Artery clogging ramen (I meant that in a good way)

My good friend's boyfriend just opened a Japanese ramen franchise in Sukhumvit 39. It's one of the most famous ramen chains in Japan that he discovered when he went to a ramen fair in Tokyo last year. Must have been quite an eating spree....going from booth to booth until he found the best tasting ramen!

Anyway, this place is called Bankara Ramen, and its signature ramen is called (duh) the Bankara Ramen. The soup is a mixture of shio and tonkotsu soup. I believe shio is a clear salt based soup, while tonkotsu is a white creamy pork bone soup simmered for hours and hours.

The noodles, stewed bamboo shoots, soup base and even things like corn and dried seaweed are all imported from Japan, hence the above average pricing. The ramen here come pretty lightly 'dressed,' so you have to order extra toppings. The must-order ones are:

• Tamago aka stewed egg. This is so delicious I can just eat it on its own. The egg white is tender and very flavorful after hours of simmering in the soup. And the yolk! My goodness, I have a weakness for oozy yolk, and this one oozes like golden lava. It's gooey and oozy, and surprisingly sweet. Like I said, it's a must-order.

• Kakuni aka stewed pork belly in dark soy sauce. Layers of juicy, tender pork meat alternating with thick strips of fat, which I of course painstakingly remove. But the labor was all worth it. And if you haven't had enough of the kakuni from the ramen, you can always order the Kakuni rice, which has rice topped with generous portions of kakuni, poached egg (again, oozy goodness), seaweed flakes and drizzles of mayo.

• Stewed bamboo shoots. The bamboo shoots here are by far the best in Thailand and Mountain View, CA (well, that's the scope of my ramen experience). So fat and unbelievably juicy. I like it so much that I usually order it on its own as appetizer, dressed with fresh spring onion, sesame oil and chilli!

I personally prefer the Tonkotsu ramen more than the signature Bankara ramen. The tonkotsu soup here is very rich and flavorful compared to all the others that I have tasted elsewhere. Of course, I top mine with both tamago and kakuni (not shown in the pic below), and despite feeling grossly full at the end, I can vouch that it's completely worth it.

Bankara Ramen

The Manor at Sukhumvit 39

Tel: 02-662-5162