Dinner @ Mugen Ramen

Ramen is one of those things, when you want it, you want it, and you want it to be good.

So I am pleased to announce that discerning ramen fans now have one more excellent options among Melbourne's noodle houses to add to the list of ramen places that actually deliver the goods.

Mugen looks like it belongs in Gibson's sprawl-era Chiba, all glass and pre-weathered concrete in the above ground bar, and neon lights and dark wood panels in the dining room two flights down below street level.

The place oozes cool, down to the manga toons on the menus, and I started to wonder if the food could live up to the hype that they were trying to build. The answer is yes, it absolutely did.

I ordered the Miso Ramen (Miso and Dashi based broth, house made Ramen noodles, slow cooked chashu pork, bean shoots, pork mince and corn) and my dining companion has the Hiyashi Ramen (Cold Ramen noodles on a fresh green salad with finely sliced omelette, slow cooked pork and sesame soy dressing). We also split a Tsukune (Grilled chicken skewers made from chicken thigh and soft chicken bones, drizzled in Teriyaki sauce and with a fresh egg yolk as a dip).

The Tskune arrived first and it was both beautifully flavoured and had an amazing texture. The 'soft bones' on the menu are small chips of chicken cartilage boiled and boiled and boiled until they reach a texture that is both crunchy and delicate all at the same time. They were mixed up with a perfectly spiced mince of chicken and then grilled to chary perfection. The addition of one perfectly formed (and utterly whiteless) egg yolk as a dip was sublime, the texture and subtle egg flavour perfectly glazed the skewers and really elevated the dish.

Then came the Ramen. And what Ramen it was! The noodles were absolutely perfect, chewy and fresh. The broth was both delicately flavoured and like nothing that I have had with Ramen before. It was a really good mix of sweet and salt and umami, and offset everything else perfectly. Only one downside was the minced pork, it wasn't bad, it just didn't really add anything. Nonetheless, the Miso Ramen comes highly recommended.

My dining companion also loved his Hiyashi Ramen and said that it was the perfect Ramen dish for summer.

There aren't many seats in Mugen, so get there early to make sure you are filling one of them ASAP.

On a ramen related note, SCN have been invited to the soft opening of a new ramen restaurant in the Melbourne CBD. Stayed tuned for the review at the end of this month. In even more exciting news, we found out very recently that we will be eating at the most coveted table in town next Saturday. Don't want to give too much away, but most of you can probably guess...