Maruten Ramen

If I had to choose just one meal to eat for the rest of my life, I would choose ramen. Not much beats chewy noodles in steaming hot broth. I don't mean the instant ramen that you get from the supermarket, I mean the good stuff. A proper bowl of ramen takes a long time to make -roasting and boiling the bones takes near a day to produce a broth containing ample umami. Amazing ramen is quite hard to come by, so I was very excited to find some so close to work. 

Mercury Plaza foodcourt is less than 5 minutes away from my work place so I was delighted to discover a stall that serves homemade ramen. You can even choose between thick, thin, firm or soft.

Maruten Ramen serves a variety of dishes from gyoza and tofu to some fusion-y looking dishes like basil chicken ramen and hamburger steak on rice. I have yet to work up the courage to try the latter.

As the name suggests, though, ramen is what they do best and I will share some of my favourite dishes with you.

Chicken Ramen - $12.80

The Chicken Ramen is served in a clear, chicken broth. This bowl came with thin ramen which was firm and chewy. The chicken katsu was flavoured the salty broth which had seeped into the crumb. One of my favourite things about this dish is that it comes with the perfect soy egg, or "shoyu tomago." The soy flavour had fully penetrated the egg white and the centre was amazingly gooey.

Tantanmen - $12.00

The Tantanmen is the Japanese version of the Chinese Dan Dan noodles. It comes in a spicy chili and sesame soup with a generous dollop of minced pork topping. The soup is so thick that is almost like a sauce which coats the noodles. The contrast of the hot soup and cold topping creates a nice mixture in each bite. This dish must be eaten fast or the ramen expands, though this is usually not a problem because it's so tasty.

Chicken Karaage - $10.80

The Chicken Karaage is not something I usually order and, in fact, I only had some because my friend ordered it. The batter is thin and light and is a great option for any of your non-ramen oriented friends.

Tonkotsu Ramen with Egg - $12.00

Lastly, the Tonkotsu Ramen has the most amazing broth I have ever tasted. The fatty broth is rich and creamy which can only come from long hours of preparation and comes with drops of black garlic oil. It is thick and has an intense porky flavour which coats your lips with every mouthfull. The pieces of char siu pork belly melts in the mouth. 

The Tonkotsu Ramen is usually $10.80 and a soy egg can be added for an extra $1.20. 

I could really go for some ramen right now.

If you love ramen as much as I do, Maruten Ramen is definitely worth a visit. It is located in Mercury Plaza, 23-32 Mercury Lane, Karangahape Road, Auckland