When my husband and I arrived, we were told that there will be a 20 minute wait. There were 2 groups waiting in front of us and after we got there, more people arrived. The waitress doesn't take down your name or give you a ticket number, you just need to wait outside until she comes out and tells the groups of people waiting outside that there's a table for 2 or table for 4 etc available. You basically need to remember who came before you and who came after you and judge when you're supposed to go inside without offending someone by accidentally pushing in.
The restaurant is quite small but cosy. I think there are only 6-7 tables. In some cases, you may need to share with other patrons. For us, we were lucky to get our own table at the back of the room. From where we were sitting, we saw autographs on A4 pieces of white paper stuck on the wall. We didn't know who they were but must've been from Japanese celebrities who visited the restaurant. We also saw quite a number of different Bruce Lee stickers on the fridge and big pieces of fatty pork in plastic rectangular baskets sitting on the fridge and on boxes stacked up behind where I was sitting. My husband pointed out that the guy cooking the ramen is kind of mean looking, with a look that says "I mean business" but I didn't think so :)
We sat down and ordered 2 bowls of Ramen Noodles in a Pork Soup and a serve of gyozas. With my ramen, I ordered corn kernals as an accompaniment whilst my hubby ordered pieces of seaweed. These accompaniments arrived with our ramen but in a separate bowl/plate and not in your ramen noodles. At Ryo's, water and pickled ginger are self served from the counter.
After waiting for around 10 mins or less, our noodles arrived. I wanted to dig in right away but had to take photos of it to show you all how yummy it looked. The bowl of noodles were pipping hot, topped with strips of pork which were of decent thickness, served with half an egg with the yolk still slightly gooey, and topped with a big handful of finely chopped spring onions and a decent amount of sesame seeds. The soup base is the best - it wasn't watery but was almost thick and had the most intense pork flavour. I think this was what made the ramen tasted sooo good. Ohhh, the thought of it makes me want to devour another bowl.
The gyozas came a few minutes behind our ramen and they were cooked to perfection. Although a little oily but the ingredients inside (I believe they were made out of pork and cabbage) were very fresh and the dough was slightly crunchy at the bottom where it was pan fried but the rest of the dough was chewy and soft. They were good. Very tasty.
I took my time eating every strand of ramen, loving the chewiness of the noodles and the intense flavour of the soup. I shouldn't forget to mention the strips of pork in the ramen as they were of decent size and the meat seemed like it was going to melt in my mouth. I don't remember chewing the meat at all to be honest.
One thing worth mentioning though. That night, my hubby managed to ram his car into someone else's bumper while he was trying to find a park on the side street. His car wasn't damaged at all which was a miracle but the other car's bumper was quite badly scratched and stripped off its own paint. Needless to say, I wasn't happy with him for being so careless but all was almost forgotten when our food arrived. The owner of the other car was actually a patron at the restaurant too and when she gave us a call about her car, we were just about to leave the restaurant expecting an angry person waiting for us in front of their car. Luckily she was nice about it. Tonight ended up being an expensive night for my hubby. An excess of $500 would probably need to be paid for to fix up that poor girl's car. **me shaking my head** So much for him making sly comments about women drivers on the way to dinner!
Ryo’s Noodles
125 Falcon St
Crows Nest 2065 NSW
Phone: +61 (02) 9955 0225
Thu-Tue noon-2.30pm, 5pm-9.30pm
Cash only; no bookings available
