SUKAI RAMEN — Restaurant in Bilbao

Tldr: bland broth, overcooked noodles, meh toppings and something that far represents ramen. Staff was friendly, sides okay.

Long: we decided to have two bowls, broth type wasn't an option so we chose a shoyu and a miso tare (sauce )with some extras as well. One Japanese style pork bowl and one ebi (shrimp) bowl Ramen consists out of 5 main things and I'll leave this review on all of those.

Broth: for both bowls, the broth itself was simple and lacked depth of flavour. I think they did make their own broth since I saw giant stock pots and bowls of bone cuts in the kitchen when I peaked but flavour extraction of these was weak at best. I ate better cup noodles.

Tare/ sauce: the shoyu lacked soy sauce flavour so did the miso one, although the later was better. Both bowls the tare wasn't mixed well with the broth before adding the toppings, resulting in a bowl with stronger flavours at the bottom, mixing should happen in the kitchen before serving.

Noodles: overcooked, lacking chew or alkaline flavour that is distinct for low water type noodles. They are just regular pack noodles.

Toppings: okay so this was the best thing of the charsu bowl, the menu said Japanese style roast pork belly and in the bowl was a more Chinese style roasted pork belly. It was good, not Japanese braised. But if this is wat you are going for when designing a bowl it is fine. For the other bowl, the shrimp where overcooked, the shitake where rehydrated which leaves the broth grey and weren't marinated or anything. The egg, was just a cooked egg, again, if you are going for this it is fine, but I think this was more looks than adding a nice cured egg. Must say I was glad to see Pak choy being a bowl topping, it is hardly used.

Oil: always said if people overlook an aromatic oil to a bowl of ramen, with the quality of these bowls I was not surprised to find this absent.

Overall: I chose this place based on reviews and was slightly afraid that this might happen. Haven't tried their rice bowls and they might be fine since their sides are good (large and yaktori(slightly too sweet)). But if this is the best ramen in town, just get some fancy cup noodles, at least the broth will have more depth.

Note: I'm not comparing this to Tokyo or other large city high quality ramen, just a basic of what a bowl of ramen should be, a balance of flavours where each component...

The staff here have good energy. Although we are trying to learn and speak Spanish they were able to communicate effectively with us in English when it was needed. The food was a "feel good" food. It was nice to get gluten free noodles as ramen. Once customers finished their meal and left, the staff cleaned up after customers immediately, which is nice for other customers to not look at dirty dishes when dining! The place was neat and clean. We were in Bilbao for only a few days, but we went back to this place again...

Tanto mis amigos como yo llevamos varios años pidiendo o acudiendo al local tanto para comer como para cenar y siempre acertamos. En cuanto a acudir al local, el ambiente es muy bueno, siempre hay gente respetuosa y se puede comer tranquilamente allí. Hay sitios para parejas, grupos o incluso para comer de forma individual frente a la ventana. La decoración del local recuerda a un restaurante japonés antiguo y acompaña mucho a la comida.

Sobre los productos y la comida en general no puedo destacar nada malo. Tanto la calidad como el servicio son excelentes. Independientemente del plato que pidas sales muy satisfecho tanto en calidad como en cantidad, sobre todo con los ramenes.

En mi caso particular suelo pedir arroz con kaarage (pollo rebozado al estilo japonés) o yakisoba de pollo teppanyaki, y da igual lo que elija y donde lo coma (restaurante o a domicilio), siempre es una gran opción.

Lo único a destacar como punto negativo es que tanto las bebidas como los entrantes son un poco caros, pero en caso de que sea de tus primeras veces comiendo en Sukai te recomiendo que pruebes algún entrante, ya que, aunque los precios de las gyozas, rollitos y demás no sean baratos, sigue rebosando la calidad que caracteriza al...