I'm usually a big fan of the Spice Bar, but today it was abysmal and I'm kicking myself for not seeing
@SYD 's post on the previous page. I present the "chicken and miso noodle soup with soy, egg and sesame"
On paper it sounded like a take on ramen, and I
think that's what they were going for, but god this was awful. Almost every ingredient was out of place, but three really stood out:
- The half cup of watery goma dressing poured into the soup as the final ingredient. This is designed to be a salad dressing ffs. I suspect they were trying to emulate goma dare, a thicker and less sweet sauce base. This shouldn't have been an ingredient at all, just make your miso base better.
- The gari (sliced sushi ginger pickled in sweet vinegar) is a palate cleanser rather than an ingredient in a soup. I suspect they were trying to substitute beni shoga, julienned ginger pickled in a much darker plum vinegar with a very different end result. Both are readily available in Australia so I have no idea why they'd pick gari.
- The noodles. I couldn't identify exactly what these were because they were half-cooked, and the soup broth was luke-warm so they never softened. I'm guessing it was run of the mill vermicelli, but I can't work out what made the kitchen think this combination would work? Were they going for ramen? Harusame? We may never know.
The rest was very average - a weak/watery miso broth, a hard-boiled attempt at ajitsuke tamago, where the egg is supposed to be marinated in a mix of soy/mirin/sake/sugar, but in this case the egg was marinated just in soy and extremely salty. Uncooked beansprouts also made an appearance, which is quite uncommon in Japan unless served in a piping hot soup, and there was some dry chicken breast. The only ingredient that actually worked was the kikurage or wood ear mushrooms.
I really hope they lift their game and maybe send a chef on secondment to the JL HND F lounge before trying ramen again. Otherwise they should probably stick to the Japanese dishes which are less difficult to butcher, like curry and gyudon. Or just go back to the satay sticks and larb please.