chaco ramen

totally in love with the "wagyu bone marrow curry". taste different than normal japanese curry. this one is more savoury and give a verynicearoma. look at that inner part of the bone 😋 definitely mouth watering

a dimly lit little japanese chuan chuan 🍡 bbq place. very low-key exterior, it was hard to find on first visit. i and xihuahua 🐶 went there for our sweet semi-anniversary. tables are tiny and the place was later ham packed with eaters. bad luck if you are claustrophobic.

tuna belly is a bit of a novel dish being basically pigs ear salad. i liked it.

gyoza is fantastic and tbh the best i have had in sydney. quite $$$ as well. no sure what filling it had. comes with anicedipping sauce.

chuan chuan fell below my expectations overall for the price. chicken thigh and heart was ok. ox tongue was very chewy and probably overcooked. pork with enoki was great but i did not like the dry outside and overly sweet marinate. whole wing was surprisingly not on a stick and too salty but it was tender though. miso eggplant wasnicecoming in 4 cubes on a stick! they serve the initial 2 skewers on a small bed of cabbage which i loved but later skewers were delivered individually to the bed of diminishing cabbage.

ume wine was super gooooooood! loved it! i think perhaps it is best to have wine and gyoza here, they do go while together! an old chinese sayings goes like “🥟饺子就酒，越喝越有。🥃” perhaps we will go back for ramen one day too!

we finally made it to this much hyped and cosy place on a monday to grab some ramen and we weren’t disappointed. the soups are absolutely heavy with flavour, the ramen noodles are the slightly curly kind but not too thick, and the egg isniceand gooey. we had the fat soy, and also i’d really recommend the fish salt ramen which comes with fish wontons for about $20 if you’d like to try something that is original and quite different!

great ramen and rice dishes. would definitely recommend! we were lucky to get a table without any waiting time. staffs wereniceand attentive. the place is a bit small but i like the decor.

i had a really good time here. i love their yakitori, especially liver is amazing. they have many kinds of nihonsyu. i enjoyed their nihonsyu with my friend. the atomosphere looked like japan, i miss japan. staffs arenicen kind, i'm so satisfied.
30/11/18

chaco bar concocts new and exciting ramen flavours. however, ramen is only available at night on mondays and no reservations. we ended up waiting for about 1.5 hrs and that was for 4 people. the ramen wasn’t worth the wait, at least open up another ramen night or make reservations available so customers can book.

*note* prices on the website and zomato appeared to be less than the menu we got in person. overall, quite expensive and i felt the broths needed more depth in flavour but if you like a more unique broth then give chaco bar a try but be prepared for the long queue!

ordered:
•karaage chicken ($13) - friends said it was delicious

•gyoza 6pcs ($14) - plump & meaty filling of gyoza, good but expensive for 6pcs

•fat soy ramen ($18) - you can choose the level of fat for the pork back fat & we chose “normal” which was just right - needed more depth of flavour

•yuzu scallop ramen ($19) - definitely the most interesting ramen broth i’ve had, the yuzu gave it that tangy-ness that i wasn’t used to but my friend thought it was a refreshing taste

•fish salt ramen ($18) - light broth for those who prefer lighter broths - i liked this one

•yuzu rum cocktail ($15) - i liked yuzu in the rum and it was aniceand refreshing drink

what a delight. we left the place totally enchanted. the food was amazing: we shared 2 sliders (braised pork belly), today's sashimi for 2 (see photo!), gyozas, spicy lamb shoulder's skewers and today's special tas truffle rice with organic egg and parmegiano. not only did we appreciate the food, but the service was super efficient and always extremelyniceand polite. next time, we will back for monday's ramen. see you soon chaco bar!

chaco bar didn't really meet my expectations. firstly the place was quite small, so we waited about 15 mins or so for a table, which i didn't mind. i'm quite used to lining up for some decent ramen. but what was sort of a let down was how fast things sold out. i wanted the special wagyu ramen & karaage chicken. both were sold out, so i settled for the yuzu salt while my partner got the pork cha shu. the dishes came out looking delicious! another let down was how small the portions were... i have never gone to a ramen restaurant where i finished all my noodles and was still starving. usually i'm stuffed and unable to finish all the noodles. the ramen was delicious but my partner and i can both agree that it was nothing special.
aside from all that, the restaurant is very cosy and has some beautiful artwork and decor, giving it a verynicevibe and atmosphere. i'll like to come back here and try the yakitori some time, so until then.

been to japan recently and miss all the izakaya restaurants? chaco bar is the closest thing to traditional japanese bbq. cute little restaurant with a small sign which might be a bit hard to find, but once you're there, it's like being transported to japan. cosy withnicejapanese decor, chaco bar boasts anicelist of japanese whiskey which perfectly accompanies the food. 

