Where to Find the Best Ramen in Sydney for 2024
From tsukemen to kogashi, these are our favourite bowls of noodles around the city.
Where to Find the Best Ramen in Sydney for 2024
From tsukemen to kogashi, these are our favourite bowls of noodles around the city.
Ramen is a soup for all seasons, an evergreen option for solo lunches, dinner dates or — hell, if you can find a noodle shop that does early hours — a bowl for breakfast. And there's an increasing number of Sydney ramen joints serving up this Japanese wonder-soup, from reliable chainstore staples to the more experimental variations.
While we're dedicated ramen enthusiasts, this is by no means an all-encompassing list — it's a wrap-up of quality broths, office favourites and interesting bowls that are some of the best ramen in Sydney. Slurp on, noodle fans.
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Gogyo is a well-established ramen chain in Japan which specialises in one ramen in particular — the tori shoyu variety. Sydneysiders, rejoice! This particular ramen is exclusive to the city. This dish features the classic flavours of miso or soy, alongside Gogyo’s savoury clear chicken broth generously dunked with springy noodles, chashu pork belly, nori and bonito dashi. As for the taste, it’s unlike anything you’ve ever had before. The flavourful soup is thick with chicken-negi oil and the flavour is rich but not overly overpowering. Gogyo is where you’ll find some of the best ramen in Sydney. If you haven’t tried it yet, be sure to add it to your ramen hit list.
Image: Julia Sansone.
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Redfern’s izakaya-style eatery takes its design cues from the vibey Japanese microbreweries and cafes visited by husband and wife team Scott Gault and Katie Shortland. Think warm timber accents, a slight industrial edge and full-length windows to capture the noodle-making magic unfolding in the open kitchen. The Redfern ramen shop is the original RaRa site, which has since expanded to locations in Randwick, Eveleigh and an all-vegan outpost in Newtown. A special pressure cooker is used to nail the I-can’t-believe-how-good-this-is broth, and noodles are made fresh each morning with a 380-kilogram Yamoto machine that’s been shipped in from Japan.
On the menu, you’ll find four styles of free-range pork tonkotsu, highlighting the kitchen’s nose-to-tail approach, available in shio, black garlic, chilli oil or the double-whammy of black garlic and chilli. There’s also a chicken paitan ramen and a vegan option that comes in either a shio or a miso style. For these meat-free bowls, soy milk lends a flavour reminiscent of pork. There’s also a soupless noodle dish called mazesoba — akin to Japanese spag bol with delicately spiced free range pork mince or crispy karaage chicken and available with a topping of truffle oil. Nothing complements ramen better than beer, so choose from a selection of local tins, Yulli’s Brews on tap and a range of natural wines championing young producers.
Image: Luisa Brimble.
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The name Chaco Ramen comes from the word charcoal, a reference to the exceptional grilled yakitori this Darlinghurst restaurant formerly offered once the sun goes down. Since then, owner Keita Abe opened a dedicated yakitori offering in Potts Point at Chaco Bar, so here they can do all ramen all the time. The ramen comes in six different variations: fat soy, fish salt, yuzu scallop, vegetarian, chilli coriander, and yuzu scallop. There’s also the option of gluten free noodles, bone marrow curry or extra toppings like Hokkaido scallops, wontons and spicy miso. Chaco Ramen feels more intimate than small.
The use of natural timbers and earthy shades creates warmth, while fanciful drop lights cast a welcome glow. The room is divided by a communal table which sits adjacent to an exposed kitchen gallery, where inside, the smells and sounds of meat against coals will trigger an ASMR response from hardcore Sydney ramen fans. For those further east of the city, Chaco has also opened a Bondi outpost that serves up all of the Darlinghurst favourites right by the beach.
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In the evenings, Gaku is all about Japanese culinary creations with a focus on technique and open flame cooking, but by day their cup overfloweth with steaming bowls of ramen. The venue’s menu currently only offers a single ramen selection, the yuzu-spiked duck broth with smoked duck breast, served standard or spicy. Sydney has no shortage of ramen, but Gaku makes it unlike anywhere else in the city. Chefs Haru Inukai (owner of the now-closed Sussex Centre Ramen Ikkyu and Elizabeth Bay’s BlancHaru) and Shimon Hanakura (ex-Aria) add modern twists to the dishes without sacrificing technique, bringing their experience making traditional ramen and fine dining credentials to the fore.
The only problem you’ll have is getting your hands on a bowl of some of the best ramen in Sydney. Only 40 portions are made each day so turn up early to the restaurant — a compact, but not overcrowded space on Darlinghurst Road with exposed bricks and wooden details — to secure a spot from 6pm to 11pm Wednesdays–Sundays. If you can, grab a seat at the long wooden bar overlooking the kitchen and watch Inukai and Hanakura at work.
