Shujinko is a Melbourne ramen franchise that spans multiple restaurants in the Melbourne CBD and one in Glen Waverley. I am sure there will be many more stores that open in the future.
It’s a popular ramen establishment open 24/7 at many of its locations. The ramen is delicious and the atmosphere gives you that izakaya-like feel. I love that they also have anime figurines on display near the counter.
From Shujinko’s website, it describes itself as follows:
We are Melbourne’s first 24 hours Japanese ramen restaurant. We want every customer to feel like a main character in their own story.
Shujinko’s ramen is also known as Tokyo-styled Tonkotsu, pork-based broth. Our special recipe create a unique taste in our ramen broth that has no comparison.
More than 12 hours of dedication and hard work is put in to our broth to bring out the deep flavour. We use only the freshest ingredients and toppings for our ramen that are delivered to our restaurants daily. We also offer fresh hand-made Gyoza (Japanese-style dumpling) and noodles at our store which is why we are different to other ramen restaurants.
Our motto is “Put your heart into the noodles and your love into the soup”.
One of the best things about our shop is, we never close. So, you can enjoy a bowl of ramen in the early morning or a late-night feast with our Izakaya menu, Japanese Sake, beer and beverages.
We visited the restaurant at the Glen on 3 July 2020. The restaurant is immediately before the entrance to the main shopping complex. I don’t think it is hard to miss.
The restaurant’s layout gives off the izakaya-like feel and unfortunately due to COVID-19, the placement of chairs and tables were more spread out than usual.
This store also sells some matcha and black sesame flavor soft serve, and you can buy a cone with two flavors for AUD$2.5.
The figurines lined up in the transparent cabinet are a neat touch. As a fan of One Piece, I approve. It’s great seeing so many Banpresto figurines. I know the other restaurants in the CBD have some larger, amazing figurine collections.
I had their Karakuchi Ramen, which was a spicy ramen with their tonkotsu broth alongside some bok choy, bean sprout, egg and chashu. The broth was delicious and spicy. The flavor profile of the broth was a nice balance of saltiness and fattiness. The noodles were nice, but nothing to scream about. While, the other condiments like the chashu and egg were done just right. I would have preferred the chashu to be less fatty and to be given more slices. Oh well.
Admittedly, I did sweat a bit when I was eating this. It’s not just a little spicy. Well, even though I was sweating it didn’t stop me, because I did in the end finish the entire bowl, soup and all. The Karakuchi Ramen was AUD$15.50.
The standout dish was the Yaki Ramen (or grilled ramen) with spring onions, dish flakes, ginger, slices of pork and fried egg on top of ramen. The combination of kewpie mayonnaise and oytser sauce was flavorsome hit. I absolutely loved this dish. It was super tasty and worth it. Yes, it is a oily and fatty, but it was well grilled (or potentially fried in a wok) and the bits of pork, with the ginger, fish flakes and ginger had beautiful flavor profile. I highly recommend trying this dish, and especially so if you like okonomiyaki (Japanese pancake). The Yaki Ramen was AUD$14.50.
We also tried the Shujinko Chips. I don’t think they sell these chips at the other restaurants. While the chips were nice and crunchy, I don’t think they were worth the AUD$9.80 that we paid. The chips appear to be deep fried gyoza skin with salt. My disappointed may be due to me hoping for something a bit different, i.e. something with more a crunchy exterior and soft interior.
Shujinko’s ramen is a great Melbourne establishment. Since it is open 24/7 at all its Melbourne CBD restaurants, I can’t see why you wouldn’t want to pay it a visit. You need to try their ramen and if you like beer, add that to your breakfast/lunch/dinner arsenal.
Shujinko’s website: http://shujinko.com.au/menus/
Address: The Glen (Alfresco), 235 Springvale Rd, Glen Waverley VIC 3150
Please support the website by liking the article or subscribing to the mailing list.
Discover more from Australian Sightseer
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
