RaRamen, Glen Waverley by Bureaucrat

RaRamen suffers from an identity crisis. RaRamen used to be called Bob's Kitchen. I dined at Bob's Kitchen about six/seven years ago. There are many places to eat around Glen Waverley, and some of the restaurants were (and still, are) quite popular. However, none of them were as popular as Bob's Kitchen. It was the only restaurant that had people queuing up outside the restaurant trying to get a table during lunch and dinner time.

My memory of the food at Bob's Kitchen was that it was good but greasy. I didn't quite understand how it was that popular. Time pasts, and since coming back to Oz, various family members have told me that the food at Ah Yee's Dumplings restaurant, which is located near the Glen Waverley library (the same area where Bob's Kitchen used to be) is really good. As I frequently walk around Kings Way I never noticed Ah Yee's Dumplings restaurant.

The mystery was solved when Ms E and I had lunch there. It turns out that:

Ah Yee's Dumplings = Bob's Kitchen = RaRamen

The food there was pretty good. I liked the fact that they make hand-stretched noodles. So good in fact that I took the Lawyer there for lunch recently.


We ordered the spring onion pancake. This reminds me of my childhood. Lovely, thickish pancakes with lots of spring onions.


Jia Jiang Mian - the hand stretched noodles with a salty, minced pork that you toss through the noodles. I like the chewiness of the noodles, the differing widths of the noodles which gives some texture to the dish. The noodles is served with a bowl of chicken broth.


A dozen minced pork dumplings.


I really liked these - I think the pastry is handmade, as it's slightly thicker than the mass produced dumplings. Inside, I liked that the filling was chunky. You could taste the small chunks of spring onion and ginger.


A novelty of of RaRamen is that in addition to the ubiquitous flasks of Chinese tea in the cheap eats sort of places, is that they have complementary slushies - albeit very watered down. Never have I seen so many adults slurp down free slushies.



Verdict
Food - 8
Ambience - 5.5
Service - 6
Price - 8

Overall
I quite like the food here. It's cheap and good, and I like hearing the thwack of the ramen as it gets made in the kitchen by the chef.

You can also buy frozen dumplings to take home.

What I didn't like is that it's very crowded and it's essentially communal dining. All the tables abut against each other - you have to weave in and out to make your way through the restaurant.

In the olden days, Bob's Kitchen had only one floor. But RaRamen have now extended to upstairs. I had a quick peek upstairs and it seems more spacious than downstairs.

Address
RaRamen
114 Kings Way
Glen Waverley 3150
Telephone: 9561 5665