Not an expert by any means, just a simp of the ingenuity that goes into these bowls. The possibilities in Klang Valley may not quite match its brethren in Japan yet, but each new menya broadens the palate and, well, Malaysian-horizons of what ramen can be. And boy, there sure are some good ones sprouting up recently. Gone are the days when Ippudo, Bankara and co dominated the scene.

Might eventually do a separate post for Tokyo, but some of my favourites there are: Kagari, Tomita, Afuri, Konjiki Hototogisu. Other Tokyo spots in this Tokyo list.

Bowls ranked in order of what I would prefer to eat right now. Very scientific!

1. Kanbe – sakura tsukemen: ebi and pork bone broth. New kid in town. Heckin impressive, review here.
2. Ken-Shin Ryu – shoyu tonkotsu: taking the lot where Setagaya used to be, we hope Ken-Shin Ryu stays for a much longer tenure. The shoyu tonkotsu has a killer broth, bite-y noods, and delicious wantan to boot. Still only tried it once but boy was it good.
3. The Tokyo Ramen – shoyu: still very recent, so likely biased. Very impressed during the first try though, read about it here.
4. Menya Hanabi – negishio mazesoba: does mazesoba count? Sure it does. Maze chuka soba would be more accurate, though? Interestingly, their rice bowls are great too. As are their gyoza. As is most of the menu, to be honest. Consistent as hell!
5. Ramen Dining Tabushi – katsuo tsukemen: review here. It’s very good. Pair it with the half-and-half beer from the stall behind. Go and get some matcha from Matcha Hero Kyoto nearby afterwards. Satisfying meal sorted. Though after trying it about a half dozen times (if not more), the latest visit circa Feb 2022 wasn’t as good as before. Need to head back to quality check.
6. Hokkaido Ramen Santouka – tokusen toroniku shio: hidden gem of a place tbh. Can’t go wrong with most of the options but this stood out the most. They’ve been very consistent across the years too. That has to count for something. None of their stuff is mindblowing, but it’s been good and, frankly, underrated enough to consistently rank in the top 10 surely.
7. Kanbe – yuzu tsukemen: not as impressive as the sakura, but still very solid.
8. Kagura – premium rich tori paitan: not sure how the quality is now they’ve moved out of Lot 10. Need to revisit and assess.
9. Mitsuyado Seimen – yuzu tsukemen. Top tier noods. Dense and chewier than anywhere else in Malaysia so far. Broth could be better and portions are miniscule (especially for the price) but those are the only real knocks against it.
10. Menya Hanabi – kimista. Another great bowl from MH. To be honest, it’s a bit hard to pick since they’re all bangers.
11. Mitsuyado Seimen – tan tan tsukemen. I’m not sure if I like this better or the yuzu. Preferences tend to fluctuate on this one.
12. Ken Shin-Ryu – shio: Just about edges out Hokkaido Ramen Santouka for the shio.
13. Menya Shi Shi Do – yaki buta kuro aka tsukemen: hunka hunka chunks of meat. Review here. [Dec 21 update: kuro aka broth has certainly changed in recent times. This used to be a top 10 bowl, but it’s lost a lot of the depth now. Also it’s a toss up between this or the usual tsukemen with the pork shoulder that they’ve pretty much perfected. Seriously, that pork shoulder at Menya Shi Shi Do is our favourite pork slice at any ramen stall in Malaysia. Killer.]
14. Hokkaido Ramen Santouka – shio ramen. Shoutout to a good shio. Hope we see more of them around town. Tonkotsu supremacy is boring.
15. Menya Hanabi – tan tan ramen / tan tan mazesoba. Both good, although broth is a bit light for the ramen.
16. Toriden – RIP but the ramen lives on at Tokyo Restaurant, it seems. Not sure if it still tastes the same. Review of the Toriden bowl here.
17. Ramen Dining Tabushi – shoyu ramen: shoyu is another rare breed around these parts.
18. Ken-Shin Ryu – shoyu tsukemen: one of the rare few times where I would get the broth over the tsukemen. It’s nice, but I was left wishing there was a tonkotsu tsukemen version of this. Will try shio next, since that sounds great. Noodles very nice, marginally preferable to Kanbe (or rather, close enough to be pretty much a toss-up unless I’m having them side by side). Pork great – better than all but Shishido. Chicken delicious. Expect clean, bright flavours.
19. Menya Hanabi – shio: Pretty good. Should not be your first pick at MH, but a decent intro to shio. This seats a bit lower down the ranking because there are other better places for this nowadays.
20. Menya Hanabi – tsukemen / Mitsuyado Seimen – tonkotsu ramen: joint ranking if only because they’re kind of the same thing – Menya Hanabi is best at mazesoba but their tsukemen is decent. Mitsuyado Seimen is best at tsukemen but their standard tonkotsu isn’t too bad either. Oh, I only had the tonkotsu ramen at the lot 10 branch btw
21. Menya Shi Shi Do – shi shi ramen (kuro aka broth): used to be better but the broth has since changed
22. Daruma Syokudo – tsukemen: huge portion for the price. Pork is not too bad. Good amount of it. Broth is way too mild for tsukemen though, can almost drink it directly. Needs a lot more work on the broth.
23. Bari Uma – ajitama uma: Probably the best option for a chain at a mall. Decent enough tonkotsu that gets a bit one-dimensional and overly-fatty towards the end. Tend to long for a palate cleanser.
24. Aori ramen – review here

