Ichikura - Japanese Ramen House

Recently I got invited to try out this lovely food joint that claims to be the only Ramen speciality place in UAE; and obviously I was really excited. 
Apart from Ramen, they do have other Japanese specialties too which we tried here. 

The first thing I noticed at the counter is that they also have some chips and drinks from Japan, which was something really awesome for a small outlet like this one. I think it comes from the fact that the man behind this concept had stayed in Japan for a long time and wants to get the authentic flavours to the Arabian land. 

They brought us some interesting starters to begin with. The first one was Karaage which is a Japanese style fried chicken. At first it looked like a regular chicken, but one bite and I saw how juicy this one was. It wasn't oily but really flavorful and meaty. 

The next one was the Tebasaki that is Japanese style buffalo wings. They were coated with sesame seeds and we really liked the Buffalo sauce that these were made in. 
After having these I really needed some wet-tissues but sadly they didn't have any. 

If you'd like to get a bit adventures, then definitely try the Takoyaki. This is a diced octopus snack made in the shape of balls. At first I was a bit apprehensive, but I liked it very much. They were a bit cheesy / creamy too and taste of octopus was subtle. 

Coming to their speciality now... They've got quite a few types of Ramen with different broths. The first one that we tried was the Tokyo Shio. This is a chicken noodle soup that has just a traditional salt seasoning. The simplicity of this broth is what I really liked about it; and it was the one that was my personal favourite. It had a yuzu (Japanese citrus fruit) peel to add a bit of tang to it. 

The other one was the Kumamoto garlic Ramen. This broth had a tad bit of a milky consistency; a good flavour nonetheless. The roasted garlic oil that it had really have it a prominent taste that lingered in the mouth for long. 
Apart from the noodles and the meat, both of these also had a half-boiled egg and a small sheet of seaweed. 

They've got some more items in the menu and we had the chicken katsu which we're really fond of. The chicken was well fried & crispy; the curry was thick with vegetables and the flavor of this one tasted a bit close to Indian cuisine. 

There was Tendon also which caught our attention. It is crispy tempura topped with soy sauce, and served with steamed rice. The tempura wasn't too bad, but the dish tasted a bit dry overall. 

Japanese cuisine is definitely incomplete without sushi and we had the California Maki here. This one was fresh but the taste was okay. 

I was really excited to see the Japanese drinks here, and I had the milk tea. I like the tea with milk that is served cold in many parts of Asia, and if you're a fan, you'll definitely like this. 
They have the Asahi beer (non-alcoholic) too which came as a pleasant surprise. 

To end on a sweet note, we had the Mochi - the strawberry and the mango. Both of them were really nice; though a bit more chewy than the ones I've usually had. 

Don't let the fact that this restaurant is located in a food court undermine your expectations about this place. They're really passionate about what they do, and that is certainly seen in the food that we had here.




Ichikura Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Oakberry Acai Bowls

Humpty Dumpty - desi Chinese

Golden Dragon