Fukuryu Ramen

Level 1, 22 Corrs Lane, Melbourne 3000
Date visited: 5th April 2014

Whispers of a new ramen joint and authentic tonkotsu broth have been circulating recently... Fukuryu Ramen (meaning lucky dragon) is its name - a brand new ramen place that opened last month in Melbourne's CBD.  I actually came across Fukuryu Ramen not on Urbanspoon, but rather, on Instagram.  I wanted to visit last Sunday, but they weren't open then.  Having said that, guess what, starting from this week, they will be.  Gotta love when venues are open all weekend for those who work full time five days a week limiting our options for eating out.

I love how Melbourne has these hole in a wall, secret spots down seedy, occasionally graffitied lane ways that patrons would never just 'stumble upon,' rather, need to find.  Fukuryu Ramen really isn't hard to locate now with good signage now down the rather questionable looking Corrs Lane.   We headed up the stairs (all signed) to Level 1 where we were greeted by enthusiastic calls of "irrashaimase!"

We made our orders at the counter and found ourselves a seat in the wide, open dining area.  Fortunately we arrived just after noon, beating a whole row of people who started queueing not long before we sat down.

It took a little while for the food to arrive, but the waitress apologised earnestly.  Staff were very friendly, by the way.

MerlinFan had the Shoyu Ramen.

Shoyu Ramen $9.90

I loved the salty soy-sauce based soup - it really had a beautiful depth of flavour and a slightly smoky aftertaste.  The handmade noodles were nicely done with enough bite, topped off with seaweed, fermented bamboo shoots, seaweed, gooey egg and a slice of pork belly.

I had the Signature Tonkotsu Ramen.

Tonkotsu Ramen $9.90

The tonkotsu broth was boiled over hours to a thick, creamy consistency, infusing the broth with a rich, hearty flavour.  It was delicious and rather similar to the broth at Kokoro Ramen - I finished every drop.  My ramen was al dente enough, and my egg perfectly gooey.  The pork belly was paper thin and melt-in-your-mouth soft.  There was a single slice and I wished there was more of it.  

Last but not least, each meal came with a complimentary Matcha soft serve - only until 7th April 2014.  We had to wait a few minutes as the machine was churning out a new batch but it was worth the wait.  Here's one of the dodgy photos I took before I got scolded by MerlinFan who wanted to eat it.

Green tea soft serve

MerlinFan and I loved the ice cream.  There was a lovely fragrance of green tea - light, fresh and faintly savoury but with the sweet creaminess of ice cream.  Paired with the super crispy cone - awesome.  

Fukuryu Ramen has one of the best ramen broths in Melbourne and word of mouth and social media has spread - already I can see it doing extremely well.  Portions may be small for some, but they were a good amount for MerlinFan and I.  We didn't have a lot of the pork belly but next time I might get a side plate of pork belly or chicken karaage to add to my ramen.  Perhaps the Tebasaki chicken wing even - looks mouthwatering.  Hope they keep the Green tea soft serve on the menu and the recipe the way it is now - we would happily pay for it.

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