Fukuryu Ramen Dublin — Restaurant in Washington Township

Visiting during COVID probably didn't start me off on the right foot.

I ordered takeout from the app, showed up at the the specified time. Neat interior, nice aromatic smell (not quite what I expected of a ramen place, more like a chinese diner with the heavy ginger and green onion smell, it is a subtle thing so I wont dwell here) My food was all packaged and ready for me, so I happily took my bag and left. That is about where the good news ended. It took me 10 minutes to drive home. When I unpacked my bowl of tonkotsu ramen, the noodles were cold and clumped together. The broth, packaged separately, is a brown color, closer to a shoyu broth and covered HEAVILY of sesame oil. The broth had no pork flavor whatsoever. Best case scenario I was given the wrong broth even though the container did show tonkotsu. The pork belly slice, while very tender and melts in your mouth, has very little flavor. The wood ear fungus was very hard, not properly rehydrated, which wouldn't have been so bad if it was cut into slightly smaller pieces and/or the broth was hot. The noodles, aside from being clumped together, was very overcooked and had no chew at all, almost mushy.

The texture maybe we have takeout to blame, but the lack of flavor in the broth was 100% a turnoff. A bowl of tonkotsu is marked by a thick creamy pork bone broth from the rendered collagen. This was brown broth I got was definitely not it (and too mild in flavor and heavy in sesame oil to be a shoyu broth)

I would not be recommending this place to my friends (though I realize there are many other items on their menu) but the failure to deliver a tonkotsu ramen for a ramen place is...

Tasty. Good flavour in the broth and not too fatty. Noodles had the right amount if chewiness. Pork was delicious. Not used to such big pieces of bamboo shoots, but it was really nice and satisfying having them in the bigger slices.

The chilli sauce at the table was super tasty as well... it was a thick dark red colour and was not just spicy, but flavorful too. Be advised that if you put too much in your broth it will make it saltier. I put in about 3 scoops and it was gooood..... luckily, I also got the unsweetened iced green tea which had free refills, so I had something to balance it out.

Pork belly on rice with the green onions was good too. It was more food than I needed, but I wanted to try it out. I personally like adding the dried red chilli on top.

Last, but definitely not least, service staff were really nice. I came in alone and they helped me pick my order and also came by to check on me and chat a little. Because the kitchen area is wide open to the restaurant, you can see all the employees. It has a good, fresh vibe there and is welcoming and clean. The people I saw looked genuinely happy working there, and when you see happy staff, you know the food is also going to taste that much better.

Thanks for the delicious food and...

I'd never had actual ramen before and this was a great place to start my journey. My sister had suggested my wife and I to try this place and I'm glad we did.

I got the Red Dragon bowl. It is their spiciest ramen and they aren't kidding. I only got it with the second level of heat (they have 3 levels of spiciness) and I was feeling the heat. Everything in the bowl was great. I ate the egg first by itself because it was too fun looking not to! My wife and sister both got Tempura rolls and my sister got the pork belly and rice.

The meal is brought out to your table once you place the order, so it's what I would consider a fast-casual joint. The wait wasn't long even considering that we were there during lunch time on a Saturday.

They have home brewed lemonades but I stuck with a fountain drink this time around. I did try my sister's lemonade and I will surely try it again next time.

Overall, I am extremely pleased with the experience. The price point is a bit high but the presentation and quality of the food is why they have their prices. The meal described above ran close to $45 altogether. But we were all full and satisfied by the end of the meal so it was money well spent.

I would highly recommend this to anyone to give a try...