A massive welcome to Ippudo, Japan's largest global ramen chain, to New Zealand!
Ippudo is among the restaurants that have opened up at Westfield Newmarket's Rooftop on Broadway dining precinct (which by the way, you need to check out if you haven't already!). I was fortunate to be invited to try their food. Having seen and heard about all the queues outside Ippudo in the first couple of weeks that it opened, we were super stoked to get a taste of what all the hype was about.
We got the specials each of the three tonkatsu broth ramens, as well as a basic Akamaru Shinaji. We also ordered a few sides to share (the portion size of some of these were tiny however), of which my faves were the yam fries and the seared salmon sushi. Broth of the ramen was amazing. You even get to pick the hardness of your noodles - I got medium to be safe. And HOLY, those eggs were perfectly soft boiled. Pricier than the usual ramen in Auckland but hands down the best I've had so far. I hear they're planning to expand and open four more in NZ in the next five years too, so watch out for that!
There full menu is now available, so I can't wait to go back! Thank you so much to Ippudo for inviting us - lovely service and generosity even though it was super busy.
EDIT: Went back for a second visit with the fam! This time I tried the Akamaru Shinaji. It's a popular choice of the ramens because of the garlic oil in the broth which really enhances the flavour. By the way, did you know it's only $2 for extra noodles? (As long as you have some broth remaining!)
Address: Rooftop on Broadway (Level 4M), Westfield Newmarket, Auckland
Hours: Monday-Sunday (11am-9pm)
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