Ippudo

This may be slightly controversial to some that have tried out Japanese food at Sydney’s “Ippudo,” however I feel I should still give out what I believe is an honest opinion. I grew up in Japan and spent my teenage period there for six years. I am by no means an expert in Japanese culinary arts or how it should be executed, but I think I could realize when something is up to standard or not. 

By standards, I’m not always referring to the taste. This time, I’d like to point out another important aspect of dining outside, value. I had two opportunities to tried out Ippudo, which was really talked about during its early days. It’s located in Westfield shopping Center right in the middle of Sydney’s CBD. Its location gives a strong sign that the place must be really up to something good. 

For my first visit, I ordered unagi-rice, which as you could see below is a bowl of rice topped up with grilled Japanese eel. The eel had a beautiful grilled aroma and taste, and the addition of the sauce that was brushed onto the fish was fantastic. It was a really good bowl of classic Japanese unagi rice that took me back to Japan. There was one thing that left me really disappointed. Really really disappointed, and that was the value. In terms of taste, there’s nothing to complain about, but when you look at the size of the portion, I was left speechless. For the price I paid and the portion size worthy for a six year old, I felt that justice was not served. 

Moving on to my second visit, I decided to try out their ramen. Can’t remember which one I ordered exactly but I like to keep my ramens quite simple, with not too many toppings to overcomplicate the real elegance of the dish. The broth was delicious. It was rich and packed real flavors. The noodles themselves were also very good, as the restaurant pride themselves in creating them from zero. In light of taste, it was great. But it again stumbled on the value. While it was very good, it was not worthy of the price. I get it, we had it in a restaurant, we get free tap water, we get a decent looking table with good chairs, we get the service, and we get the noodles that were made by the effort and expertise of the chefs. I did take all these elements into consideration, but could still find (and rather go to) cheaper alternatives in the city which are real contenders for Sydney’s best. 

Either way, if you do love ramen and Japanese cuisine like I do, it wouldn’t hurt too much to have a go at this talked about place. It might have been a bad day and I had tried wrong options, or what not, but it’s most important you find a place that you personally like!

Below is the link of Ippudo, which has restaurants in multiple locations:

http://www.ippudo.com.au/

Otherwise, going to the Westfield Shopping Center towards their top floors is generally a good idea to find something delicious to eat. They have a wide selection of food, from snacks to Asian bubble tea, to popcorns and chocolates, then they have hotdogs, fresh juices, gelato, dumplings, Thai food, burgers, you name it. Bare in mind that the prices will be slightly higher than if you have these items in other places, other than the common eateries that exist in multiple locations. Restaurants are usually quite busy, so be sure to be there a bit early for a short waiting time!