Ramen Hayato - Best ramen I ate in my life!
Miso Ramen
Ramen Hayato
Ramen Hayato
One of the most anticipated ramen restaurant for my entire Japan trip, highly rated by many and also received Michelin Bib Gourmand.
We actually move quite a bit of our packed Osaka itinerary around to fit this in, but due to our schedule of Kanazawa to Osaka got moved ahead by a couple of hours, we decided to try it for lunch and to no surprise, there is a long queue since it’s peak lunchtime hour.
Our initial plan is to come on another day morning 30 minutes prior to opening, so it is an overall much shorter queueing time, in comparison to going during lunchtime which we queued for 2 hours.
But I digress, so how does it taste?
Sliced Chashu
Ramen Hayato
Cubed Chashu
Ramen Hayato
Ramen Egg
Ramen Hayato
Noodles
Ramen Hayato
Miso Ramen + Egg (¥1000 + ¥200)
I ordered the signature Miso Ramen, as per the menu it is a chicken-based broth with miso. The ingredients when I eat have the following:
2 Types of chashu
Ramen egg
Yuzu
Spring onion
Bamboo shoot
Beansprouts
Noodles
Broth: Robust flavour but still VERY well balanced: Subtle sweetness, salty, umami, and citrusy all in one package. The broth is of medium-thick thickness.
Chashu: The unique part of this restaurant, it serves 2 types of Chashu:
Sliced Chashu - The conventional type that most ramen restaurant serves. The fatty and lean meat part ratio is just nice, and of course, the meat is tender.
Cubed Chashu - First time I see this type of meat in ramen, the meat is very tender, with a slight bite all will fall apart easily in your mouth. Probably the chef wants the eater to have a different bite of meat texture into the mix, ie. biting through a thicker block of meat but even still tender.
Ramen Egg: Nicely done, most of the yolk is runny.
Noodle: Flat type with medium thickness, easy to soak up the slightly thick broth and bits when eating the noodles.
Overall, it has a complex and multidimensional flavour, this is not just putting everything into it and hope it will work. I believe it definitely went through many experimenting and correct ratio and pairing of ingredients to create this profile.
Of course, this also comes down to the chef’s skills, passion, and eye (taste) for detail. From our session, we can see he only created 2 bowls of ramen per batch each time. Each part of the process he tastes it to see does it reach his own standard, you can some of those photos below. If you guys watched Masterchef, you can always hear Gordon Ramsay shouting at the participants to always taste your food, it is important so that you know how does it each component and the final dish taste like before serving to your customers.
Rating: 4.25/5
Shoyu Ramen
Ramen Hayato
Shoyu Ramen + Egg (¥900 + ¥200)
The wife ate this, as per the menu it is a chicken and dried sardine based broth with shoyu. But I did have a couple of spoonful for tasting, the Chashu and Ramen Egg are the same consistent standard as my Miso Ramen, so that I will omit those 2 categories below. The ingredients are the same as Miso Ramen, the only difference is the type of broth.
Broth: Clean flavour and lighter profile with subtle sweetness, salty, citrusy, and slight seafood taste into the mix. The yuzu also feels like bringing a spring sensation into the dish and you can taste each component in detailed due to the clean “vessel” of this broth. The broth is leaning towards the watery for the thickness spectrum.
Noodle: Round type with thin-medium thickness, so it is easy to slurp the noodles.
Overall, another winning bowl of ramen. Even though the ingredients used are the same, but how he creates the broth makes it entirely different ramen and with the same level of depth and complexity as his signature Miso Ramen.
You won’t go wrong with any of his ramen, depends on what is your preference that day. Do you want something more umami and robust flavoured, or something clean and lighter profile?
Rating: 4.25/5
Tasting the broth
Ramen Hayato
Draining the noodles
Ramen Hayato
Adding Yuzu to the ramen
Ramen Hayato
Japanese Menu
Ramen Hayato
English Menu
Ramen Hayato
7 Counter seats only
Ramen Hayato
Orders
Ramen Hayato
The queue when I first arrived at the restaurant
Ramen Hayato
It may not seem like a long queue, but there are only 7 seats in the restaurant. So it took around 5 batches before our turn to dine in.
Shop Front
Ramen Hayato
Closed/Sold Out for the day
Ramen Hayato
Based on the headcount of the queue, they will count how many bowls they can still do for the day. If it hits the threshold they will turn the sign to “Closed” to let people know not to queue.
Cloth Logo
Ramen Hayato
Overall
I only have positives to say about this ramen restaurant, it is like eating fine dining standard for ramen, where every process of the ramen cooking is done with care and passion right in front of you.
Is it of Michelin Bib Gourmand standard? Yes, 100%. (I would even hope they could get 1 star)
Is it worth the 2 hours queue? Yes, 100%.
Will I come again? Yes, 100%.
(Probably the next time I will stick with my plan to come 30 minutes prior opening, rather than queueing 2 hours again, leg pain ah!)
Signboard
Ramen Hayato
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Address: 大阪府 大阪市北区 南森町 1-2-2
Opening Hours: 11am-Sold Out (Tuesday to Sunday)
Payment Method: Cash
Tabelog: https://tabelog.com/en/osaka/A2701/A270103/27083921/
(Last visited: November 2019)