Come eat at Kanbe Ramen

Probably every ramen fan on town would have tried this place already so I’m just adding my tow cents worth.

Kanbe Ramen opened just before MCO 2.0 and queues were at least 45mins waiting time if not 1 hour. No way was I gonna spend so long in a line. Last month, there were 3 people in line as I was early and I got in after 20 minutes. Finally!

Helmed by 3 Japanese chefs, Kanbe offers 7 different soup base options. Kinda makes me wonder if Malaysia is such a hotbed for ramen as every other ramen restaurant these days is manned by a Japanese chef.

Anyway, what’s different here is – you get a sheet on which you have to tick the boxes to choose your soup, add-on sides, the richness of taste and spice level, etc  – which can be a little confusing initially. There’s even a how-to-order and another fun guide on ‘how to enjoy your bowl of ramen’ as well as 4 different types of condiments on the table which you can add to your noodles. All these keep you occupied while waiting, which won’t be too long.

We had the Shiro (ori) and Koro (squid ink) – the tonkotsu broth – supposedly boiled for 36 hours or more – for both were hearty, full-bodied and packed with flavour and depth – definitely not for the faint-hearted. For RM31.20 you get 2 sizable slabs of chashu, an egg, fungus, seaweed and spring onion – in other words, the works, including a cup of oolong tea. It’s RM39 for Tsukemen which has chewier, denser noodles.  

As such, Kanbe gives a good deal as you get awesome soup, full-on ingredients, condiments and tea to boot. Only quibble I have is with the noodles … I would have preferred a firmer and chewier bite, coz I felt the ramen was somewhat on the limp side. To be fair, everyone has different preferences, even when it comes to noodle texture so to each his own.

I would surely eat here more often if not for the consistent long queue. But for Kanbe, I guess that’s a good problem.

Add: GF – 08, 163 Retail Park, 8, Jalan Kiara, Mont Kiara, Kuala Lumpur.