Crazy for Ramen? Try Ramen Jo

I’ve come to the conclusion that Hongkies are crazy about Japanese ramen. If you live in Hong Kong, you wouldn’t need to ask to know how I came up with this. For those who have no idea what I’m talking about, I’m referring to the long queues of people waiting outside of ramen shops at all hours of the day. Ichiran Ramen, Butao Ramen, Hakata Ippudo are examples of ramen shops that you can see long queues of hungry Hongkies waiting for a hot bowl of Japanese ramen.

I’ve never been a fan of queueing for hours for food [in fact, I’m not a fan of queueing for anything], so I prefer ramen establishments with shorter wait times. If you’re not in for waiting for 90 minutes at 8am for a good bowl of ramen, I recommend trying Ramen Jo. Tucked away in Causeway Bay on Caroline Hill street, this little ramen shop offers tasty noodles with short waiting times. I’ve never had to wait for more than 15 minutes out of the few visits I’ve made to this ramen place.

Ramen Jo offers its customers a choice of 4 different soup broths (Tonkotsu, Miso, Spicy Ramen and Mountain), 3 noodle textures (Very hard, Hard and Normal) and a dozen of extra toppings. The basic bowl of noodles comes with 2 pieces of char siu, bamboo shoots and spring onion. I’m always a sucker for spicy food, and I almost always order the spicy ramen, and this visit was no exception. I’ve opted to add a Japanese soft-boiled egg and corn [ramen just isn’t right without a hanjuku tamago!!!].

I’m no ramen expert, so I wouldn’t be able to explain whether or not the bowl of ramen met all the elements to be labeled as authentic Japanese ramen. But, here is my review of Ramen Jo’s noodles…The char siu was tender and was fatty-just-enough so that it melted in my mouth. When I broke into my soft-boiled egg, the lava yolk oozed out…perfection. The soup base was rich and favourable with just the right amount of spiciness. I thought the noodles weren’t as “chewy” as I wanted, but that was probably because I chose Normal noodles so I am making a note to self to try Hard noodles at my next visit. The only complaint I have is that the 2 pieces of char siu wasn’t enough, but you can order extra at $15 for 2 pieces.

We also ordered 6 pieces of gyoza ($32) to share, it was good, but it wasn’t that memorable.

The basic bowl of ramen costs between $68-88 and each extra topping runs between $8-$15.

You may ask why this ramen joint doesn’t attract long queues? To be honest, I don’t know why. I guess it’s all about hype. But, I promise you, the ramen here won’t disappoint.

Total (2 persons) = $270
Address: G/F, 3 Caroline Hill Road, Causeway Bay / HK Tel: (852)2885 0638
Website: https://www.facebook.com/RamenJo