WHAT WE ATE

• Kyushu Ramen – 55/100, Ipoh
• Orange Shio Ramen – 30/100, Ipoh

While craving ramen during our Ipoh trip, we stumbled upon this small stall at De Garden Mall.

Note: we haven’t yet tried the Hitoyoshi outlet in Ipoh – If the standards there are consistent, it might be a better option to satisfy your ramen fix.

Kyushu Ramen: 50/100

While the Kyushu Ramen has a flavorful broth and standout chashu, it falls short with the noodle and toppings.

Noodle: 10/35
The noodles are medium-thin, wavy, and have a rich yellow hue. Unfortunately, they were served on the softer side, with a clammy texture that detracted from the eating experience. In terms of flavor, the noodles are lackluster, offering little beyond their visual appeal. The weak bite and bland taste make this a significant miss.

Soup: 20/35
Although labeled as Kyushu-style tonkotsu, the broth tastes more like a chicken-and-pork mix, with a savory-sweet flavor profile. It begins with a salty-sweet note, followed by a subtle peppery finish, likely from the chashu’s marination. The richness (measured at 9.6 brix) is comparable to a classic Hakata tonkotsu, but the mouthfeel is starchier than expected. While the soup is flavorful, it lacks complexity and flattens quickly, making it a one-note experience that could benefit from a more layered tare.

Meat: 20/20
The chashu is the undisputed highlight of this bowl. These medium-thin slices of grilled pork belly are deeply savory with a prominent smoky “wok hey” aroma and a hint of pepper. The texture is tender and juicy, with the fatty portions melting in your mouth. The chashu truly shines and is the saving grace of this dish.

Topping: 5/10
The toppings were a letdown. While the bowl includes onions, seaweed, black fungus, and an egg, none of them stood out. The egg was dry inside and either minimally marinated or not marinated at all. The seaweed was mushy and flavorless, offering no enhancement to the dish. The onions lacked the sharp, piquant qualities of traditional negi, failing to break up the monotony of the soup. The lack of attention to the toppings dragged down the overall experience.

Orange Shio Ramen: 30/100

Despite an intriguing concept that blends orange zest with Shio ramen, poor execution in nearly every aspect—except for the chashu—renders this dish an unfortunate disappointment.

Noodle: 5/35
The medium-thin, wavy noodles with their bright yellow hue are the same as other bowls, but here they’re overly salty, having absorbed the excessive saltiness of the broth. Served soft and with a clammy texture, the noodles lack the firmness and bite expected in a good ramen. In terms of flavor, they remain bland aside from their overpowering saltiness, offering little to complement the dish.

Soup: 0/35
The soup is the major failure here. While it starts with a fragrant hint of orange zest, the overwhelming saltiness quickly dominates, leaving a lingering burn on the tongue. The idea of combining the citrusy brightness of orange with a Shio base could have been refreshing, but the execution is severely flawed. Instead of being light and clean like a typical Shio, the broth is thick and excessively salty—nearly twice as salty as it should be—making it unpleasant and hard to finish.

Meat: 20/20
The saving grace of this ramen is the chashu. These medium-thin slices of grilled pork belly are deeply savory, with a bold smoky “wok hey” aroma and a subtle peppery undertone. The texture is tender and juicy, and the fatty portions melt in your mouth. The chashu’s quality stands out in stark contrast to the rest of the bowl.

Topping: 5/10
The toppings—sweet corn, seaweed, and onions—were lackluster. The seaweed was mushy and flavorless, adding nothing to the dish, while the onions lacked the sharp piquancy of traditional negi that could have broken up the soup’s monotony. Surprisingly, the sweet corn stood out as the only topping that made a difference; its buttery sweetness, though slightly out of place, provided a welcome contrast to the saltiness. However, the overall lack of thoughtful topping selection dragged the dish down further.

DISCLAIMER

One man’s meat is another man’s poison.
Find out more about our palettes and how we evaluate our ramen here. 😉