Marutama Ra-men

Four days of consistent bad luck : Day four Part I.

Are business owners really that spoiled and think it is easy to make money nowadays?

What is worse than a bad Japanese restaurant? A Japanese owned restaurant with legitimate Japanese staff, located in an area with a dense population of international Japanese students, that does not serve very good Japanese food.

Marutama is different than some ramen joints because they focus on a chicken broth rather than pork, or a mix. Also, fried garlic, sesame seed and Korean chilli flakes are provided on every table. As for the interior, the restaurant has one large table, a few seats in the centre, and two counters. 

In addition, due to the lack of table space, the ramen joint offers a plastic bin for customers to keep their personal belongings in. Although do not to leave your belongings unattended, as there is a sign posted as a reminder as well!

DASHIMAKI, JAPANESE OMELETTE ($7.00). 

Despite having more color than I would have preferred, there is no need to be fussy when it comes to dashimaki because Marutama is one of the few restaurants that actually make them. The omelette is served hot and has folded layers with a hint of dashi, as well as a light sweetness. In addition, daikon radish with soy is provided on the side.

TAMAGO CHA-SHU RAMEN; GREEN ONION, AOSA SEA LETTUCE, SOFT BOILED EGG AND ROAST PORK FILLET ($14.00).

Starting with the barbecue pork, it is pretty much pre-made sliced meat that is slapped on the bowl, and cold. The pork tastes slightly salty but bland, and the restaurant does not do anything to the meat. Hence there is no taste. At a lot of ramen shops, the barbecue pork is seared for that nice extra caramelized taste, which makes a huge difference.

Moving along to the noodles which are perfectly cooked, unfortunately have not been thoroughly rinsed and have that "soapy" noodle taste. Furthermore, the soapiness blends into the soup base which results in a slimy, gooey and soapy tasting broth. To be honest, the ramen tastes like what one would get at a crappy and mediocre wonton house, and this is $14.00 as well as $18.00? Either the noodles need to be thoroughly run through water after boiling before adding the broth, the kitchen should have used more water when cooking the noodles, or change the water more frequently.

Asides from the soapy tasting broth, the advertised "cloudy chicken soup" seems a bit confusing. This is chicken broth and real chicken broth is never cloudy, it is clear and rich. Either way, cloudy or not, the broth looks slightly milky but the overwhelming detergent flavour ruins the whole taste. As for the egg, it is soft boiled, not over-marinaded and has a salty soy based taste.

ZENBU RAMEN, THE WORKS; GREEN ONION, AOSA SEA LETTUCE, SOFT BOILED EGG, ROAST PORK FILLET ($18.00). 

Last up, "the works" which is $4.00 pricier for two cuts of pork belly, is overpriced. I mean, $18.00 can be reasonable if the quality as well as taste is here, but it is not. The pork belly tastes average at best and although it is braised and semi-tender, the meat was lacking in taste.

TOTAL: $43.60 + TIP $3.40 = $47.00.

This is the worst ramen I ever had and the soapy broth is very, disgusting. I never waste food and am actually quite weird, in the way that I was raised to finish everything on my plate. But, I had to leave the ramen behind. Including the bland tasting barbecue pork. Really? Meat? Left behind? Yeah, never thought it would happen to me! I mean, BF is a princess when it comes to poorly made food, but me? I hate wasting food. Marutama makes me sad because the shop is not only Japanese owned, there are actual Japanese chefs! But, the quality is what I would expect at the night market from students who YouTubed ramen and decided to start up a food stall. As for the staff, extremely friendly and welcoming. Extremely. Although it was hard to get service considering the restaurant was not full, but everyone seemed to pay at the counter anyways.

POSITIVES

- Housemade noodles

- Friendly and welcoming staff

NEGATIVES

- Price value (1.5/5)

- Soapy noodles are a 110% fail

- Menu description nor the prices match the quality of food

- Pork could have been seared for that nice extra flavour

LITTLE THINGS

- One of the few restaurants that makes Japanese omelette 

- Better off ordering a cooked order of cha-su and adding it to the ramen

- Portion is small especially for the price, but in our case, the portion size was not important

Food: 1.5/5 (omelette 2.5/5)

Service: 2.5/5