Butao Ramen     豚王  

First thing, come at 1430 - 1700 on a weekday to avoid the queue

Had a 豚王with half boiled egg. ($75 + $15)
Ramen was nice, probably because I chose 'hard' instead of 'normal'.
Soup was bursting with flavours but not too oily, though I did not finish the soup because I was too full at the end!
The 3 slices of pork are nicely distributed with fats, though they didn't really melted in my mouth.
Half-boiled egg was good but I'd still prefer the ones at 八千代.
Service was good, will definitely be back!

My friend and I have planned to try the ramen here for a long time, but we were put off by the long queues every time. Anyway, we decided to take the plunge and joined the queue on one Friday evening.Yeah, it was packed and we waited for 30 minutes to be seated.We each ordered a bowl of "Pork King" ramen ($75). This was authentic Japanese ramen, pretty similar to my previous experience in Japan. The pork was surprisingly tender and savoury, while the soup base seemed to be free of MSG. My friend also ordered an egg, which looked appetising and I regretted not ordering one myself. However, both of us found that just one bowl was not very filling.

This place is definitely worth a try, but whether it's worth $75 or the 30-minute wait is arguable. I would return again if the waiting time was more reasonable.

For background, I am a Ramen craze Singaporean living in HK.. since 20 years ago when I lived in japan.. we used to drive from 1~2 hours each way just to eat particularly famous/good ramen.

The recent craze for Ramen in Singapore and HK is a god send and I do try to visit most of the well 'rated' stores in both countries.

In summary, it was not as great as the queues claimed...
Ordered the standard Butao (we generally only go for the basic the first time at any ramen stores)..

The soup was pretty good, not too oily and well balanced taste.
Unfortunately the noodle was not well cooked. Usually for yellow noodle there is a starch taste (in hokkien we call it 'gni') that has to be gotten rid of. Maybe because the soup base is not really strong, you can taste the starch taste in the noodle.

Half boil egg was cold at the core.. might be intentional..
The char-siew meat was too soft and just crumpled into little bits as you eat the noodle..

Verdict, I am probably fine with eating it again but I won't wait 30mins for it.. When the weather is better and I happened to walk by ya..
otherwise, the hideki ramen (next street) or ippudo (heard there is one nearby) likely offer nicer experience overall than this one.

Back in mid year 2010, a ramen frenzy has since started in Hong Kong, this is all began with one ramen (拉麵) restaurant they even began hype before their grand opening with the help of local TV show and gourmet columnist – Butao Ramen 豚王.Apart from the ramen, Butao is most famous for its long queues, limited servings of ramen and it’s street side sitting; these all together create the success formula for them and thus sparking the frenzy of ramen in the Hong Kong dining scene.Butao ramen is known for only serving limited number of ramen per day, and when the ramen stockpile reaches zero, the shop closes. Therefore creating the long queues almost 2 hours before it opens daily, with the people in anticipation for a hot bowl of authentic ramen prepared by Japanese ramen chef, and to be eaten at street side – the feeling of a typical ramen stall in Japan.Comparing with the ramen from other restaurants that opened after Butao, Butao’s ramen is truly delicious. This is the only ramen restaurant making me to visiting them again and again.

Butao’s menu features only four flavors of ramen: Butao (豚王), Red King (赤王), Dark King (黑王) and Green King (翠王), plus rumored “secret flavors” namely the Genki King (元気王) and Prawn King (海老王), since they’re not on the menu. As of today I have tried Butao (豚王)(again and again), Black King (黑王) and Prawn King (海老王). To make an order, you get to “customize” your ramen with their “signature” ordering slip, you can customize the strength of the ramen (that is how long should the ramen be cooked), intensity and spiciness of the soup base, soft-boiled egg, side dishes etc..No matter which variant of the ramen you choose, the ramen’s soup base is intensely rich and thick – the result of hours of stewing of pork bones. Ones may consider the soup is too oily, but however I see this is the true nature of authentic Japanese ramen, if it isn’t be this, just light and clear, this is already a Hong Kong localized noodle but not a Ramen, I would rather then suggest you have instant noodles instead.

