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Hakata Gensuke – Melbourne, City – Sunday 11 January 2015 – Lunch

IMG_3279There’s something oddly attractive about a line outside a restaurant. I know those who don’t pursue food like a hunter might completely disagree, but in my world, a line signifies there might be something worth waiting for.

Often it is a façade. It is great marketing or PR, a huge following of friends of the owners, or something intangible that makes others want to partake. Equally it can be a sign of greatness, amazing food at the right price-point, or a unique quality that captures the imagination of the population.

Signature Tonkotsu

Signature Tonkotsu

When we walked past Hakata Gensuke a week ago on the way to HuTong, we were intrigued by the crowd out front. Some research and a bit over a week later we were one of those waiting in line for the ramen shop to open at midday. Getting there by about 11.40am was good enough for making the first sitting.

The staff, the chefs in particular, shout their Japanese greeting at you as you walk in, which is traditional. Throughout the meal you find that the energy of the floorstaff and the chefs from their greeting sparks the atmosphere in the restaurant. You are presented with a piece of paper, and a pencil, and have a number of choices to make on the type of ramen, the noodle texture, its strength, and additions you can make.

Signature Tonkotsu

Signature Tonkotsu

Being our first time, we both chose the signature tonkotsu ramen, normal textured noodles, normal strength, spring onions, and I had an additional flavoured egg. Tonkotsu is made from pork bones and this makes for a rich broth, that in this case, is completely divine. Throw in some noodles, that from my experience, are very high quality in taste and texture; some thinly sliced pork (cha-shu), black mushrooms, spring onions, and a deeply flavoured egg; and you have one of the best Japanese noodle soups that you could hope for.

Gyoza

Gyoza

Japan is one of the many countries that I haven’t travelled to yet, but know I’ll experience at some stage soon. If I can find ramen better than you find at Hakata Gensuke around Japan, then that would be the only reason I need to buy the plane ticket. For now, I’ll have to settle for some amazing soup on Russell Street in the city.

Hakata Gensuke on Urbanspoon

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Pg.2 – Richmond – Saturday 20 December 2014 – Breakfast

IMG_3183IMG_3184It’s incredible with all the cafes already in Richmond that Pg.2 decided to open its doors in a growing part of Swan Street. In the early stages in order to be competitive a cafe has to look closely how it wants to be seen, its menu prices, and above all its staff.

To some, it may seem easy to get a cafe off the ground and running at a nice profit. But shortly after opening how often do we see cafes closing their doors! About a month ago we walked past this particular cafe had a quick look at the menu. There was a crowd and we remembered the staff member who passed on the menu with a friendly smile (and the La Marzocco machine).

That was enough for us to decide on this particular Saturday morning to go back and give Pg.2 a try. The friendliness of the staff was equalled today. The prices on the menu are extremely reasonable and the venue is nicely fitted out but certainly not making a hard and fast grab at the entire market with an elaborate renovation budget. It seems well planned and knows its place.

The last piece of the puzzle is obviously the food. We had no expectation either way, but hoped to find some honest food for breakfast that provided something to go back for. After all, the walk there is only about 8 minutes for us! Again, Pg.2 delivered. My mushrooms were flavoursome with good balance between showing off the mushies and adding to their richness. The bread tastes like it is from the patisserie down the road which makes a good loaf, though a touch on the sweeter side. The poached eggs come with some nice hollandaise on top and were perfectly cooked. Lastly, I initially asked for crispy bacon but the waitperson explained that the bacon here is locally smoked and cut thick (so it wouldn’t be that crispy). With that explanation I was happy to have it how the chefs usually cook it, and you can taste the quality of the smoking bringing out that beautiful deep salt that pork has as its greatest asset.

Catherine’s avocado, tomato and goat’s cheese on toast were a good rendition of this Melbourne breakfast staple. A little bit of pizazz with the old school reduced balsamic thrown in for both flavour and effect, but the main feature was nice quality ingredients. With some pretty ho-hum versions out there, this one for only a little over a tenner is pretty amazing value.

While it isn’t easy, there is always more room for a good suburban cafe, even in the Richmond metropolis. Pg.2 is getting the balance right.

Pg.2 on Urbanspoon