Ramen Minamo @ Desa Sri Hartamas, KL
Ramen Minamo みなも
Located at Desa Sri Hartamas, sharing the same row with Kyomo (used to be known as Shin Nihon) and Itsumo Japanese Yakitori (used to be known as Toridoki), Ramen Minamo is the new face that popped up at this row of happening eateries.
Ramen Minamo is led by Chef Chihiro Miyazaki of Tokyo’s Michelin Bib Gourmand, Soranoiro Ramen that’s specializing in vegan ramen. But here in Malaysia, he is introducing the hearty bowls of chicken broth based ramen! Yay to this new ramen place in KL because this is the place where you can enjoy Tori Paitan ramen! As Japan is a four season country, Chef Miyazaki also plans to introduce new recipe here in Minamo every 3 months, something that reflects the changing of seasons as accordingly in Japan.
Ramen Minamo is very serious about their ramen; they have a huge sheet of paper as placemat, with all the answers to the questions that one may ask. For example: the ingredients added in to make the hearty soup base, time taken to cook the soup, and even the water pH to make the soup base also listed out.
Here is Chef Takuya in action.
The menu is pretty straightforward here. Choose between SHIRO – the whitish, milky, collagenous based broth; SHOYU – clear chicken broth with a touch of Okamoto Shoyu and AKA – the spicy broth with chili and mixed spices broth. They also offer small side dishes such as gyoza, karaage and interesting salad.
SHIRO – White (Rm 30)
Hand pulled noodles that come in fatter strand with approximately 1.5mm thickness, served in the milky whitish rich chicken soup. The soup base is very collagen-rich, simmered for 5 hours 20 minutes over high heat, with the bones crushed every 10 minutes. You also can see how serious they are in the ramen; they are very particular in the cooking time for chicken broth, as stated.
The toppings such as chicken breast, Aosa seaweed and an onsen egg are served at the side. This allows the diner to enjoy the pure original flavour of the broth; additional of topping into the ramen will change the flavour of the broth. You may add in the toppings one by one, and so you may able to taste the different variation of flavours in one bowl.
I love this milky broth. Although it was not close to what I like in Japan , this bowl of milky chicken broth ramen was truly comforting. It was very creamy collagen yet not too overly thick and sticky kind; something that fit our palates at this weather. Every strand of noodles adsorbed the umami broth. As for myself, I prefer to have the noodles with just the broth alone, and then lastly add in the topping to absorb the broth. But this is all based on you own preference, to add them in earlier or later is up to you.
SHOYU – Classic
The classic bowl of ramen, with clear chicken soup and touches with the fresh and unfiltered Okamoto Shoyu. This clear chicken soup is made by simmering chicken bones for 5 hours 10 minutes and continuously removing the froth on the broth’s surface at the same time. Something different from the earlier one will be the thickness of the noodles and the accompanied toppings. The thickness of the noodles is 1.3mm, slightly thinner than the one used in SHIRO. The toppings are smooth chicken breast, Japanese omelette and Japanese spicy sauce.
Another comforting bowl of ramen with rich umami flavours. I am a big fan of thin noodles so I like this thin noodle! Slurp-y and thin, lightly springy, adsorbing the flavours of the soup. The ramen here comes at a great warm temperature. Temperature can last for quite some times inside this Arita ware that they specifically made and brought in from Japan (Arita ware is a traditional craft with a 400-year history and well known for its ability to keep the soup warm).
No, I didn’t add this into my shoyu soup base because I love its clear flavour very much. There is no need additional of flavours to the clear shoyu chicken soup.
AKA – Red (Rm 33)
Spicy soup made of clear chicken broth with house-mix spices, chilli peppers and tomatoes, comes with thinner strands of noodles and side with vegetables, roasted chicken with spices, coriander with Tom Yam Sauce. I was too full to give a try on this, so I can’t quite comment on this much. Perhaps next time, I will check this out again.
If you need some greens, check out their small sides as they offer really interesting salads.
Bitter Gourd Salad (Rm 13)
Bitter gourd with a soft hint of bitterness (okay, this depends on how bitter is the bitter gourd available that day), crunchy and drenched with mayo dressing.
Kale Salad (Rm 15) in creamy dressing
Coriander Salad (Rm 13) in Lemon dressing
Steamed Chicken Salad (Rm 18)
Bean Sprout with Miso Chicken Mince (Rm 18)
Creamy Soup Gyoza (Rm 13)
Fried Chicken (Rm 15 for 5 pieces)
Gyoza (Rm 15 for 5 pieces)
Japanese style gyoza filled with minced chicken, cabbage and lettuce; seasoned with bonito stock and served with homemade gyoza sauce and spicy paste.
Ramen Minamo みなも
38-G, Jalan 24/70a,
Desa Sri Hartamas,
50480 Kuala Lumpur.
Lunch: 12pm to 2pm
Dinner: 6pm to 9.30pm
Opens daily
