Kou Ramen — Restaurant in Sydney

It was not an authentic Japanese restaurant, however the décor was very nice; the menu has a small range of ramen and we ordered the recommended special which was the tonkatsu ramen, there wasn’t much topping and whilst the food is being prepared, you can grab your utensils and some pickled ginger, sauces and water. Very common for this type of restaurant. Staff were chatty between themselves and were quite noisy at times, clearly speaking in Korean and appeared to want to clear your table quickly after you’ve consumed your last bite and wipe down the table for the next patrons (even though there wasn’t anyone queuing up for dinner) Ramen was average however the soup was poor quality and congealed after about 6 minutes; whilst I was actually eating. The noodles were rubbery and the meat was pretty much non-existent, a thin slice of meat which looked like dehydrated meat which was rehydrated. Most strange was when the ramen arrived; it had a layer of clear oil which was on the surface, most ramen chefs remove as much fat, grease and oil whilst cooking ramen. Our entrées/sides came after the ramen was served (we ordered the chicken bun and veggie tempura); the chicken was too big and the bun was massive, I would recommend they split it into two smaller sizes instead of one large bun, furthermore there was also a weird sauce (consisted of mayo and egg) topped with thinly sliced cabbage. The tempura serving was small; but what it difficult was that the tempura sauce was in a tiny dish which we struggled to dip the tempura into. Aside from the food and staff; the décor was quite nice. The only issue I had was that music was overpowering and often at times we had to speak louder even when I was facing my dining partner. It was airconditioned and nice and cool, however the front door remained open and since it was summer; flies and insects were coming in and out. Had to use the great aussie salute here and there. They accept cash and card; the ramen wasn’t as good as I thought it would be, customer service was quite lacking (all they did was point to your seat). Self serve condiments...

Came here for ramen and some sides one evening hoping that this would be our new go to ramen place close to home. We ordered pork gyoza and chilli edamame to start. The pork gyoza had a bit of chewy gristle that we had to spit out, and so we recommend the restaurant buy a better quality mince meat, otherwise the dumpling flavors were nice. The chilli edamame was delicious and we could eat a never ending bowl and be happy. We ordered 2 tonkotsu ramens that came out in good time. I was pretty disappointed with this. Starting with soup base, it needed more salt and didn't have a lot of rich 'pork' flavoring as these broths classically do. The noodles were okay, if a bit overcooked and too soft. The egg was well cooked with a nice and soft/gooey yolk, but plain. I prefer the ones soaked in soy sauce or whatever they do to them. The biggest let down was the pork. The quality of the meat was poor. It literally was some pork shavings from the kebab shop and a piece of thin slice pork loin you would put on a school lunch sandwich. What is missing is that beautiful, slow cooked, melt in your mouth pork belly that is sliced and then slightly sizzled with the blow torch before serving. The decor was light and spacious with a good amount of tables to sit at. Loved the bamboo at the back. The staff were efficient and friendly. No complaints for them at all. The water station and self serve sauces was great. Can I suggest adding the soy with vineagar for the gyoza? I would come back if the menu changed to allow better quality ramen, but will otherwise continue travelling closer to the city for the traditional japanese ramen my...

Tonkotsu ramen was decent, it’s not Japan Ichiran Ramen good but it was ‘okay’ for the area.

It was very oily though and the egg was overcooked.

I’ve had a lot worse ramen from other Japanese shopping centre restaurants in Western Sydney so comparing it to that, it wasn’t bad.

Visiting Japan has spoiled my Japanese eating experience in Australia.

A bowl of Ichiran ramen costs like 400-500yen/around $5 and tastes 1000x better. Here it was triple that amount. Not complaining about the price, I understand differences in wages/restaurant costs but the taste and food experience doesn’t compare.

Also the Gyoza dumpling didn’t taste the best, I have a feeling it was frozen not hand made, but I could be wrong. Also no sauce was offered, it was served plain, had to grab a bottle of chilli from the staff counter, didn’t see any soy sauce or mayonnaise.

Service was okay I guess. Nothing extraordinary, but nothing overtly bad either.

Staff could smile a bit more and be a bit friendlier but I guess no one can operate at 110% all the time. Like I don’t know if I should be asking, R U OK? I sort of feel for the young lady who served me at the register. I could just look ugly though, could be that.

I hope the owners are paying their staff well and treating them nicely, especially since the dishes here are a little bit expensive and also because staff...