Cars, Food and the Ladies of Hong Kong & Macau: Sugetsu Ramen 麵鮮醬油房周月 (Hong Kong)

Friday, March 16, 2012

Sugetsu Ramen 麵鮮醬油房周月 (Hong Kong) - ♕♕♕♕ 1/2

A new Ramen shop originating from Shikoku - 四國 has finally opened its doors after much anticipation. Much like Shikoku spirits they make their own noodles in house - but this time making ramen rather than Zanuki udon noodles. Sugetsu ramen is shoyu sauce based and make their base broths using fish and chicken stock. The noodles were indeed quite decent, even though the ramen soup turned out to be quite salty in the end. Getting there !

1st day of Opening

Ramen noodles Machine -
Quite an exclusive novelty for Hong Kong ramen shops..

Cold Hoji-Cha tea is provided,
This is quite traditional in Japanese ramen or curry shops.

Menu -
Written in 3 different languages. The English vs Japanese version does not exactly match however as some Japanese terminologies become confusing when translated directly into English or Chinese. For example, Abura Soba (which isn’t Buckwheat based Soba here but refers to a traditional interpretation of a China-Soba, which is actually a wheat based ramen) is directly translated into ramen here instead, for clarity. It is a compromise explanation..

Abura Soba, Ramen (ホタテ油油そば) -
Sauce is made from Scallop Oil instead of lard oil. Dried scallops, lard oil or fish sauce in Chinese cooking is popular too to impart more flavours, and this Japanese shop uses a similar concept. The noodles were wheaty without too much lye water taste, chewy, very good. The Pork Char Siu were decent too. I thought the Menma bamboo shoots were quite powerful and spoiled the overall balance a little bit, but others were fine with it.. Mix this with the raw egg and vinegar or more soy based sauce as you wish. Loved this the best ~ 9/10

Additional Vinegar or Soy Based sauce for Abura Soba/Ramen…

Tsuke men with Shoyu soy and Fish & Chicken Broth (つけ麺) -
The warm noodles are dipped into the not-too-hot あつもり concentrated soup. People in HK think the dipping sauce should be hot but traditionally it is only warm, sometimes even cold and resembling a Zaru Ramen. The noodles as above were made well but quite substantially thick. This is my 2nd preference here and right up there with Japan’s local standards. ~ 8/10

The concentrated dipping Tsukedare sauce, as mentioned before,
is diluted with a Chicken Stock after finish the ramen,
so that the customers can drink it as a normal soup afterwards.

Kurobuta Pork Char Siu with Egg (黒豚ちゃーしゅー, 味玉) - $48
This black pork belly is also served in a ramen bowl below, but surprisingly, that version was grilled better. The marinated egg here was runny and also sweetish on the outside, it was also quite eggy. One of the best I have tried in Hong Kong. ~ 7.5/10

Shugetsu Ramen (周月らーめん) – $85
The original flavour, the broth is made from Shoyu soy sauce, fish and chicken stock. The egg is good as above and the soup was aromatic enough. There were 2 let downs on this bowl - the soup was sophisticated but way too salty to the point it was like the above ‘tsukemen’ concentrated dip. Secondly the thin noodles were slightly too cooked and slimey. Nevertheless, this shows potential and I will definitely be back. ~ 6.9/10

Grilled Kurobuta Belly Ramen (焼き黒豚ちゃーしゅーめん) – $98
This looked so similar to the above ramen, but there are 2 differences. The pork is a better grade, and it is also flame grilled beforehand. Apparently this pork quality was really good and aromatic. The soup base is the same as the above nominal ramen. The quality is better but comes at a price, and if u go for a soup based ramen this is the one to order… ~ 8/10

Spring Onion Ramen (ネギギャンらーめん) – $68
This comes with 1 whole egg. Said to be more clearer in the soup broth and aromatic in a grassy way. Didn’t get to try this but it sounds promising…

The Soups were way too salty perhaps from the Shikoku sourced quality Soy sauce,
but at least with no detectable traces of MSG -
The noodles made in house might be gimmicky but they turned out to be great in quality, one of it’s highlights! The Char Siu pork was decent too. The soup broth, apart from the too heavy handed saltiness is quite hard to judge subjectively… Hong Kong locals expect a lot from this soup base and to their own preferences. The Japanese chefs expect Hong Kongers to have heavier palate preferences and make it as such to suit us, but Hong Kongers always think the ones served in Japan have packed in more complexity and flavours. It is a never abating debate. I personally found the one here to be quite satisfactory, bar the salt which numbed the tongue a bit after the meal…