Not So Boss Rib Ramen

Far East Square and the likes are a hotbed for OLs and Salarymen during lunch hour considering their proximity with office spaces around the Central Business District Area. In a sense I would've thought that this means all the extra effort shops must place into their foods if they want to survive competing against so many others for so many more picky tastebuds.

Guess I thought wrong.

Made the trip down to far east square for lunch since my colleagues are either dieting or not intending to travel that far (thank goodness for my longboard). Buta Ramen's a place I've passed by once or twice while heading elsewhere and the point that catches my eye was how they claim their meat to be the star product. Good enough for me, I'd like to give it a try.

First thing, the queue took a while to move. I don't know why but the reason became apparent by the time I got to the order. Basically, I ordered their BOSS RIB ramen since that's pretty much what they're proud of. Paid my $13.90 for the set and what followed was a few minutes of waiting for the rib to be prepared, all the while with my bowl of ramen soup and noodles sitting by the counter!

So my tray was finally ready and I brought it over to my table (chose an area close to the sunlight so pictures turn out better!) I guess for $13.90 it's a pretty decent price? I'd be paying the same price for a similar set if I were dining at marutama or the other ramen places. Ok... maybe slightly more.

Let's start with the good things shall we? The tonkotsu soup broth is pretty decent. It's thick, creamy, flavorful (could be stronger, though). It doesn't leave you feeling thirsty, so I guess there is some quality to this soup. That's about it really.

First thing that really raised a bit of a red flag for me was that their chopsticks were full of fluff (whatever you call them). I'd expect a quality restaurant to provide some quality utensils, but what I got instead was a good 2 minutes of rubbing them together which still couldn't get all the pieces off. I gave up and at as it is, hoping I don't get stabbed.

Next disappointment was their BOSS RIB. Given the epic name you'd expect them to be awesome. Here're some the restaurant's descriptions I can remember off the top of my head:

- slow cooked for 24 hours
- quality pork
- "Fall off the bone" tenderness
- locks in the juice (or something like that)

Ugh... Meat was tough, I had to chew on it several times before they were "swallow-able". So the sauce might be nice, but the meat was pretty much dry. Did not give me the impression of "fall off the bone" tenderness, hell there wasn't even a bone there! Two pieces of these inch thick meat served on a pretty plate with some teriyaki-ish sauce. Rib, not so boss.

Here's a picture of the garnishes because they're just there

Next was their noodle. Remember me talking about them leaving the bowl on the counter for a few minutes? Not good. Noodles ended up soaking in too much soup and had a soggy texture. Nothing like what you'd normally get in a proper ramen shop. major disappointment. There's pretty much no fight from the noodle when you bite into them. Boo.

I don't think I even need to describe the ramen egg that came at this price point do I?

All in all, this joint won't be seeing me coming back. It has more misses than hits. The logo looks cute, the soup was decent but everything else just fell short. I'm not even sure if their loyalty card promotion would help them much. Meh.

I won't be sharing the address for this one.