Third Time At Ippudo

Since this is a food blog (or at least I'm trying to make it one), I shall share my dining experience on my last Sunday morning at Ippudo with the internet. (If anyone actually reads this)

Ippudo, also known as Hakata Ippudo in Japan, is an international Japanese ramen restaurant chain. Twice before this visit I had gone to the chain located in Pavillion Kuala Lumpur, situated in the Bukit Bintang district. This time round, my parents (they were paying for the meal, and driving too) decided to try another Ippudo instead, and this one is located in The Gardens Mall, situated right beside Mid Valley Megamall.

The restaurant's name in Kanji/ Chinese.

Upon entrance, the waiters greeted us in unison, but in Japanese (I asked my dad but he just said that it meant "Welcome") and one waiter led us to a table. I looked around the restaurant and saw that there wasn't many people, but then I remembered it was only half past ten in the morning. When we sat down, I saw something very interesting on the wall to my left.

This one was in Chinese.

There were other ones in English and Japanese too.

It was a comic page that briefly described the concept Ippudo is built upon (which I would come to later). Fascinated, I looked around and saw this wall.

(This was taken later when we were leaving.)

A wall of spoons, which I stared at for about half a minute before turning back to my menu. Having been to the other chain two times prior to this, I already knew what to order, but I will still explain it briefly here. Ippudo serves three main types of ramen noodles, with the variation in the soup and type of noodle.

As you can see, there are three variations of their tonkotsu (pork bone broth) ramen, and if I remembered correctly they had slightly different noodles, some flatter than others. Each tonkotsu ramen then have their own combinations of toppings and whatnot. With a little bit extra cash, you can get extra toppings such as pork slices or eggs.

Now we have come to the concept of which Ippudo is bulit upon.

In the bowl of noodles that they serve, you would notice the noodles is actually less than what you would expect of such a big bowl of broth. This has reasons to it. In order to not let the noodles get soft as you are eating them, they decided to reduce the amount of noodles served and instead serve these kae-damas instead. These noodles can be ordered in varying hardness of very soft, soft, normal, hard, and very hard. (If I remembered correctly that is) This prevents the noodles in your broth getting soft before you finished them, but the kae-damas also accommodated those with larger appetites.

After we had ordered our noodles (with my mum adding three side dishes), I looked around the restaurant.

The "bar" area.

I liked the lighting very much, but sadly my phone's camera is incapable of capturing the soft hue of yellow that illuminated the restaurant. With a cheery mood, I picked up my glass of green tea and took a sip. I was very disappointed that the green tea was so weak, I wouldn't consider it tea at all.

We waited for a while before our noodles arrived, steaming hot. The waiters spoke in unison and this time they said "Itadakimasu!", which means something similar to "bon appetit". ("Enjoy your meal")
 

This was my order, Modern Tonkotsu, Akamaru Chashu.

I forgot whose and what combination this was, but it's Spicy Tonkotsu.

The noodles were very good, as expected. The pork bone broth is rich and full of flavor, and the chashu (simmered pork belly) was juicy and didn't have that distinctive pork smell some other pork noodles have. I tried some of my dad's and the broth was spiced just to the right degree where it's hot but doesn't burn your tongue. Me and my dad decided to ordered one kae-dama each (wrong decision) after we were almost done with our first bowl. Shortly after that the side dishes arrived.

This had avocado, salmon and pork bacon. Yum.

This had tuna and the sauce on top was spicy.

It had bean sprouts, unagi and teriyaki sauce.

They were good, but nothing to die for. I forgot to take a picture of the menu because it was separated but it was some sort of promotion or deal I think. We were all so full that by the point all the side dishes are gone, I couldn't finish all of my kae-dama noodles. (Never doing that again)

When I gave up on my noodles and looked up, I noticed the restaurants had a lot more people. Waiters were bussing noodles to customers and bowls away from cleared tables at an astonishing pace. When the bill came, I took a look and the price was as expected. Four bowls of noodles (we brought our maid too) and three side dishes costed a little over two hundred Malaysian Ringgit. Having had our fill, we walked ourselves out and out of the corner of my eye, I saw a pillar with words and turned around.

A pillar with "Thank you" translated into other languages.

Naturally, I took a picture and continued my way out of the restaurant.


VERDICT
Food: 4 oui's out of 5.
Atmosphere: 3.5 oui's out of 5.
Furnishing: 3 oui's out of 5.
Serving attitude: 3.5 oui's out of 5.

Overall it was a pleasant experience, but I wish the side dishes were more exciting and the waiters more enthusiastic.

Would I recommend it? Yes! If you are just around the area, give it a try and let the noodles bring you into a world of broth-y wonder. Go to the one in Pavillion too if you have the time, they have better lighting. (Albeit natural and not the inner part of the restaurant)

Until next time, I wish you marvelous gastronomy experiences in your future.

IPPUDO The Gardens Mall KL
Lot-T218, 3rd Floor, The Gardens Mall
+603-22016238
www.ippudo.com.my







P.S. I got a nifty Ippudo Loyalty Card that gives me a stamp for every RM50 spent, and a reward for every RM250 spent. I think that if you redeemed the reward at RM250 you cannot accumulate your stamps for the RM500 and so on. I'm saving up for the T-shirt and bandana.

P.P.S I forgot to mention the price for each bowl of noodles. Each bowl is about 28 to 36 Malaysian Ringgit depending on the soup and combination.