Ky-Oto: Chippendale food precinct’s Spice Alley welcomes very good, very cheap, no-frills ramen joint

SPICE Alley newcomer Ky-Oto in Chippendale is best described as “eat-in takeaway’’ or “slow fast food’’ that operates hawker-style, with a bargain-basement price list.

AMY HARRISFood critic

3 min read

March 13, 2016 - 12:00AM

The Sunday Telegraph

Ky-Oto’s cheap grub comes at a cost

Sydney Review

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IF a restaurant only offers self service, plastic cups, disposable cutlery and street-market seating — is it even a restaurant at all?

For the purposes of an accurate description it’s probably better to describe Ky-Oto in Chippendale as “eat-in takeaway’’ or “slow fast food’’ that operates hawker-style, with a bargain-basement price list.

The latest addition to Spice Alley — the outdoor street food market in the newly developed Kensington Street food precinct, part of the burgeoning Central Park development — Ky-Oto is not the first ramen joint in the area.

Spice Alley welcomes Ky-Oto to the Kensington St Food Precinct at Central Park, Chippendale.

There’s also a branch of Ippudo — the Japanese noodle giant that has outposts scattered across the globe and is considered one of the companies offering gold-standard ramen. (Truffle oil has been known to be a featured ingredient in some of their restaurants.)

Ky-Oto, conversely, is way down the other end of the scale, a cheap, no-frills, eat-’n’-run-type operation that offers a super-simple menu — five ramens, three udons, gyoza, karaage, etc, etc — which is laminated and slapped on the counter.

Not surprisingly, with cheap grub comes some requisite sacrifices — probably the most significant of which is the counter service; the dreaded “ordering and collecting’’ system.

So, say you have a group of three or more — the start of the meal will be interrupted with a flurry of trips back and forth as dishes are called in a “no particular order’’ kind of way.

This is made extra tricky by the poky seating space, spread across two indoor sections and a clutch of outdoor tables, seemingly designed for those of a very small build — or children.

The plastic dinnerware, meanwhile, is a temporary fix until Ky-Oto is granted its imminent liquor licence, at which time it’s understood an extensive sake menu will be offered.

Gyoza.

Until then, however, the chilled riesling has to be hastily slugged from a plastic cup — hasty because things like ice and (ice buckets) are clearly a frill too far.

But really, when a bowl of ramen — the ultimate Japanese soul food — comes at you for just $10, there’s a few things you should be prepared to overlook.

And from a city that houses something like 150 ramen restaurants, Ky-Oto manages to offer a few unique twists. Their tonkotsu — the traditionally heavy, porky ramen known among aficionados as the king of noodle soups — is refreshingly light.

The sublime tonkotsu ramen is refreshingly light.

Bad news for those who worship at the alter of Gumshara, that other self-service bolthole in the Dixon St food court that specialises in thick, rich syrupy broths which can be a little, er, overwhelming.

Not so here. The tonkotsu — lightened by adding vegetables to the bone marrow and leg bone broth — can be finished off with ease, right down to the kombu and the perfectly cooked onsen egg.

There’s also a spicy tonkotsu, probably best saved for the winter months, as well as miso, salt and soy ramen — and all with the same $10 price. Gotta love that cost point!

Okonomiyaki pork.

Two more dollars gets you the excellent seafood okonomiyaki — the Japanese pancake omelet cooked on a teppan grill and stuffed with squid and prawns and topped with dried bonito flakes, aonori seaweed and a dollop of pickled ginger.

The dons ($11-$18) are well portioned and served with pickles and julienne spring onions, and come with either beef, pork, chicken, grilled eel or salmon — the latter of which was a little on the dry side.

But the takoyaki (squid) balls are juicy and fresh, while the other staple, the pork gyoza, are crisp and chewy on the outside — tasty and moist in the inside. As they should be.