Ever had tsukemen? It's a ramen dish consisting of noodles which are eaten after being dipped in a separate bowl of soup or broth. The dish was invented in 1961 by Kazuo Yamagishi, in Tokyo.
The noodles are usually served cold, and the soup is served hot. The soup serves as a dipping sauce, and is typically much stronger and more intense than a standard ramen broth so don't go pouring it into your noodles.
In Sydney a few places make it, but no place has done it in a matter as close to an experience you can get in Tokyo I've come across as Kosuke Ramen The Shop was originally in Newington but since it's closed for renovations, it's new spot in North Strathfield has been popping off and I hear queues can get pretty ridiculous.
We ordered:
$21.50 - Spicy Kosuke - Spicy version of their signature
$21 - Tonkotsu Tsukemen
$4.30 - Two pieces extra chashu
Here they make two types of noodles, thin and thick. Thin for the ramen and thick for the tsukemen. The thick noodles use three kinds of premium flours including whole grain, natural sea salt and Kansui (alkaline noodles) with filtered water while the thin ones use two kinds of flours.
When you enter after queuing, you can order directly to the left of the door on an iPad or at the counter on an iPad. I suggest checking the menu on your phone before ordering so you're ready to go.
For the noodles, you can choose firmer or softer than normal and for the broth you can choose watered down or thicker than normal. For the tsukemen you can also choose the noodles to be served cold or warm, your preference.
I really enjoyed both the noodles and the broth. Great bounce and the 15+ hour broth had a great fishy yet porky flavor but wasn't overly rich or salty. The egg was cooked well too, the only mark to the dish here was the chashu. I've had much better chashu and the chashu here is slightly tougher/overcooked but still decent.
I had a taste of the Spicy Kosuke and it definitely has a medium kick so it deserves the name.
I came at 11.20am on a weekday and there were five people ahead of us but we were able to get a seat upon opening. If you come just as they open I'd expect to wait 15 to 30 minutes.
