Taro's Ramen Cafe

Today went by very quickly at the office, it was quite slack actually. The boss'll be away till next week so I am feeling a lot less tense!

Seem to have lost a bit of my mojo after coming back to work, feeling kinda unmotivated and sluggish. I think it's just the reality of my field that is just beginning to hit me hard- I shan't go into too much detail here as it can be quite a sensitive topic. 

In other news, I'll be teaching some classes at the University, which is something entirely new to me and I must say, I am both apprehensive and excited at the same time (more of the former, ha!). Classes will be a couple of sessions per week and although they have yet to assign me to my classes, I think I'll be taking either final year or second year undergraduates in Biochemistry or Cell Biology. 700+ students in the one course, there'll be many classes no doubt.

So anyway on to more interesting stuff- food! The Husband and I went to Taro's Ramen Cafe this evening after work. I'd come across it on The Urban List (Brisbane edition) and fell hard for their Truffle Ramen. However, I discovered that the List was a little dated and that Taro's no longer offer that dish anymore so that was well disappointing! We decided to give Taro's a go anyway since it was touted as Brisbane's best ramen. 

After circling the CBD a couple of times, we finally found a parking spot. We walked over to the cafe only to discover that hey, we've been here 2.5 years ago with Shups and the girls! At the time we just didn't know it was called Taro's. Our first impression of the ramen joint wasn't very good but since we had already parked and paid for parking, we decided to give it a second chance. 

Gonna reveal a spoiler here- our "second impression" of this place did not end up being different from the first, the ramen is still not up to standard.

I ordered their flagship ramen- the Tonkotsu Ramen and the Husband ordered the Shoyu Ramen. We also ordered 2 side dishes, the Chicken Karaage and the Kakuni (according to Google, it's braised pork belly but I'm pretty sure I saw on the menu that it was pork cheek).

My Tonkotsu Ramen looked like this:

To be honest, it really was very underwhelming. The broth, although hearty, thick and rich, just didn't taste flavorful at all. The texture of the noodles was good though- they were springy and didn't seem to absorb the broth so they weren't soggy even at the end of the meal. The egg was also cooked perfectly, the white was so super soft like tofu and the yolk, although it looked runny, was set just nicely in between liquid and solid state (I don't even know how to describe it, how embarrassing!). Also, the meat that came with the ramen was just simply a joke! It was a thin sliver of visually unappetizing pork. I mean, just look at it. It looks raw! The taste of it cannot even make up for its lack of presentation- it was dry and had a weird gummy texture. All in all, the ramen was really disappointing for me. This is coming from someone who doesn't have sky high standards for food like foodies usually have, and from someone who was dying of hunger at the time.

The Chicken Karaage:

This was okay, very normal, nothing to shout about. Kadoya in the City makes better karaage, cheaper too and definitely more than 5 little pieces! I wouldn't say this is worth the $8.90 that we paid for it. 

The Kakuni:

Now this was the saving grace of tonight's meal. The pork was really very tender and juicy. The fat marbled throughout the meat was melt-in-the-mouth. Absolutely sensational. I think we paid $6.40 for it. Was it expensive? Yes. Was it worth it? I think so. Would I order it again? Hell yeah!

So all in all, we had a really disappointing time at Taro's again. I didn't even finish my noodles and the Husband wouldn't even touch it either which just goes to show how disappointed we were in it. Just FYI, the Husband is someone who would finish just about anything and everything of mine.

I know many have said otherwise about the ramen here but I don't know, it's just not nice at all. Firstly, it's not value for money (I have to repeat myself- someone needs to do something about that pathetic sliver of meat!) and secondly, the taste is just not up to par. 

I personally prefer Hakataya Ramen, and no I am not affiliated with them and neither am I paid to say this. I just feel that Hakataya Ramen tastes more authentic and the pork they include in every bowl is way better in quality and quantity than Taro's. For the same price of $14.90, you get free extra noodles, more than 6 huge slices of tender pork and very tasty broth from Hakataya. How Taro's got so many recommendations is just simply beyond me.

Nothing makes me more unhappy than paying premium price for sub-par pickings.