Ramen aficionado Raff road-tests the menu at the sublime new Mashi no Mashi Sydney.
It is no understatement to say that I love Ramen. How obsessed? Embarrassingly so. Let me explain. When I was just six-years-old and on my first visit to Japan, my mother surprised me and my sister with tickets to Tokyo Disneyland. Now, my sister proceeded to act how you would expect any child promised a day at Disneyland would, squealing with glee and jumping up and down. Me? I started crying and locked myself in the bathroom.
My parents, surprised as I wasn’t usually prone to tantrums, were shocked to say the least. And when they asked my six-year-old self what on earth was wrong, I promptly responded with the devastating fact that it was our last day, and we hadn’t gone to Ramen Street yet. After they finished laughing at me, they dragged me off to Tokyo Disneyland, where I obviously had the (second) best day of my life. But, before we left for the airport the next day, they surprised me again, with a visit to Ramen Street, where they let me try three different bowls of the magical noodle soup. Best. Day. Ever! After that, I became so obsessed that I swear Ramen broth runs in my veins.
Since then, I have tasted my way around so many bowls of ramen across the world and I’ve yet to meet a bowl I didn’t love. So, you can imagine when I heard about Wagyumafia’s third ramen restaurant out of Hong Kong and Tokyo (both of which have a cult following) was opening right here at The Star in Sydney, I was ready and waiting on its doorstep to raise a glass (of iced tea) for the opening.
Mashi no Mashi, which literally translates to “eat more and eat more” – an ethos I share – is my kinda place. Rocking a cool and industrial vibe with fun and friendly staff and cranking music, this brand spanking new Ramen restaurant comes with a pretty special twist.
Each item on the menu is made with 100% Ozaki beef, which is renowned for its incredible flavour and buttery texture This best of the best beef is from a farm so exclusive that you can only eat it at Mashi no Mashi, and even they have to wait 3-6 months for an order of the succulent, fatty wagyu to be delivered. Let me tell you, it is worth the wait!
In fact, by the time we’d finished our entrees I was already a convert. The Wagyu karaage was astonishingly crispy with a light batter that managed to stay crispy while absorbing the flavours of the fatty wagyu beef. But of course, the star of the show was the exquisite wagyu it was secreting. It was juicy, it was tender, it fell apart in your mouth and the flavour genuinely blew my mind.
I thought they may have peaked early until they brought out the gyoza, which was even better. From the tantalising Wagyu filling fried to the perfect fine casing, steamed then fried to absolute perfection, these were the best gyoza I’ve eaten. I legitimately can’t stop thinking about them. They were that good.
But the main event is the two steaming hot bowls of ramen that were our mains. I ordered the signature dish, Wagyujiro. It’s a dish served only on special occasions in Mashi no Mashi’s international branches, but lucky for us is a permanent fixture on the Mashi no Mashi Sydney menu.
Prepared with a killer 24-hour stewed Ozaki beef bone stock, served with thick and chewy noodles, organic cabbage, minced garlic, bean sprouts and bamboo shoots then topped with thick slabs of silky smooth, char shui Ozaki wagyu, Wagyujiro takes ramen to a place it’s never been before. And I gotta say, it’s a place I plan on visiting frequently.
Being the greedy gluttonous creature that I am, I also had to steal a taste or two of mums Spicy Samurai Bomb Tsukemen (by which I mean I basically stole most of it). Essentially a bowl of cold noodles with slabs of perfectly pink, gently torched Ozaki wagyu, is served with a bowl of steaming hot broth to dip the noodles in and #slurplikeaboss.
Basically, it is the same process as any tsukemen ramen, only a quadrillion times better. The secret is the tiny, inconspicuous “bomb”. Packed full of spices like ginger, garlic, yuzu and chilli and so much chilli, it’s fire! After a few seconds of vigorously stirring it into the broth, I started dipping and my mouth exploded with flavour that just kept coming. From the spice bomb to the fatty umami flavour of the Osaki Wagyu, which just elevated the whole thing, this dish was faultless.
While the food is insanely good, one of the things I appreciated most about Mashi no Mashi Sydney, was its nose-to-tail ethos. There is no waste here. They use every part of the animal – the bones and ligaments for the incredible broth, prime cuts topping the ramen dishes, and other cuts chopped up and used in other dishes like the wagyu gyoza.
If you think this sounds like the perfect ramen restaurant, I reckon you’d be right!
Reviewed by Raff – Age 14
Mashi no Mashi
Level G Harbourside, The Star,
80 Pyrmont St, Pyrmont
Sydney NSW
PH: ((02) 9657 8628
The boy in BoyEatsWorld, Raff is an experienced travel television presenter, published travel writer, and an award winning public speaker who is as obsessed with eating as he is with travel. 