ramen is also good, but only available on certain days.

looking for an authentic izakaya in sydney? well look no further because chaco bar has the food  and alcohol and the ambience covered. it's a tiny restaurant (much smaller than i had thought) so i was quite shocked that they could accomodate a group of roughly 15 people. they did so happily even though we literally occupied most of the restaurant. the place had a reallynicevibe as we could enjoy the food and chat away without the roaring noise expected at a typical bar.

pretty good ramen here and the wonton side is prettynicetoo. soup base was decent and the gyoza the table next to me ordered looksnicealthough i was too full to try em

the skewers are the best thing, mainly the wagyu tongue and liver, definitely recommend these two.

the uni tuna on rice was ok, the sashimi was amazing except the rice was very average.

not a bad place although abit expensive

awful experience! tried to book a table but no one answered the phone, so we just walked in around 7pm. the manager told us to finish before 8 which is fair enough since we were very hungry and would eat fast. we ordered in 10 mins. looked around, it is anicejapanese bar which brought us back to kyoto. only four couples there so i supposed food would arrive very soon based on my experience in japan. but then, it was the endless waiting. around 735pm, we only had two tiny skinny skewers. too hungry to talk, i was looking at the food deliver window and wondering which one would be mine. the amazing part is that, the cook didn't tell waiters which table the food is for. those three went through all the orders for everything they received from the cook with a pink marker! and i saw a cockroach climbed around that window!!
finally, when it came to 8pm, i asked the waitress where is the pork belly. she was actually surprised and asked us more than three times like "haven't you eaten it"?! excuse me? could it be any more offensive? anyway, they gave us a small discount on the lost pork belly in the end, but we will never come back again.

finally had the chaco-men. the fish ramen was awesome. something different that i've never tried before. the broth was light and had a lovely 'fishy' flavour. also tried the fat soy with normal amount of fat. not as thick as gumshara but there were specks of fat floating on top of the broth. it was a bit salty but had wonderful flavour that wasn't too heavy. the noodles wereniceand the cha shu was meaty and soft. would come back if it wasn't so out of the way.

the fat soy has, by far and away, the best shoyu ramen broth i’ve tried. ryo’s comes close, but chaco bar has ryo’s beat. in fact, this broth surpasses most tonkotsu, and i’m a tonkotsu person! it has the most depth of flavour i’ve ever tasted in a shoyu – the pungency of the soy is evident, and it’s got anicethickness thanks to the amount of added fat. i believe that fat is the secret to chaco bar’s superior broth. fat is flavour, as they say, and i have a feeling that had i opted for no fat, there would be less flavour and less of that delectable mouthfeel i get with each mouthful. i believe it is an essential part of the experience.

we had mixed reactions to chaco bar, while we appreciated the ambience which resembled a cosy japanese izakaya and the food was enjoyable. we were very disappointed by the unfriendly welcome from the front of house!

unfortunately, i originally made a booking for 4 people but as the long weekend would have it, only my partner and i were available to attend. as any respectful patron would have it, i tried to inform chaco ahead of time - called the bar/restaurant with no answer or voicemail, then proceeded to contact them on facebook (where i received a response thanking me for letting them know). however, upon our arrival and informing the front of house that there were only 2 of us, she appeared disgruntled, dismissive and berates us for not letting them know. she unhappily told us that their facebook page was handled by "someone else" and more or less left us to our own devices. no mention of the specials, no warm greeting, ignored us for the remainder of the night! unfortunately, this sort of service naturally dampened our mood and enthusiasm. to add insult to injury, chaco wasn't even at full capacity for the entire duration of our meal.

probably worth visiting, but be aware of the attitude from the front of house, which is hardly inline with what one would typically expect from a japanese restaurant. she didn't even seem satisfied providing us with the bill - informing me it would take a while for her to calculate the bill, before deciding to take orders, move food from the pass, wander into the kitchen, while i stared into the abyss... when she finally decided to bring the portable terminal over with our total keyed in, a copy of the bill wasn't even proffered.

disappointing to say the least, but no doubt other diners will have an enjoyable evening if the front of house happens to be in an amenable mood and byo is aniceboon.

we wish chaco all the best and hope they treat future customers better. however, we won't be in a rush coming back given the number of other alternatives around - sakuratei (is a similar alternative, but more accessible) and there are many izakaya styled restaurants such as fujiyama (with their great sake selection), toko/sake/sokyo (with their modern take) or the cheap alternatives near chinatown to name a few.