All 3 outlets of Hakata Ippudo on Hong Kong side are now serving a CUSTOMIZABLE ramen to the customer's choice. You can select between a mixture between Pork Bone Soup x 1) Dried Fish Powders, 2) Spicy Miso, 3) Black Garlic Oil and a 4) Curry Minced Pork Miso. Fish Powder x Pork Bone Soup with Flame Grilled Char-Siu -
I really liked this. In fact better than my last review of the milder Fish Stock x Pork Stock version that is served in TST. It had the right mixture between Aji and Bonito fish powder and soy sauce and pork bone soup, very well balanced without being too heavy.

.Noodles were Thick and Al Dente
The noodles at Hakata Ippudo are nearly always impressive and they always carry taste and backbone, despite having so many types of noodles being on offer at one time.

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Ippudo regularly comes up with different New recipes, and to me some work and some don't do as successfully well. Nowadays, customers can build up their ramen from a base from scratch until March 2013. Since ramens are such a Subjective matter - why not come and play around with creating your own preferred style?

In One Simple Sentence:
Another good Ramen place in the city, central, with a little twist, and missing eggs (annoying)

Insider Tip:
Go in the afternoon to avoid the amazing amount of people, we got seated without waiting, makes the whole experience much more enjoyable

Visiting Details:
Lunch, 2 people, 200HK$
Food: 3/5
Service: 3/5

Cuisine: Japanese Ramen
Menu in English: Yes
Serving Tab Water: Yes
Serving Tea: No
Free Snacks (Bread / Buns / etc.): No
Reservation: No
Wait to get seated: No

Must Try:
Ippudo Ramen

Better somewhere else:
Ramen Eggs, unbelievable this Ramen place does not have the "usual" soaked eggs. When you order eggs here you will get served just a normal serving of egg, not too exciting, and not comprehensible for me. For me, the eggs, are the salt in the ramen soup, i measure my Ramen on the quality of the eggs ------------------------------
For Starters:
Crispy Bacon Rolls:
An interesting dish, served in little test tubes, crispy roles with a (tiny) amount of bacon inside, interesting to try and only approx 30HK$------------------------------
Lunch:
Ippudo Ramen
Very flavourful Ramen, with a mix of delicious ingredients, not too salty, not to flat. 2 piece of meat, no egg(!!)

Slow Cooked Ramen
The other of their "specials", unexpected spicy soup base, but 4 piece of meat no egg (again!!)------------------------------
Desert Time:
No desert for lunch for us
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Other Remarks:
Location is very good, situated right above the new Prive

一風堂 have been one of the successful ramen chain in Hong Kong, the central branch is the third Hakata Ippudo after Tsim Sha Tsui and Casueway Bay. Perhaps, it was newly opened; we were seated without waiting on a Saturday evening. Décor is simple, like a typical ramen restaurant and the service were fairly efficient.

Cuisine: Japanese
Food rating: 3/10*
Service: 3/10
Ambiance: 4/10
Price: HK$100 (per head)

* Food Rating: 6/10 is equivalent to 1 Michelin star, 8/10 to two Michelin stars, and 9/10 or above to three Michelin stars

香辣炸雞翼
Chicken wings have been halfed. It was fairly seasoned and tender, but it wasn’t crispy at all, not sure if it was deep fried.Poached Egg on Hamburg Steak
Apparently this is another special like the wings, only offers from the central branch. The steak was made with pork and topped with a poach egg. Other than it was presented nicely, I didn’t see or taste what so special about it to be a signature dish.IPPUDO Ramen
The pork was tender and the noodles were thin and bouncy. Personally, I thought the soup wasn’t powerful/delicate enough and yet too much MSG. It made us drank a lot of water and end up queuing for the loo after the dinner.Wasabi Ramen (4/10)
Same was the IPPUDO Ramen, but wasabi was added to the broth, it was kind of special and innovative. It is definitely worth a try.All Toppings (4/10)
The pork was lean and tender. The egg was pretty standard, I have tasted better.If it happens that you are craving for ramen and一風堂 is round the corner. It would be an option for a bowl of ramen, but be ready to drink a lot of water for the MSG!