Images: Trent van der Jagt
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Ichiban is a much-loved Sydney CBD ramen institution for a reason. It’s cheap, it’s delicious and you have it in front of you just minutes after ordering — which is handy given the queue you can expect at peak times. While there are plenty of options on the menu including great gyoza and okonomiyaki (Osaka-style savoury pancakes), the huge ramen selection is an unmissable crowdpleaser. The noodles are made fresh and cooked al dente – a satisfyingly chewy textural experience. We recommend the Tokyo ramen topped with melt-in-your mouth roast pork. While there are a few Ichi-bans around Sydney, head to their flagship restaurant at The Galeries for the best.
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Here’s the one place in Sydney where you can tinker on your motorbike and slurp your way through bowls of ramen on the same premises. Welcome to Rising Sun Workshop’s Newtown digs. For the uninitiated, Rising Sun is a social enterprise that serves two purposes. On one hand, it provides its members with a communal space for repairing and polishing up their bikes. On the other, it’s a café that serves coffee, cookies and seriously killer ramen.
You’ll find Rising Sun’s workshop on Whateley Street in a space that was formerly home to a century-old hardware store so there’s oodles of space. You can get quality nosh at breakfast, lunch and dinner — but its famed ramen is only available in the first half of the day. For breakfast you’ll find a bone broth ramen with bacon, egg, tomato and buttered toast and at lunch you’ll find three different options including a vegetarian choice with a shiitake and sea kelp broth.
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This global chain created a big buzz when it landed on Australian shores — and for good reason. For first-timers, the shiromaru — Hakata-style ramen with juicy pork loin, crunchy bean sprouts and silky black mushrooms — is the speciality that put Ippudo at the top of the ramen trade. If you like your ramen creamier, opt for the karaka-men and you’ll be served a bowl of tonkotsu broth with Ippudo’s secret dashi, spicy minced pork miso and pork belly. Whatever your ramen preference, order the noodles hard, as recommended — they will keep cooking as you make your way through the bowl, slowly but surely. And while the CBD location is prime for a quick lunchtime meal, you can also find stores in Central Park, Chatswood and Macquarie. All these stores make it so easy to try some of the best ramen in Sydney.
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Bones is a slick 20-seat ramen restaurant tucked away right on the border of Potts Point and Rushcutters Bay. The hidden gem opened at the beginning of 2022 with Michael Mu Sung of Farmhouse and Jeremy & Sons at the helm. You’ll find it across the road from Farmhouse, decked out in red brick, ocean blue tiles and parquet wood floors courtesy of design firm, Guru Projects.
It’s walk-in only with ten of the seats overlooking the ramen action in the kitchen, while the other ten are outside, ready for sunny days and brisk nights. Scan the menu and you’ll find four specialty ramen bowls, including the latest addition, the Toyko-men served with house fish cake, smoked chilli and a soy egg. Looking for a complete feast? Add snacks and sides like fried chicken, spicy potato salad and prawn toast — plus a small but tasty selection of drinks including a gentle pét-nat and local craft beers like Sailor’s Grave and Yulli’s.
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The portions are huge in this Sydney ramen eatery tucked away in Chinatown’s Eating World. Add to that the fact that the collagen-rich pork broth is produced by boiling over 100 kilograms of pork bones on a daily basis, and you will need to factor in either a nap or a walk to recover from the wonderfully rib-sticking ramen that you’ll experience at Gumshara. Try the tonkotsu ramen, served with slices of pork and seaweed in the aforementioned broth, which is so thick it’s practically gravy. And combined with the low prices and generous portions, there are more than enough reasons for Gumshara to be a staple in the diets of ramen lovers and bargain hunters alike.
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Tsukemen is the signature ramen at this cute World Square restaurant. When you order this ramen, two bowls arrive — one containing the noodles, the other containing the extra-thick broth. To eat it, you dip the noodles in the broth then slurp it down (a technique that can take a mouthful or two to perfect). The broth is a richly flavoured tonkotsu soup with pork belly that melts in your mouth like it should. Spice it up and go for the extra chilli kick by ordering the Spicy soup for a full flavour hit. Alternatively, you can take advantage of the combo deal, which lets you order your favourite ramen and add a small donburi on the side, such as a mini karaage don for five bucks. It makes trying some of the best ramen in Sydney so much better.
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Sekka focuses on two main types of ramen broth — chintan (light and clear) and paitan (thick and cloudy). Within the broth you’ll find exciting editions like pork neck, poached chicken or smoked duck breast. The tonkotsu varieties are in high demand and only available for dinner, so be sure to book an early spot after-work if you can. To accompany the ramen, there are traditional Sydney izakaya snacks like karaage chicken with yuzu-chilli mayo, pork gyoza with house-made XO dipping sauce, smoked edamame and raw starters like wagyu tartare.
Images: Leigh Griffiths
Top image: Gaku by Trent van der Jagt.
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