Ramen by Chaco Bar, Darlinghurst

Sydney is spoilt with the amount of ramen choices available right now. For most of us noodle soup aficionados, that's an absolute amazing thing! Just like the on-going burger craze, we can't get enough of ramen in this town! Just earlier today, the up and rising star Chaco Bar started offering lunchtime ramen. Chaco on Crown Street, Darlinghurst is normally a yakitori bar by night but from Wednesday to Saturday, they turn into a ramen bar for lunch with limited 30 ramen bowls.

Where there's new ramen, you'll normally find me there! I also bumped into my homie Adrian Leonard. I really digged Chaco's whole Japanese-style mini tavern fit out. Regardless of how much I loved the space, my mission was to try Chef Keita Abe's ramen. Ready? Here we go!

Itadakimasu!!

 

Fat soy ramen

They have two ramen options. Adrian opted for their Fat Soy ramen ($13). It consists of ramen noodles, cha shu, half ajitsuke tamago (flavoured soft boiled egg), nori, bean sprouts and shallots. I was only able to try the broth. It was more of light soy based broth with some form of pork fat to give more depth of flavour. There's almost a balance in both flavours but the soy component was more pronounced than the pork.

 

Fish salt ramen

Fish salt ramen with extra egg

I ordered the Fish Salt ramen ($13) because I was interested to try how the fish flavour will affect the chicken based broth. This ramen had noodles, cha shu, prawn & John Dory wonton, bean sprouts, nori & leek. The broth was amazing! It was similar to Ikkyu's paitan broth but with added fish flavour. Both chicken and fish flavours were nicely balanced and seasoned well. It was light but flavoursome. The noodles were springy and perfectly cooked. The wonton was like a good supporting act to the ramen's seafood theme. The tender fatty strand of cha shu in this ramen complimented the chicken component of the broth. The sweet mild onion-like flavour of the leek went well with the broth. I ordered extra ajitsuke tamago ($3) because to me, not having egg in a ramen is like a cheeseburger with no cheese. The egg was slightly sweet and the yolk was soft.

Gyozas

Gyozas (4 pieces for $8) are a ramen's best friend. It was perfectly cooked with the nice caramelised fried crust and the perfect marriage of pork and ginger.

I really enjoyed their fish salt ramen and would definitely return to try their cha shu rice ball ($5) and onigiri ($5). Chaco Bar has won my ramen lovin' heart! So check them out!

Chaco Bar

238 Crown Street

Darlinghurst NSW 2010

Cha-co-men hours:

Wednesday - Saturday Lunch

12:00pm to 3:00pm (limited to 30 bowls a day).