Raku Ichi @Jalan Raja Uda, Butterworth

Ramen used to be my favourite Japanese noodle but in recent years, udon has equaled or maybe even overtaken it (never like soba though). Some reasons are:

• Oily broth (or I'm just getting more intolerant haha)
• On the other hand, udon's soup is not oily
• Some ramen are lumpy
• More udon with nice texture

Note that I had these noodle in Singapore, Australia and Malaysia. The above comment is probably highly biased by my experience in Malaysia ever since I've moved back here nearly 9 years ago, from Singapore.

Recently, I had the best ramen of my life at Raku Ichi:

Oooops, by the time I remembered to take photo, I had already finished it, including its broth for the first time ever for any ramen.

There were 5 different ramen on their menu and its information was all written in Chinese @@ (unlike other food). So I had to ask, for both Ban's and my benefit, for brief description of the difference.

I chose Black Sesame Ramen and chose the upgraded version whether they gave 5 pieces of chashu (additional 3) and two halves of flavoured egg (instead of none),

Do you see the empty small saucer, the bottle of vinegar and the bottle of chili oil? When they served the ramen, they recommended us to do the following to enhance the richness of the broth:

• After eating about a third of the ramen, add the finely chopped raw garlic (from the saucer)
• Then at half-bowl mark, add vinegar
• Finally, at three-quarter mark, add chilli oil

Oishi! The broth wasn't super oily i.e. I didn't feel the grease on my lips.

I was so full that I couldn't order a plate of 2-piece salmon sushi as planned.

Ban had the normal ramen, which he doesn't mind having again, which is good news.

Highly recommended!

Please note that there is another outlet at Jalan Ong Yi How, which we haven't tried.