Special tonkotsu ramen ($17++ each)!
City Hall Japanese ramen shop special tonkotsu: creamy pork bone broth, chashu draped around the whole bowl rim, ajitama egg, kikurage and scallion. $17++ each.
Lunch with BB at City Hall. Special tonkotsu ramen, $17++ each. ๐๐๐ผ
What was in the bowls:
- Chashu draped around the entire bowl rim: the โchashu wallโ presentation, thin pork slices overlapping all the way round so the bowl looks crowned in meat
- Creamy tonkotsu broth: the pale, frothy, emulsified pork-bone soup with the foam still on top
- Ajitama (marinated egg): whole, sitting in the centre
- Kikurage (black fungus) strips: the crunchy contrast
- Scallion heap: covering the noodles
- Thin Hakata-style noodles: under the surface
Tonkotsu (่ฑ้ชจ) is the Hakata (Fukuoka) school of ramen: pork bones boiled hard for 12+ hours until the collagen and marrow emulsify into the soup, turning it cloudy, creamy and almost milky. The froth on top of these bowls is the marker of a broth still being blended fresh rather than ladled flat from a holding pot.
The chashu wall is the โspecialโ in special tonkotsu: instead of two token slices, the chashu is laid in a full ring around the rim. The thin-sliced rolled belly warms through in the broth, going butter-soft by mid-bowl. It photographs ridiculously and, more importantly, it fixes ramenโs eternal complaint: running out of meat with half the noodles left.
The supporting cast follows Hakata convention: thin straight noodles (they suit the thick broth and cook in seconds), kikurage for crunch, ajitama with the soy-mirin-marinated white and custard yolk, scallion to cut the richness.
Tonkotsu pacing tip: eat the noodles fast (Hakata thin noodles soften quickly, the reason Fukuoka invented kaedama refill culture), save the chashu wall for the second half, drink the broth last.
At $17++ a bowl, this sits at the top of the casual ramen tier, but the chashu volume effectively folds a meat side-dish into the price. Standard chains charge $15-$16 for bowls with a quarter of the pork.
Overall: 4.3 / 5. ๐๐๐ผ Rich, heavy, satisfying. The chashu wall was the standout (obviously), the broth emulsion held to the last spoon. Would re-slurp.
