Menya Ramen

Menya Ramen

437 Elizabeth St, Melbourne

(Ph) 9328 8928

The Menya Ramen at the alleyway leading into Melbourne Central used to be P's favourite place to eat during uni - he'd always get teriyaki chicken don. It's a very small packed restaurant but it was cheap and the food wasn't too bad, or so we thought back then anyway. We hadn't been back for a while - we were on Elizabeth Street and actually wanted to go to Coconut House to eat but it was packed so decided to go next door... Menya Ramen!

We didn't even know there was a Menya Ramen here... looks really new and big and spacious! So different to the Melbourne Central one =)

You order and pay at the counter and there's a self-service cart in the middle of the restaurant where you get your own water or tea and utensils. Water with lemon and some leaves and a tomato inside? Slightly sweet and slightly tangy - strange, but I kinda like =)

I ordered the Curry Katsu Don - the serving is massive! I only ate about half the rice. The katsu was alright - the batter was very crispy but the meat was a little dry. I should have ordered the normal Katsu Don - it would have come with omelette which I would have preferred instead of the curry. The curry was quite sweet and tasty but was full of potatoes and only a few pieces of carrots - they were super generous with the curry sauce, is that why they gave me a soup ladle instead of a normal spoon?! There was way too much sauce - made the katsu pieces soft =(

P got the Bento Box with Teriyaki Chicken - it comes in a disposable takeaway compartment plate?! We forgot how ridiculously sweet their teriyaki is - kinda tastes like Chinese actually. There's lots of vegetables in the teriyaki which is not very traditional but was quite nice. There's not enough rice to go with the teriyaki chicken so P took alot of my rice which I was fine with =P There were 2 fried prawn pieces and 3 takoyakis as sides, as well as a seaweed salad and something like a tofu and beanshoot salad? P quite liked his dish - a bit of everything =)

Food~

5/10 - not bad, reminds me of university years again. Food comes out really quickly - I guess everything is pre-cooked already? This place is owned by Chinese people so if you don't mind your Japanese tasting a little like Chinese then it's alright =)

Service~

1/5 - not much of service here since you pretty much self-service everything

Atmosphere~

3/5- quite big and spacious here, much better than the Melbourne Central store!

C.

xo