Normally I would eat with extra portion of ramen and drink all the soup: it’s the politeness in respect to the ramen chef and also to show the chef how much you liked.The ramen scene in Hong Kong is blooming, though the days before Butao there has already ramen restaurants like Domen or Ramen Santouka, but was not trending yet and they’re just hiding around the city. Now everywhere is just about new ramen restaurant opening – each representing different variant of Japanese ramen. I guess this is how lucky Hong Konger is, I hope the ramen trend can last as long as it can!

Finally I had this chance to try豚王 as I had this class at 7pm near LKF.
There was no queue at around 6pm, I was seated immediately at the corner.

I work in Central, even though my lunch time spans between 12pm - 2pm, still haven't been able to try this place, until finally! a friend went and queued up since 11:30am and I joined him at 12:15pm, as soon as I joined him at the queue, it was our turn!

I tried the spicy one whilst he ordered the original one, the soup was so thick and rich! It was definitely very satifying for both of us!

Definitely want to come back!

Finally I got the chance to try this famous ramen here. My friend and I and the other two customers were the last customers of the day for they said the ramens were sold out and we were lucky to be in. So most of the time this shop can close around 5 p.m. The service was great and helpful but it's interesting the translations in English actually doesn't help people to understand what they order. Well, who cares!

I would say if you are looking for some chewy thick ramens, here is not the place. If you are looking for some soup not so oily, here is not for you.
Frankly, the soup tastes really great and the texture of the pork was great too but the taste was pretty plain.

If you are a big fan of Hataka ramen, this ramen should be authentic and fantastic for you, but I am a big fan of Sapporo or even others, this is totally not my cup of tea. However, I still enjoyed the food.

Some people complained that the ramen was overrated or not as good as people said, I think the first thing when you judge, you have to know what you are expecting. Well, there are regional variations no matter in the soup base or the noodles. So you have to know what you want...

had 豚王 in one afternoon, just waited for 15 mins to get in

the soup base was so think that makes the tastes so bland towards the end.
noodles' texture is good which is on the hard side.

overall it doesn't worth almost $100 ...

I had lunch here a few months back. Well I must say the ramen here is generally quite good. I really like strong flavoured soup base and the one they make here certainly do not disappoint. However, cueing up for over an hour on a hot summer day for a bowl of ramen which you can finish in around 20 minutes may not appeal to everyone. I am not sure whether I would want to go through such ordeal again, especially when there are now a number of good quality ramen shops which had opened in Hong Kong. In any event this place is certainly worth a try, if you can stand the waiting time!

well the service is good, they will give u cold water and 扇 to let u cool down when queuing~

ordered basic pork noodles~

the soup base is really good, not much MSG added coz i dun feel thirsty after eating it~ also it's not so salty and oily but a bit sticky~

noodles is just right, not too soft and not too hard~ no soda taste as well!

the pork is good too, some fatty around the meat and it's very smooth and big portion!

they added black fungus and some 蔥as well that can raise the taste~

lastly there's free side dishes too add and the 芽菜 is the best and not so spicy~

the free water they provided is good coz they added lemond inside!!!

Growing up in Yokohama, I was never crazy about Tonkotsu Ramen, so I was skeptical about this place being so popular.
I passed by yesterday and the line was not too long since it was 4pm, so I decided to try their Ramen for the first time.
I tried their original Butao flavor yesterday and I was pretty impressed with the balance of soup and noodles. For my taste, the soup was not hot enough (Japanese people like hot soup really burning hot) but I guess it was done intentionally.
When Tonkotsu soup is not hot enough, they often have some fat floating on the top of the soup, but it wasn’t in this case. The price is bit expensive for a bowl of Ramen compare to ones in Japan, but I was very happy over all. I will go back to try other flavors soon.

Before I tried Butao, ramen used to mean noodles from Ajisen or the squiggly al-dente ones that I never liked.

After I tried Butao, I realised how delicious Ramen could be.
It has changed my view on Ramen. These days I only eat Ramen if it is the thin type of ramen or because of the broth.

Butao has been so popular, that there has been never ending queues there since it opened.

If ALL those people that queued for Butao wrote a review for it, Butao would rank first on OpenRice for a long long time!I attempted to go quite a few times before, but the queue was just so long!

Although I have only been there twice, the taste is so distinct you can remember it for life.

