Menya Chinatown — Restaurant in Sydney

I HAVE been unfair when it comes to reviewing ramen joints in Sydney. Unfair because I have neglected Menya Ramen Bar in Sydney’s Haymarket.

Menya is a place that I eat regularly when I get a ramen craving (which is often as it is now winter in Sydney), was the first “ramen bar” I ever went to in Sydney and is a place that I consider offers the best value ramen in Sydney. It’s also has my favourite ramen – the Menya tonkatsu shoyu ramen – and at a mere $9.30 – it has a lip-puckering flavoursome soup with tons of toppings.

When you enter Menya at the bottom of the Princes Centre in Haymarket you are always greeted with an enthusiastic “Irasshaimase!” by the chefs. Always. And that gives me a renewed energy to battle for a place along the bench at its long communal dining table with other ramen slurping Menya groupies.

The menu has a variety of ramen in four base broths – tonkotsu shoyu; tonkotsu miso (the pork bases); tori-gara shoyu and tori-gara miso (the chicken bases). Apart from my favourite (which I will get to later), you can choose from the ton-toro ramen (roasted pork); karami ramen (chilli pork mince); kogashi-ninniku ramen (garlic) ni-tamago ramen (with Japanese gooey eggs); teriyaki beef ramen; tori-katsu ramen (chicken schnitzel); and tori kara-age ramen (fried chicken). There is also the dragon jya-jya men with chilli miso pork mince and the karami-miso tsukemen.

Menya SetMenya also has a selection of soba and udon noodle soups and a selection of rice dishes and sets.

My favourite, Menya tonkatsu shoyu ramen is packed with a flavorable tonkotsu pork broth with all the ramen toppings you need (char siu pork, frim noodles, half a tamago egg, narutomaki, menma and two seaweed sheets). It’s hearty, filling and comforting on a cold winter day.

If you have a big appetite (and you are going to need it), then a deluxe mini Menya ramen set is the way to go. The set offers a choice of either a tonkotsu or tori-gara based menya ramen; a plate of four plump gyoza and a choice of one of four rice bowls (menya curry; buta mabushi; teriyaki beef or chanko). I tend to choose the mabushi bowl (which is pickled pork) with the lighter chicken-stock based tori-gara ramen but if you have a sumo-sized appetite then you may have to have the protein rich chanko bowl (which is what the sumo eat) with the tonkotsu!

IMG_9998If you’re not in the mood for ramen then I recommend the katsu don with miso soup ($9.50). Here you are offered a large rice bowl topped with a fried and well-seasoned chicken schnitzel which has a crunchy coating and juicy chicken inside. It’s topped with an egg that is baked onto the rice and chicken. The bowl is perfect for the kids to share! For an extra $4.50 you can get a Menya ramen on the side but I have seen folks order such an addition and they struggle.

If you like noise, love to slurp and don’t like taking out too many notes or coins from your pocket – then Menya is...

Menya Noodle Bar Chinatown (not to be confused with Menya Noodle Bar City or Menya Mappen) is a noodle bar focused mainly on ramen and is actually the first Menya Noodle Bar. It shares many similarities with Menya Noodle Bar City, but I believe it is more focused on ramen, since you get to choose between pork and chicken broth, as well as shoyu or miso.

The place is a bit hidden, and it's next to the heart of Chinatown, so people who don't really venture into Chinatown may have a hard time finding it. However, it's next to Chinese Noodle Restaurant and Cho Dumpling King, so if you're accustomed to patronising those institutions, you'll have no problem finding Menya Noodle Bar Chinatown.

Upon entering you notice the communal seating, and a massive menu on the wall. You simply order, take a seat, and wait for your food to come...and come it does in a flash. This place is all about ramen, and it does an amazing job with ramen. I've got to say, this place is one of the best places to get ramen in the city. I've had many others, from Gumshara, Ramen Kan, Ichiban Boshi, Ajisen Ramen, Tonton, Hokkaido, and many more and this place is arguably the best place.

I repeat, this place is arguably the BEST PLACE to get ramen in the city.

The broth is rich and flavourful, but not too salty. The noodles are soft, easy to chew, and leave you wanting for more. The meat (ohh..the meat) is tender, not too fatty, and cooked just right. I ordered the ton-toro ramen with tonkotsu miso broth this time around and it was a great meal on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. My friend offered me a piece of her tori kara-age and it made me want to order a side of tori kara-age, but I couldn't betray the pork in my bowl.

It's hard to go wrong here...they offer all kinds of ramen, ramen boxes, rice dishes, curry dishes, udon, soba, and several different sides.

If you're in the fan of ramen, you need to have a go...

Loved it! The person who took our order was very friendly, the chef was working hard to pump out lovely smelling food. Situated ourselves near the window watching people walk by. We both ordered a Tonkotsu Miso Base Pork Ramen and 6 gyoza each. The gyoza were simple and traditional, would have ordered more if I didn’t get so many add ons in my ramen!

I’m so use to people being tight with serving sizes these days that I decided to get extra pork, Bamboo and sea weed. Man was I wrong to do so!

The pork is so thick and generous in serving size that it made it impossible for me to finish the last of it (I’m 6 foot and weigh over 115 kgs and didn’t eat all day at that point, so let’s put that in perspective as well). The bamboo on the other hand, was absolutely spot. I hadn’t had such authentic Japanese bamboo to go with my ramen since I was in Tokyo in 2015/16 and Sapporo/Asahikawa 2017.

The broth. It’s pretty much the most authentic taste I’ve had since being back in Australia. I could go into so much detail about the bowl of ramen I had here but it’s just worth trying for yourself. ( I even like the ramen spoon and serving tray they give you when you receive your food, such a warm homely vibe AND THEY ACTUALLY SERVED THE RAMEN WITH NARUTOMAKI 😭😭😭😭 ) definitely coming back, please...