Hachiban Ramen @ Fashion Island Mall

Hachiban Ramen [@ Fashion Island Mall]
http://www.hachiban.co.jp/english/index.html

Rating: 3 / 5 stars

Hachiban Ramen is another typical Japanese franchise in Thailand. You'll see this place in many malls or grocery store chains [i.e. TESTCO Lotus] in Thailand. This place is specializes in ramen. The first time that I ever try this place about 5 years ago at TESTCO Lotus in Rangsit.

A few weeks ago, my parents and I came to Hachiban Ramen for dinner. [Originally, my mom wanted to go to Fuji Restaurant, but there were 11 groups of people ahead of us. :P]  It was a Friday night and the place was pretty busy. As we entered the small restaurant, I can clearly see that the place was understaffed. There were a few tables that weren't cleaned up from the customers who had already left. There wasn't a hostess to greet people at the door. The cashier was the only person in the front and she was busy collecting payments.

Well, I ordered a set entrée for dinner. I had the pork ramen set and it came with fried dumplings & a glass of Coke. It was about 100 Baht [around $3 US]. My dad also ordered the same thing as me. My mom just ordered the duck ramen. I thought that my meal was good but the ramen entrée was kinda boring because there weren't many ingredients in the ramen.

The service here that Friday evening was awful. As mentioned earlier, the place was understaffed. It took awhile for my parent's entrees to come too. My dad also ordered another entrée but that never came and he cancelled it because it took FOREVER!!! My dad kept reminding the waitress that his order didn't come yet. I saw that my dad was very pissed off. lolz...And that doesn't happen often too. =X

I would definitely go to Hachiban Ramen again because the ramen is pretty cheap and good. But probably not at Fashion Island Mall though.

[NOTE: Pictures taken from my NOKIA E63]

CHABUTON

CHABUTON
258, 258/1-4 Siam Square Soi 3
Rama 1 Road, Patumwan
Bangkok 10330 Thailand
Tel: 02-252-9353
http://www.chabuton.com/index.html [Japanese website]

Rating: 5 / 5 stars!!!

My little cousin recommend us (my uncle, her little brother and his friend, and I) to go try ramen at CHABUTON. She said that she came here before with her friends and said that the food is really good. She also said the owner was the winner from a Japanese series called "TV Champion." So, we came here for lunch on this past Saturday and the place was pretty busy. We waited for 10 minutes to be seated. The place was average size too. I ordered the "Shio Tonkosu Ramen" in a small size for 130 Baht [about $4 US]. This ramen was oh so good! The broth is very flavorful. The ramen contains scallions, pickled bamboo shoots, pork, and a sprinkle of sesame seeds. My uncle order some fried gyozas (dumplings) for us.  The gyozas came out piping HOT and they were also delicious. These gyozas had a pork & leek filing and they reminded of the dumplings that I can get from Flushing, NYC. For drinks, we all got the iced cold Japanese green tea and it's UNLIMITED REFILLS!!! I think that I drank a lot green tea here because I was so dehydrated prior to coming to the restaurant.

Overall, this places deserves 5 stars in my book. The food was very mouthwatering and delicious. The service was good as well. This place is a MUST TRY!

Grand Ramen

Grand Ramen
25/17-19 Sukhumvit 55 (Soi Thonglor)
Klongton-nua Wattana
Bangkok, Thailand 10110
Telephone: 02-714-1020

Rating: 4 / 5 stars

My cousin treated me to ramen for dinner today. My aunt and uncle came with us as well. I ordered the small "Tempura Ramen" for 110 Baht (about $3 US). I really liked the texture of the ramen and it was chewy. There were also some vegetables (ie snow peas, bamboo shoots) in the ramen. The  broth was very flavorful and it wasn't salty. You can also ask for a refill for soup broth as well. I ate all of my ramen and I was very satisfied with my meal. I was pretty full afterwards.

The service was OK. The staff could have been more attentive. This restaurant is small and there are some out door seating as well. Overall, I really liked my ramen and I would come back again.