RIP:

1. Menya Shi Shi Do – lemon tonkotsu (kuro aka broth) tsukemen: Prior to Kanbe’s arrival, this used to be number 1. As of Dec 21, looks like this is no longer on the menu after the pibot to Ramen Bar Shi Shi Do (despite a million and one other things being added to the menu). Also, the broth has changed for the usual kuro aka tsukemen too. What we said initially: the ajitama may be consistently inconsistent but they’ve perfected the pork shoulder slice IMO after many years of it being underwhelming. The noods are second best to Mitsuyado Seimen’s thicc noods. Kuro aka is black garlic plus a mildly spicy broth, and the lemon lifts it up with a refreshing zing. I almost always go for tsukemen over light brothy bois. Review here.
2. Menya Hanabi – tori paitan: This used to be number 2. A special that’s been discontinued, but it surely deserves a special mention. The tori paitan was top tier, great broth and one of the best chimken accompaniments. I do miss it.
3. Setagaya – smoked char siew dry noodles: This used to be number 7. Very good, very promising from Setagaya. Terrible news that they closed down.
4. Setagaya – original: fish + pork broth. This used to be number 15. Not a standard boring tonkotsu. Subtle but good.
5. Setagaya – seabura niboshi ramen: This used to be number 19. Initial review: niboshi shoyu + pork back fat. Actually keen to try the niboshi shoyu by itself next time, not sure if that’s on the menu. Liked the flavors, the fat muddied it a bit.

For what it’s worth:

Old Ippudo (when it initially opened at Gardens) would probably be in the top 10 or 15, old Bankara in the top 15 as well at its peak. Wouldn’t include them in the list at all for now.

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October 2017 update: Menya Shi Shi Do has closed down its outpost in Sri Petaling. Head to Menya Hanabi for great mazesoba and decent shio if you’re in Sri P. For the best tonkotsu ramen, get the kuro black garlic from Menya Shi Shi Do in Jaya One.

You’re in Sri Petaling. You’re hungry, but you’ve heard horror stories about the mediocrity permeating most restaurants in this part of town. Which isn’t great because you want great food. Or good food, at the very least. Damn those food blogs that keep unreasonably raising your expectations and destroying your retirement savings! After all, this is KL, not Penang. One must settle for straightforward nourishment or bear a significant lightening of the wallet to have a good meal here.

Or so you think.

You stumble onto a narrow alley choked between the main arterial road in front of the 24/7 McDonald’s and the long, winding Jalan Radin Bagus that houses an ever-rotating cast of generally sub-par eateries, salons and massage parlours. Google Maps tells you this is Jalan Radin Bagus 9. Your more biological senses tells you that this is a crazy little street packing the strangest assortment of establishments. There’s Sourakuya (crunchy buttered yam, hearty oden, and some surprisingly good sushi), The Vow (gorgeous floral design), Le Pont Boulangerie (huge, yuge, bigly, not good), Mr. Dakgalbi (dakgalbi), Herserlef (ridiculously cheap co-working space with free flow make-your-own-coffee and snacks, which coincidentally is where this post is first being written – and which has since blown up into one of the most popular spots in Sri P), Dessert Bar by Stanley Choong (pretty patisserie that has sometimes great, sometimes expensive, pastry-delights), and what looks to be some sort of spa for cars.