My second time there was actually written first because it was a charity event, however this review was actually my first visit.

While I was eating there, it was interesting to see people queuing there with luggage, Butao is probably the last delicious bowl of noodles before they jet on a holiday or go on a business trip.
Or it could even be their first bowl of noodles and first impressions of Hong Kong.

Hence it can be seen how special Butao is!!

Being a fan of Japanese Ramen (Kyushu style more than Hokkaido style), I have eaten at 豚王 a few times already. I am lucky that my job allows me to leave the office flexibly, so instead of lining up for 2 hrs during lunch time, I usually go there just after 3pm and line up for around 15 minutes or even less.

I read somewhere that the chef worked at Ichiran in Japan previously. And I am a fan of Ichiran whenever I pay our Eastern neighbor a visit. (Let's hope Japan will heal sooner).

Anyway, back to the food... I have tried 豚王 and 黑王 only so far, I must say I like 黑王 better, it just enhances the rich pork broth to the next level. My friends tried the Green King before and said it was a little confusing with the cheese and pesto flavour. Having not tried it, I prefer to stick with traditional tastes.

Service is average, but then this isn't exactly an upmarket eatery. I prefer this casualness which adds to the authentic feel while eating. The staff are polite in general, as expected from the Japanese culture.

Definitely worth returning to once in a while when I can get down there around 3pm. When summer comes, it may get too hot for eating ramen outdoor however.

Found out from Open Rice that Butao is usually closed on Sundays, but for a special cause they were open on 17th of April, and all profits that day would be donated to Japan.
Instead of serving 200 bowls per day, it was increased to 280 bowls, so more funds could be raised.

Upon queuing up, there was a guy from that Charity helping out with giving out the menu's and the Pray for Japan badge.

Sat down and ordered the GREEN KING.

I chose the noodles to be super hard because they get softer towards the end.
The Japanese char siu really astonished me, it tasted like the roast pork that is thinly sliced in school dinners.
I have always refused to eat Japanese char siu because it dosnt taste that fresh, but here it was so soft and fresh.

Every element in the noodles was good, from spring onions, black fungus, pork to the noodles.

I shall be back for the Black King!

This is not a detailed review, a more detailed review will be posted later.

黑王Finally. I’ve been desperately wanting to try this place ever since it started its first wave of frenzy. Surprisingly, I was not disappointed (I was actually expecting to be – how good can ramen get?).

How good ramen can get was redefined. It can get really good. Although, it’s true that I haven’t had many ramen-related revelations – there are innumerable ramen joints in Hong Kong that I have yet to try, like MIST, and Daruma etc, so forgive me if I sound a little like I came straight off the boat.

So, on a Monday morning, I joined the queue at approximately 10.35am, and at 10 minutes to 11, I successfully became the second last person to fill the first sitting. Usually, on a first visit to a restaurant, I would order the dish that it is most often held out to represent the restaurant. In this case, it would be the 豚王. However, I chose the 黑王 in the end as I thought it was more unique and would give me more of a surprise. I found that the blackness was created after mixing the dome of black stuff into the soup, and then the soup just becomes this thick, rich, heavenly concoction that is the perfect match for the thin white strands of ramen, that were neither too hard nor too soft, just as I had opted. The strips of black fungi and generous amount of spring onions gave variety and texture. The pork slices were the rare melt-in-your-mouth kind that … well, melt in your mouth as soft and tender pieces of deliciousness. The extra condiments on the table – including tomato dices, tomato dices mixed in squid ink, cold and spicy bean sprouts, garlic, etc – made the simple bowl of ramen all that more interesting and fun to eat, though the contents of the said bowl on their own were enough to satisfy.

I also enjoyed the roadside atmosphere and the enthusiastic Japanese chanting behind the smoke from the kitchen. I wished it was less of a sit-eat-leave place, and that I had more leg-room to stretch out and sit for hours, but yet this would totally defeat the authentic roadsideness of this place. Besides, you don’t actually feel rushed at all. In fact, the tubs of condiments on the table and the jugs of cold water that you can freely help yourself to makes you feel more than welcome to enjoy your ramen in whatever pace you want. I would definitely return, if only there was a higher cap on the number of bowls served daily.