Ito Japanese Noodle Cafe

122 Bourke St, Melbourne VIC 3000
Date visited: 31st August 2012

MerlinFan had a craving for ramen for some time now, so we headed off to Ito for lunch today.  We'd never been here before and decided to give it a go.

The interior is rather large, with nice wooden decor and very comfortable booth seats.  It was packed without being overly noisy, which to me is another plus.

Everyone will be able to find something to their liking, I'm sure - Ito has a two page menu of ramen, rice, bentos, sushi and other small dishes.  We got three dishes to "share."

Mum didn't want a huge bento or rice dish, so she had the Tofu & Nasu Agedashi, which was the fried beancurd and eggplant with grated radish.  She enjoyed the tofu and said the sauce on the salty side but very flavoursome.

Tofu & Nashi Agedashi $7.50

MerlinFan had the Geki Kara Ramen, which was ramen with spicy pork mince sauce.  There was a choice for shoyu or miso broth, and she chose miso. I'm glad she ordered it and not me, because the sauce was spicy!  MerlinFan thought it was really nice once she got over the initial shock of the super spiciness :)

Geki kara ramen $9.80

I had the Tori Kara Ramen which was with deep fried chicken pieces.  I had the miso broth as well.  I liked the noodles - they were still bouncy with a slight chew to it.  I love salt, and the broth was salty, but not overly so - perfect to me.  The chicken was really delicious and tender - I tried to save them by piling them on the mound of noodles but they got wet and slightly soggy anyways.  It would be so much better if they put it in a separate plate on the side so that it would stay crispy.

Tori kara ramen $9.80

Did Ito satisfy MerlinFan's ramen craving?  Totally.  

Would we come back?  Sure, I don't see why not.



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