After trying the one in TST, I have to try the same at Central. Today got a class at 7pm and lots of seats are available when I get there at 6:30pm on a weekday.

赤丸新味 – hmm…when it served, part of the soup is in black which is the garlic favour.
The pork piece is actually quite tiny, the taste is not strong. I like the original ramen more.Poached egg – actually I wanted to order the half boiled egg but…I asked for the poached by mistake, but anyway, it is a nice poached egg.

Good and speedy services provided.

Hakata Ippudo 博多 一風堂 has been a pleasant addition to the local ramen scene. It might not sound as sophisticated and artisanal as other shops, but somehow registers as being a cleaner type of ramen. The owner might be a 5 time National Ramen King but sometimes you wonder if they are opening up too many shops to fast and diluting the experience by becoming a chain store, but at the end of the day, to me only the taste matters - always. I've previously had some very satisfying ramens at the Japan and TST stores, but a last visit to Causeway Bay store wasn't entirely great and I had to return a bowl as it was too weak in taste! Meanwhile this Central new opening seems to have kept up with the standards so far. Note: This is from my private visit to the store myself despite having received an Invitation to their opening party, I just wasn't available on the day. So hopefully this can reflect more of their normal operating quality !

.Lemon High Ball -
A popular Japanese drink at many izakayas, you can always tell it's a Japanese version by the largish glass it is served in rather than in a narrow Collins glass as per tradition.. This was done recently and quite a refreshing alcoholic drink.

. Coke Zero -
The saltiness in the ramens make me drink a lot. Look, no fat !

.Ume High Ball -
This is made with Ume apricots aka plum, but the apricots flavour wasn't too apparent. Prefer the lemon one much better.

. Poached Egg on Hamburg Steak - $38
This is one of the Central store only special items and a new signature offering. The hamburg steak is called a Char Siu Tsukune in Japanese, it's made with pork but no cartilages. The egg is all runny and gooey it is addictive. Can also be ordered over rice for $10 more.

.Tsukemen つけ麺 -
This is Ippudo's latest addition. The noodles are expectedly different and of the much wider 激太 ストレート麺, which carries quite a bite and very likeable. The dipping broth is served strong as a dip by default, also just LUKEWARM as per tradition, which means it cools down quite fast. The flavours are mostly 鰹節 Bonito and 昆布 Konbu dashi with a hint of 豚骨 Tonkotsu broth. I instantly thought the Bonito overpowered everything a bit. I liked the noodles more than the broth. Finish the concentrated soup off with more Konbu soup added. The floating bits in the soup are not 背脂 but 天かす.

.All Toppings 全部のせ 具 -
The Char Siu comes as 2 different cuts, the belly was surprisingly lean. I like leaner meats though so it's totally a personally thing, as long as it is not tough.

.Shoyu Tonkotsu Ramen -
This is my favourite ramen at Hakata Ippudo, which is quite ironical for a shop originating from Hakata, because this style of Tonkotsu Shoyu ramen with a thicker noodle than normal Kyushu ramen (here it's 中太ストレート麺) is a Yokohama style 横浜家系ラーメン. I like the broth being more soya sauce influenced and with a slightly thicker ramen, and everything is more balanced up a bit in the equation. Having lived in this area before might have affected my judgement though, as I'm not the most dedicated fan to those in your face full-on Tonkotsu ramens that has pork smell. I prefer balanced ramens which I can eat everyday!


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- One of the strongest points about Ippudo is its noodles, which I think is one of the best available in HK bar the exception of 周月 Sugetsu Ramen. The soup is balanced but probably a bit generic and feminine for ramen purists.

- Other foods are not bad but seems to be missing some spirits and passion, I suspect the shops back in the hometown of Hakata are better - having said that this will still be my to-go ramen joint, just because everything is balanced and I don't need to drink the sludgy tonkotsu soup from other places and seal my lips together with collagen... (苦笑)