一蘭 (旺角) — Restaurant in Kowloon

Having gone to the Ippudo in Japan, I was looking forward to this in HK. The experience is very similar. You queue up outside. There’s a machine where you can get a queue ticket based on your party size. We went for lunch with a party of 2. The wait was at most 10 minutes. There’s a bit of shade so the wait is not too bad in the HK heat. Once seated, you have to order via mobile by scanning a QR code. For visitors who don’t have a roaming plan, there’s wifi, but it was patchy at best. After figuring it out and placing the order, the food came relatively quick. You can place an order for another booth if you want, in case you go there with kids and/or you want to pay for the whole party.

Now the food. Everything was somewhat similar. The only disappointment is the Char Siu. I remember the Japan one was way thicker and somewhat charred. The Char Siu here is paper thin and looks like it boiled. The broth was also not as thick as the Japan version.

All in all, enjoyable experience. Just don’t expect to get the same...

Took the queue number from the machine outside, and waited outside as stated. There was no staff outside at the point of time. Was suppose to be the 2nd group to enter according to the number displayed. Awhile after, another couple took a number and went in straight to the restaurant.

At the same time, another group of 2 finished their meals and left and the staff allow the 2 pax behind us to have a seat immediately without checking those of us that are waiting outside. ( we are 2 pax as well). We realised but did not comment on the spot, and continued to wait for another 15-20minutes before our turn.

Management please look into this to have your ground floor colleagues to check the q numbers and people who are patiently waiting outside before allowing people at the back going in first causing extra waiting time for us.

Food is...

This Ichiran location has some variances if you compare it to their Japan counterparts. There is no line of people waiting outside. The restaurant was 90% empty at lunch time. There's no vending machine at the entrance. Ordering is done via QR and requires a phone. Food taste different, although it looks the same. We ordered the classic tonkotsu ramen $98 ($12.56 USD) and the special $68 ($8.71 USD) which includes two pieces of dried seaweed, kikurage mushroom, extra pork and egg. Total $166 ($21.28 USD) for a bowl. The same bowl in Tokyo will cost 1640 yen ($10.44 USD.) It cost more than double here in Hong Kong, which is fine if it is the same bowl. I would say, it is close but not really. Still good though. There are much better options for noodles in...