Japanese Adventures @ Bankara Ramen

305 Swanston St, CBD, Melbourne VIC

Phone N/A

11:00am - 12:00 Midnight Everyday

With just so many ramen joints opening up or already in the city, I've lost count for places that I need to try. But recently I just ticked off a recently opened chain store Bankara Ramen, which just opened up on Swanston street.

Renown for being an international franchise with atleast 80 stores over the world, I decided to come here to see what this place has to offer.

Exterior

The food display is just like the displays in Japan if you've ever been there, and I absolutely love it!. Just from the outside it let's you know what the dishes look like and is a perfect way to lure in customers such as myself.

Interior

The service here is pretty inconsistent, for example, my first visit, the service was amazing. The waiters greeted us, explained to us the different types of seasoning on the table and what paired well with what, poured water when it was close to empty, it was simply amazing service.

 But then on this visit there was none of that, the amount of customers was the same but there was barely any of the customer service mentioned before. Perhaps it's because we were seated on the upper level?.

To be honest, for a ramen joint, the food is pretty overpriced for what you get. As most ramen restaurants in the city usually serve classic ramens for $10 max, but here it's more than that, also mentioning that the extras / upgrades are pretty overpriced as well.

 Classic Tonkotsu Ramen ($13.8)

Tonkotsu ramen topped with pork chashu, black fungus and seaweed

I've been told that the Tonkotsu ramen isn't that good, but to be honest I absolutely love it. The broth is amazing and smooth, combined with the thin noodles and tender pork it's a comforting dish.

(8/10)

One of the cool things i've noticed is that for each type of ramen, they have a specific type of noodle that is paired with it. Which is pretty awesome as most ramen places use the same noodle for every soul base which sometimes doesn't work well. 

 Premium Kakuni Tsukumen ($21.8)

Cold noodles served with a side on rich broth, kakuni, pork chashu, seasoned boiled eggs, bamboo shoots and seaweed

I'll be frank about one thing, don't upgrade to the premium. The premium gives you the kakuni and egg, and to be honest it just isn't worth the extra $. The kakuni is tender, but it's quite average. 

The dish itself was pretty good and I enjoyed it, though I prefer the Tsukumen at Mugen Ramen, the tsukumen at Bankara is pretty high up in the list if you can deal with the price.

(6.5/10)

Chuka Soba ($13.8)

Chuka Soba topped with pork chashu bamboo shoots and seaweed

To be honest, it wasn't as good as the other dishes. The soup wasn't that great and the overall dish was quite disappointing. I don't recommend this but I do for the others.

(4/10)

Food - 6.5 / 10

Ambiance - 6 / 10

Service - 7 / 10

Total FoOodie Points - 19.5 / 30