Open every day for Lunch 11:30am–3pm, Dinner 5:30–9pm
Phone: (07) 3839 4840
http://www.taros.com.au
For my second post I had planned to visit a store other than Taro's but when the idea came up for a Ramen lunch with some colleagues today and they suggested the Queen Street store, I couldn't really say no.
All of the options available at the Ascot store are available here in the city, including Tonkatsu on it's own, or with either a medium chilli paste or hot chilli paste added, a veg and chicken based broth with either shio, shoyu or miso seasoning, a single or double portion in tsukamen style, and a couple of vegetarian noodle dishes. All of the same sides are available too from what I can see along with the same alcoholic and non alcoholic drinks including genuine imported Japanese beers (including tapped Suntory), sake, plum wine etc. There's also a chilled water dispenser here too.
I have noted previously that for the purpose of neutrality, I will keep my ordering to the basics, but as today I visited Taro's for the second time in a row, I opted for the popular 'Fire Tonkatsu" which is essentially just the base soup with a double serving of chilli paste heaped on top to which I added my preferred harder noodles. I should note that all of the soup adding options available at the Ascot store are also on the menu here, though of note- they don't have an iPad set up here, just laminated menus that you order from at the counter. You also pay when you order instead of after you eat, which I prefer.
We visited during the middle of lunch so they were really quite busy, but the bowl landed within about 10 minutes. Once again, a pretty little presentation, though I do note that a lot of the contents had either sunken under the surface of the broth or were hidden by the generous splash of chilli paste (not a bad thing). Inclusions were the broth, one half egg, noodles, soft Bangalow rolled pork shoulder, a square of nori, sliced spring onions, chilli paste, Korean style chilli threads and toasted whole white sesame seeds. They omit the black garlic oil on this one but one of my dining partners had the regular broth and I can confirm that it's a standard on that dish. I could note all of the same qualities in this broth as the one of the previous post. It's immaculately 'clean' with a gloriously pure pork taste, fatty and rich and seasoned with not much more that salt. I am not the biggest chilli fan so was a little nervous leading up to the meal, but considering the volume of paste that they add to the bowl, it's really not that hot at all, adding a very slight hum and a nice chilli flavour. The egg was cooked perfectly again, the noodles were appropriately chewy, the charshu pork melted in the mouth. Again, they could have added a little more of it to make me happier.
Today's bowl was again a proper lipped, more traditional style, which was ideal of sipping and obviously preferred. Chop sticks were the wooden disposable variety. The soup spoon was again a heavy, deep ceramic number, though with my growing confidence in sipping direct from the bowl, I didn't even touch it today. I probably embarrassed my dining partners, we are still in Brisbane... whatever.
Cost here mirrors that of the the Ascot store, $15 for the basic and then up from there, so nothing to complain about from me. Customer service was on point for such a busy lunch service. This place sits on the ground floor of a newish corporate business high rise in the middle of the city so the bulk of their business comes from suits during this mad lunch rush Monday-Friday. They're obviously on top of the craft as everyone seemed pleased with how it was rolling for such a busy period.
Vibe here is better. As described, the shop is in the middle of a relatively new high rise development so the fact that Taro essentially just filled a pre determined space is a little obvious. The front of the shop presents as an all glass affair with a basic sign in Japanese and English above the door. Inside offers a little more, nice tungsten lighting, wood panelled walls, matte concrete tiled floors, some hanging plants and clean wooden furniture with individual and communal, bench style tables. It's all very clean and tidy considering how busy it is, and a slight glimpse of the kitchen that is offered behind where you order suggests a pretty hygienic environment. I think it's all enhanced by the relaxed, communal feel created by a full room of contended diners. Payment options are cash, card or pay wave. If you know the city, then you know that parking can be a nightmare, so again, do your best to find anything within at least a 10-15 minute walk radius and you should count yourself lucky. There are parking garage options closer but you'll pay more to use them that you will for your meal.
Thoroughly impressed as always. Next time I'll need to get to a different Ramen-Ya.
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