Mappen — Restaurant in Sydney

Came here for lunch and ordered a Tonkatsu Nitamago for myself, and my girlfriend ordered I think a limited-time creamy eel ramen. I can’t find it on the menu online anywhere I look.

The restaurant’s layout was like a bar, or a canteen, where we have to queue up and oder our main meals while being presented with a selection of side dishes such as takoyaki, tempura, etc. The service was great, and very friendly, and food came extremely quick. I ordered the Takayuki to share and a crab stick whilst we made our way to the payment section, and barely waited any time for our main meals to arrive. I think the staff here were actually Japanese people, something that seems to be a pretty rare occurrence from my experiences. However, since we were able to see them make the ramen, we knew it wasn’t exactly the freshest, since they had simply poured broth into the bowls and served it as it was.

The Tonkatsu Nitamago was surprisingly tasty, and the broth was delicious. It was simply just ramen with a pork broth with 2 boiled eggs cut in half. It appeared extremely underwhelming at first without a doubt, but it was a very tasty meal. The broth was a good balance between salty and creamy, and the egg complemented the ramen and broth together to make a delicious concoction in the mouth. The crab stick was average by all means, as was the Takayuki unfortunately, but expectations were not too high as we were aware of the fact that they could have been sitting in the food bar all day. It still tasted the part at least.

The creamy eel ramen on the other hand, was a brand new experience for my girlfriend, and something I’ve never actually heard of. Initially, it was really nice, the blend of a creamy broth and noodles, along with the perfectly cooked eel made it tasty. However, be sure to eat this quick, as once it even got lukewarm, it tasted well below average. The broth itself was also a bit plain, but it complimented the other flavours in the bowl.

Mappen is definitely more of a fast food Japanese restaurant than your typical Japanese, though I wouldn’t dare say they slack out on the flavours when making your dish. Tasty af, will probably...

I’ve passed by several times but there have been no seats available. But I like ramen and the restaurant looks kinda cozy and inviting with the décor and wooden seating, rather than the white walled bland premises common of Asian restaurants. But it turns out that the premises is actually the best of the experience! Spicy is most important to me so I ordered the Ramen Red ($15.90) + Extra Egg ($2). The experience is similar to a school cafeteria. The first person behind the counter asks what type of soup you want, then you continue along the counter with your tray, passing the cooked items heat lamp self service area of tempura etc . I didn't notice it when in line, but there is a section of condiments in plastic containers (see pic), then further on you pay when at the far end at the till. This is the most aesthetically underwhelming ramen I’ve ever had (see my photo). Even when I used instant ramen at home and added a few condiments like corn, enoki and chopped sprint onion, it’s looked better than this. Retrospectively I see why the first two descriptors on their website states “Fast” and “Affordable”. It tasted fine but the serve was small and I still felt hungry afterwards (the mince meat was minimal). Maybe I was meant to also buy some fried food too, and the buy condiments in the plastic containers. Anyways, if you want a tasty traditional looking, and filling ramen in a non-cafeteria type restaurant, BUT AT THE SAME PRICE as Mappen, I recommend Ramen Zundo in World Square 100m away. Note to owner: don't thank me for my "feedback" because that's not what it is. It's a review of my experience intended for...

I’ve been a fan of Mappen for more than 10 years, but Mappen needs to not use this scammy app called Fantuan Delivery to pickup and deliver their orders. Mappen as usual makes the food quickly and properly every time, but when it takes Fantuan Delivery 3hrs to then deliver spoiled and dangerous food and also not take responsibility for their terrible business model allowing courier drivers the ability to have up to 10 customer orders going at the same time, it reflects badly on the restaurant. I have changed my review from 5 stars to 1 star based on them using Fantuan Delivery company to deliver their products. If Mappen stops using Fantuan Delivery for delivery services, I will happily change the rating. Fantuan wouldn’t refund for their couriers poor performance so I gave the evidence to AMEX and they agreed and the charges got reversed even though Fantuan customer services just completely refuse refunds. I also submitted a report to the department of fair trading and found out there are hundreds of reports exactly the same as mine. I’m sure the food that got delivered to me last would have been good when it was still fairly fresh like it’s been for years, but you can’t rate food when it’s delivered so late and that it’s lost all its heat from sitting in the couriers bag for 3hrs and has started to decompose. The worst thing is I’m only 900m away from Mappens shop, I chose to order online and get delivery at extortionate prices compared to in store because I was sick. And now Mappen has a 1 star from me for the...