a table until you've ordered so how on earth do they expect you to go with a group? Had an experience where we were going as a family and they would not let us pick a table. They don't have any table service so you cannot see any menus you have to stand at the front. They must have mistaken themselves with the actually quality ramen shops in Japan that have high turnover so they can actually have you order before...

Very rude staff! As I walked into the place i was never greeted and i was left unattended on the counter waiting till the two staff shout across the restaurant to the kitchen and to themselves. As I was finally given attention to make my order the lady with brownish low ponytail and black face mask kept talking with her peer and kept constantly missing what i was saying (she kept multi-taking whilst taking my order and never looked at me and kept missing what i was saying) and pointed her finger at me saying "just one moment" so I had to repeat my order several times and although I clearly showed that i was cranky with her I never got any apology for such behaviour. I was so tempted to just walk out as her behaviour was disgusting. Ive been a loyal customer of ichi ban boshi both bondi and city for several years, to me it used to be a decent eat out place but today it felt like I was dining in an outdoor market where staff keep shouting across the store and you cannot just eat in peace with all the noise. i will never be returning to the...