Menya, Haymarket
I have been to Menya many, many times over the five long years that I have been at uni (*shakes fist* damn you combined degree!) and that is one reason why I have never been inclined to blog about it.
It is like an old faithful. I know it’s there and I assume that everyone else knows that it is there, so why bother?
On this particular occasion, I was with some uni friends who encouraged me to blog about it. Okay…
Usually I like to order either a mini Menya ramen or their ramen/katsu curry combo. However, there is no way that I can finish the ramen/katsu curry combo by myself so this time I decided to branch out and order a chicken schnitzel ramen.
Initially I was a bit wary because my friend Billy cautioned that the last time he was here, his chicken was raw on the inside.
But I had an odd craving for the chicken so ordered it anyway.
Hm. It didn’t occur to me that the chicken was going to get soggy sitting in the ramen, which is naturally what happened. The first bite of chicken was nice, but I did notice that the slices were very thick and between being under/over cooked, it was leaning towards the under. Of course, it wasn’t raw (phew!) but it was pink.
I wouldn’t order it again – but if you choose to, I recommend asking them to serve the chicken on the side or at least getting a small bowl to take out the chicken. Otherwise you will be like me, with a sad, soggy mess of chicken.
This is one of my staples. It is a small sized bowl, but you can get full just from drinking that delicious tonkotsu soup!
Billy and I debated over the consistency of Menya’s tonkotsu broth compared to the much-raved about Gumshara Ramen in Eating World which everyone has been talking about lately. We both concluded that we preferred Menya’s. The reason? Well, the Gumshara broth is just TOO thick! It doesn’t go smoothly down my throat but rather clogs it. After about five spoonfuls, the broth also loses flavour for me. It tastes like I am choking down some tasteless glug. (Having said that, I do like their boiled eggs that you can add onto your ramen, they are done perfectly).
In comparison, the Menya broth has a lighter consistency but still leaves you with some slight stickiness. It tastes delicious from the start to the end.