Food Review: Bankara Ramen @ Avenue K

Hey guys, I’m back with another food review…. I know it’s been some time since my last food review… I love my food just i don’t have time to draft all the food I have tried lately!!! You know I always fancy Ramen but most of the time it is very salty and the portion is so so small…. At Bankara Ramen, not only you get to taste the authentic Japan Ramen flavour but also the similar portion they serve in Japan (which is bigger than most Ramen outlet in Malaysia). I was delighted to be invited by Tammy to tryout all the delicious ramen…

Honestly I seldom go to Avenue K but my last visit turn out pretty good… Not only there is my favourite fashion store H&M there is also Sephora, (oh a heaven place for me) but there is also a new Ramen restaurant can taste some authentic Tokyo famous ramen in the spacious Avenue K. At Bankara Ramen everything reflects the authentic Japanese Samurai house from the furniture, ambient and decorations. Restaurant filled with dark coloured carved wood table and bench with huge Japanese Calligraphy written by Bankara Ramen’s owner from Japan as the back drop, Japanese inspire colourful painting for decoration, texturised wallpaper and lightly dimed lighting.

It was raining that evening, and the warmth from the Ramen is very welcome by everyone!! We start off with some appetizer which is the Horenso Goma-Ae . It’s a healthy choice as the boiled baby spinach taste really light with a hint of sesame oil flavour and almost tasteless but in a good way as we can taste the original flavour from the fresh and sweet spinach. un like those in Korean restaurant, this is not entirely soft but with some crunchy texture for more chewable feeling.

There is also bamboo shoot, Tsumami Menma, I don’t fancy bamboo shoot but according to other blogger, it’s very appetizing…

The popular snack, Tori Kariage the favourite to everyone who love fried food especially kids…I find the flavouring is good, not overly salty ad retained the taste of the chicken meat very well.. Instead of the whole piece of flat crispy skin, the skin is coat with small bite of crispy flour which give more texture and dimension. They do not encourage to dip the chicken onto mayonnaise so patron can taste the fine taste from the chicken instead of being masked by mayonnaise flavour.

Next up is a drool worthy side order…. The Kakuni Saramori (braised pork belly) is not too soft just nicely tender and similar to other dish the flavour are not overly strong.

Now let us move on to the slurp worthy ramen… Bankara Ramen serve 4types of ramen Bankara Original, Tonkatsu, Miso, Tsukemen. Each has distinctive broth flavour and uses different type of ramen thickness. First up is the original Bankara Ramen. This is their signature ramen using special pork bone broth infused with refined Shoyu served with medium thickness ramen. According to the Bankara, this is a chameleon soup which means it can transform from one flavour to another…  Simple and light taste but still has that nice pork aroma and pork sweetness.

By adding some fresh garlic into it and you will be able to experience another broth flavour, that pungent kick is simply amazing.

Hakata Tonkatsu is the one most popular ramen around. The milky broth with rich flavour of pork bone served with Hakata style noodles is a divine taste everyone would love!.. We had Tonkatsu Chashu, chashu were more bite worthy type but I prefer the softer version one. Soup wise is really milky and smooth.

We then had our spoon scoop in the Ramen of the month, Shio Ramen.  A very light soup based infused with complex flavour of rock salt, alcohol and spring onions. It has a very nice alcohol aroma but it doesn’t taste too strong alcohol just a hint of it… The thick noodle it’s so chewable, better and more chewable than pan mee texture!!!

Buta Miso Ramen with miso soup base top with stir fried pork belly slices. The soup has the sweetness derived from pork belly that balanced the saltiness of the miso soup….  You can opt to add New Zealand unsalted butter the soup taste more rounded and the soup turn smoother and milkier….. Pork belly are well marinated with really good flavour, with generous amount of crunchy bean sprout, ramen tasted amazing!

The last one is Tsukemen Ramen, a unique ramen to me as the hot spicy soup is serve separately to be dipped with cold thick noodles. The broth is a mixture of pork and seafood (more on fish stok). Since the ramen is cold, it has the extra springiness compare to other ramen.  The ramen served with chashu, bamboo shoot and dried seaweed which go well with the noodle.

Alright, enough of ramen why not have some rice??? Negibuta Meshi, Japanese steamed rice drenched in chopped chashu special sweet soy sauce. The rice is the star of the dish… It is fat and round…ahhh so nice to chew…. As for the sauce it doesn’t bring much special taste to me..

Look at the fat and round rice grain…..Ohhh so delicious!

We end our evening with a smooth almond Dessert, Annin Tofu…. The smooth and soft jelly really end our meal with sweet ending. It’s not hard, soft and wobbly but not like tofu and not even close to tofufah…. You gotta try it to find out the texture! It’s a must order to complete your meal at Bankara.

I really enjoyed all the Ramen at Bankara. Each ramen has their own uniqueness so depends on your preference… Maybe you will like one of them or all of them just like me!!! One thing, if you fancy strong flavoured Ramen I think Bankara is not for you, they lighter in flavour but still a very good ramen and I actually prefer their ramen over other in KL. So if you are around KL area later, why not drop by Bankara for a lunch? Got to go for now!! Happy Lunching!!!

Check out my post on Edo Ramen right here for more ramen!