Arigato! Arigataya

I have had a soft spot for ramen ever since tasting greatness in the tonkotsu ramen of Ichiran in Fukuoka last year. Sadly, a rameniac would find it hard to satisfy his or her craving here in Perth as there are less than a handful of places where this is served.

So it was with great excitement when I heard about Arigataya ramen which had opened its doors to noodle lovers just this week. With a reputation of having noodles made fresh on the premises, I was keen to slurp out this joint to see if there was hope yet for satisfying a ramen craving right here in Western Australia.

The menu here is basic - you choose from either the standard ramen with a chicken/pork bone broth (with a choice of either shio or shoyu flavour) or tsukemen (ramen served with a dipping sauce on the side). For a few dollars extra, you get to "upsize" your condiments - with ni-tamago (a briliant way of cooking an egg with a fully cooked white but a slightly runny and creamy yolk centre) and extra slabs of the house made charsiu (roasted pork belly).

The verdict? The broth lacked the depth of flavour I love in a good ramen broth and tasted a little generic. The noodles had good texture but seemed to impart a slightly alkaline flavour to the broth which was a little overpowering.

But the stars here are clearly the condiments. The ni-tamago was cooked to perfection - beautifully set egg white and a creamy deep orange yolk. The charsiu was nothing short of brilliant - delightfully "melt in your mouth" pork belly char-grilled on the outside to achieve a fantastic combination of flavour and texture.

Ok - so maybe Arigataya wasn't the life changing noodle experience I had hoped for - but there's enough goodness in the bowl for me to come back for more. And let's be honest - another decent option to satisfy a frequent ramen craving is something I'm happy to say "arigato!" for.

Arigataya ramen
Roe St, Perth