Then there’s Menya Shi Shi Do.

If, as James Richardson said, sophistication is upscale conformity, perhaps that makes Menya Shi Shi Do’s Sri Petaling branch an accidental emblem of individuality. It’s rough around the edges in a cheap, plasticky and completely non-intentional sort of way. Which is to say that it’s a relatively dull, franchise-y looking dated place that somehow stands out in its earnestness amidst its more aspirational neighbours. Even right when it launched, it was a new restaurant that already felt dated!

You go in anyway. Actually, you start to go in quite regularly, until one day you realize that this has become a weekly routine: a regular pilgrimage for sufficiently satisfying bowls of ramen to round out the workweek without overly straining your precariously balanced finances. I mean, we’re not looking at economy rice prices here, but it’s not quite Bankara Ramen either.

It’s better. Taste-wise. Bankara used to hold the title of best ramen in KL, but quality has slipped away gradually. Before them, Ippudo was the best before THEIR quality slipped. And before that was Menya Musashi. Which is interesting, because the chef for Menya Shi Shi Do formerly used to be at Menya Musashi and Menya Kamikaze. Explains a lot!

You begin adding on half-bowls of noodles with your orders. When the original ramen is halfway done, you throw in the fresh batch of noodles and enjoy the difference in texture. It’s firm, moderately springy, decently resistive. The soup is delicious. The soup is always delicious. The Shiro is the purest, most unadulterated form they have. It’s delicious.

You order the dinner set. It’s too good of a value meal not to.

The fried chicken skin is inoffensive, artery-clogging stuff. It’s crunchy. Lightly salty. Not too flavourful. Not too oily. You gobble it down.

Your weekly visits here gradually become the one thing you look forward to on a Monday morning. The wage-slave drudgery washes off you, no longer able to cling on like the broth to the noodles at Menya Shi Shi Do.

The Kuro (black garlic – like in that one episode of Bob’s Burgers) ramen doesn’t differ substantially in taste from the Shiro (plain old porky porkiness) but it does lead to a very different eating experience. The garlic notes seep in slowly at the end of each mouthful. By the middle, there’s a throaty salty pungency with every slurp.

There are changes over time, with each visit. The noodles used to be perfectly firm. Not so anymore, unless you specifically ask for harder noodles. Could it be because they’ve started serving the broth at a higher temperature? Is it because of the average Malaysian’s aversion to noodles that aren’t of the limp, soft and dweeby variety? Who knows. You don’t ask. Words get in the way of eating. And Menya Shi Shi Do’s inexhaustible range of different soups (and half-and-half and three-way variations) demands dedication from even the most experienced of eaters. You never quite eat your way through the entire thing though. You stick to the classics. The Kuro. The Shiro. The Yakibuta Ramen, which is a thing of beauty. Occasionally you venture out to the more peculiar picks, like the basil.

It’s interesting. Like the spicy ones are interesting. But you stick to the classics. And when you want to splurge to wash out the bitter dredges of the workweek, you return to the Yakibuta Ramen.

The Yakibuta Ramen is possibly the best bowl of ramen in town. It’s not Keisuke Tonkotsu King, but neither is Keisuke Tonkotsu King in Malaysia, so there! And they don’t have this porky goodness either, do they? That photo above is deceptive. It doesn’t show just how ridiculously thick these hunks of pork get. Here are some better depictions:

There’s nothing quite like it in Malaysia. It decimates your wallet. It pleasures you in ways you didn’t know were possible. You have to take a break from it after a while, if only because you are abruptly struck by the realization that you are now destitute.

And a new range of tsukemen bowls are on the way, you hear. You can’t wait to try them. But you have to wait because they’re not here yet and because you don’t have the money anyway.

You look forlornly at your emptying bank accounts and long-emptied wallet. You wonder if there’s a way to make more money. Perhaps you could write about food. Write about your experience finding Menya Shi Shi Do. Write about all the food you eat, even. A food blog, of sorts. The Malaysian food scene sure could use some incisive food criticism. Perhaps you could start an Instagram profile too. You mull it over in the humid night under the drone of the dying air-conditioning unit you can’t afford to get fixed, and you think of a blog name.

You decide to call it Foodgazer.com.

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