Hakataya Noodle Shop
Shop27b, Sunnybank Plaza
Sunnybank Brisbane
http://www.hakatayanoodle.com/

Ok, so Brisbane is not quite Melbourne but both cities have a Southbank so there! :P MMM doesn't have to be about Melbourne, it can be about Melbourne foodies giving food from other cities a try :)

Hakataya, started in Gold Coast, has to be one of the best ramen shops I have ever eaten at. Not even the ones from Japan compare. So I may be exaggerating a bit but seriously, Hakataya wins over Momotaro, Ramen Ya, Ito's and Ajisen Ramen (full of msg) hands down. Don't even get me started on the over priced try hard ramen from Chocolate Buddha either.

I don't mean to sound harsh, but this little shop in Sunnybank Brisbane always has a line and if you go too late in the evening, you risk going home hungry because they can run out of soup and noodles. It's a tiny little shop with a few seats inside at a bar and 2 tables and a few more bar seats outside.

The soup is boiled for 39hours and the broth is milky and full of flavour. The noodles are perfectly hand made and doesn't remind me of wonton noodles at all. If you still have soup left over, you can ask for a free serve of noodles and additional serves are $1.80. You are also serve with a little dish of spicy pickled seaweed which reminded me of Chinese salty pickled vegetable. The addition of sesame seeds also enhances the flavour (check out the cute little sesame dispenser below).

Not as good as the ramen but I decided to try their tonmeshi since we were eating there the day after we had our first bowl of noodles. The tonmeshi is rice cooked in the pork bone broth, served with fresh chopped spring onions and pork. The flavour was subtle and the topping of spring onions and slightly sweet pork meat worked well together. It was even better when I topped up my rice with a bit of extra soup from M's ramen.

Apart from the classic pork soup base, you can also choose a spicy soup, and spicy miso soup. New to their menu is a spicy seafood soup base. Gyoza and rice balls can be ordered as well.

So if you are ever Brisbane or Gold Coast, go and try Hakataya. Also a big thanks to the friends who took us to eat this 2 days in a row. You guys have now made me not want to eat Melbourne ramen any more!