After reading some reviews on Urbanspoon and other blogs on good cheap places to eat around Surfers Paradise, I decided to try out Hakataya Ramen, known for its cheap and tasty ramen. A group of us wandered over on a Sunday night at 7pm, only to be told they had run out of everything for the night. My partner and I tried again 2 nights later, this time getting there at 6pm, and were lucky to nab the last free table.
It’s tiny inside with about 4 tables crammed closely together and seating at a bench running across two of the walls. There are a handful of tables outside but these seem to get taken first.
The menu is very short with just 4 types of ramen available with a few sides such as gyoza, rice balls or extra noodles. Items are numbered so it’s a very easy ordering system. A sign outside states you get free extra ramen with every ramen bowl ordered. Awesome.
I ordered number 2 – the char siu-men ($13) as it had a bit more pork meat in it than the number 1. Wait time was around 20 minutes which was longer than expected. You’d think there would just be a big pot of broth and sliced up pork ready to go at the back and all that needed doing was to cook some noodles. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the ramen and the light broth had great flavour. The thin slices of pork meat are fatty around the sides but oh so delicious with the fat adding extra flavour to the broth.
My partner ordered the number 1 – nagahama ramen ($10) which was no different to what I had except there was only one slice of pork.
The soup spoons are pretty funky and cleverly designed to just sit on the edge of the bowl without sliding in.
The ramen came with a side of spicy pickles.
Diners can help themselves to seasonings such as ground chilli and sesame.
While waiting for our meals, we noticed other diners complaining that they had to wait a long time for their extra noodles. It was strange that the extra noodles weren’t provided with the original bowl of ramen. We made sure to ask for the extra noodles when we ordered and gently reminded staff again once the ramen arrived.
I like the simple menu and set up at Hakataya Ramen. There seemed to be only two people running the restaurant that night – the chef cooking in the kitchen and one person working the front of house as well as washing up. Minimal but it works. Great value for money and you get extra noodles at no additional charge (though the menu states extra noodles are only $1.80 anyway).
Cheap and cheerful ๐
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Foodgasm 7/10
