Menya SanDaime, Melbourne 09-2015

Melbourne's first 24 hour ramen place is certainly a welcome addition to the overnight dining scene. Even at 1130pm on a Thursday night there was a 15min wait for a seat. How remarkable.

The menu is small and actually impressively stuck onto the walls (for those of us who can read). The ramen bowls come with two slices of decent (but quite fatty) chashu which are also grilled on one side (haven't seen that before). There is also half a boiled egg and some token vegetables. The ramen itself is probably slightly overcooked so it loses the slightly stiff chewy texture. The standard ramen soup has mild tonkotsu flavour but could be a little thicker. The karakuchi version adds a stiff presence of chilli. The difference between the two bowls in the photos is the 2nd bowl was the karakuchi and was ordered with an extra serve of noodles (and probably extra broth). It's quite a big difference in satiety for $2.

I didn't find any shichimi, grindable sesame seeds nor crushable garlic on the table to add, which I usually prefer.

I think the ramen down the road at Hakata Gensuke is more preferred, but options are more limited and will be adequate satisfying for the late or overnight craving.

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