Overview
An exciting new restaurant dedicated to ramen made with top-quality wagyu beef is opening in Sydney this Thursday, May 26. Mashi No Mashi Sydney will become WAGYUMAFIA's third ramen restaurant to open and its first-ever venue in Australia. The renowned Japanese hospitality group currently runs eleven restaurants in Tokyo and three in Hong Kong, all of which star (you guessed it) wagyu beef.
"There's a way to look at wagyu: before WAGYUMAFIA and after WAGYUMAFIA," WAGYUMAFIA co-Founder Hisato Hamada says. "Before WAGYUMAFIA, wagyu — even for the Japanese — [was] considered a very expensive product. We wanted to bring wagyu to more people in more ways."
Sydney's Mashi No Mashi will be located at Pyrmont's The Star, joining the likes of Sokyo, The Century, Flying Fish and fellow new addition ELE at the casino's dining precinct. WAGYUMAFIA's new Sydney opening will offer a range of traditional ramen dishes, but the star of the show will be its signature Wagyujiro ramen.
Wagyujiro is made with 100% wagyu beef sourced from Japan's 20 best beef farmers, including world-famous wagyu cultivator Muneharu Ozaki. The ramen is prepared overnight in a 24-hour Ozaki beef bone stock and accompanied by bean sprouts, bamboo shoots and organic Japanese garlic.
"I want to make food to share with my wife, my family, my friends... somebody you love. I don't want to fake it. A lot of people nowadays make fake food. I make food for myself," Hamada says.
While the ingredients are high-quality and rare, that doesn't translate to smaller serving sizes. Each bowl of ramen at Mashi No Mashi's Hong Kong outpost is known for its hefty and hearty size, with each bowl weighing approximately one kilogram.
Playing sidekick to the ramen is Ozaki wagyu beef gyoza. The little packets of juicy beef are fried until crispy and served with a side of Wagyusco hot sauce.
The opening of the Sydney outpost is a full-circle moment for Hamada, too. "I spent a number of my adolescent years living here in Sydney and I consider this city the birthplace of my appreciation for food," he said.
"From fish market visits with my family to slurping ramen at King's Cross, Sydney gave me many great food memories so it is very exciting to return after nearly 30 years and open the first international Mashi No Mashi shop outside of Hong Kong and the first WAGYUMAFIA restaurant in the Southern Hemisphere."
WAGYUMAFIA's Mashi No Mashi will open at The Star, 80 Pyrmont Street, Pyrmont from Thursday, May 26.
Top image: Steve Woodburn