The Ippudo that I pass by often is their OG outlet at Mhd Sultan Road. It has amazingly existed for years. It opened in 2010 and seems to be still in decent business. It re-branded, went through countless teams of kitchen and floor crew and I have avoided it for some years when it was really badly managed and they managed to screw up every food item.
They have also secretly accommodated dogs outdoors from way before and of course, legitimately so now. So I've always thought I should patronize them when I can since they've been kind. Now the thing is, I do not like ramen. And I most certainly do not even want to eat ramen anywhere in Japan. I'm not a fan of any style of ramen, even if it's in fish broth or yuzu broth. I'd avoid it if I can. It's the noodles I'm not hot about.
Whenever I go to an Ippudo, I'd simply order items that are not ramen. They used to have a chilled and dry ramen salad; I didn't mind it. However, most days, I order a bowl of rice (which is not on the menu, and you'd have to ask the servers to put it in the table's bill), and a yasai itame of sorts. That bowl of steamed rice isn't too bad too. The quality of rice used over the years didn't exactly deteriorate much, and they don't use the worst grade of grains that some other 'Japanese restaurants' use. Ippudo calls their yasai itame it 'Ramen-ya styled Happoitame', which loosely translates into 'stir-fried eight-treasures'. Cabbage and pork with fungus, peppers and such. Okay can.
If I'm still hungry, there's always pan-fried gyozas to the rescue. This menu at Ippudo offers plenty of food for me that isn't ramen. Teheheheh. I always prefer venues that are accessible to me, accommodating enough for me to dine alone since I can't rack up a big enough bill by myself and still occupy a table for say 90 minutes, and importantly, comfortable for Choya too. I love their lemon soda here. I love places that just gives me the whole can of soda like that. Ippudo has been doing so for years, and hasn't stopped.
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