Senpai Ramen is a ramen/omakase style diner by Chase Kojima (of Sokyo, Gojima), serving up an omakase set menu with ramen as one of the finishing courses. Despite being stylised as a ramen omakase, there is only one ramen dish served at the end. Having seen many posts about Senpai ramen on social media, we decided we had to try this for ourselves.

Address: G05/88 Archer St, Chatswood NSW 2067
Price: $85pp set menu, with $26 for the additional Kaisen
Website: https://www.senpairamen.com

The first thing on the menu we were served was the mixed sashimi selection – kingfish, bonito and shrimp. The tuna was standard, kingfish in a nice citrus sauce and the shrimp served on a tiny deep fried seaweed cracker (note the picture above is two servings).

Wagyu toast – toasted and heavily buttered sourdough with wagyu tartare on top in a miso cream and two pieces of nori. Really delicious bite, but it was definitely very small, I could’ve eaten more of these! The simplicity of the dish did make me consider recreating this at home as well.

The chawanmushi was a nice warning dish, served with foie gras, chestnuts (for sweetness) and a slightly spicy oil. This was probably the worst texture I’ve seen in a chawanmushi – lumpy and not silky smooth at all. The flavours were all there (only the texture was off) and I always find this dish warming and delicious when served during omakase, a nice break between the cold sushi/sashimi dishes.

The nigiri was Kagoshima A4 wagyu sushi with a tiny sweet prawn (amaebi). I wasn’t a fan of this nigiri, the grill on the meat was a touch too light, meaning the meat was fairly chewy not much flavour stood out aside from the sweet prawn.

Next up we had king crab croquettes with a Hokkaido scallop on top. This was surprisingly light as a dish. I found the crab meat did not sing out in this dish, I could only taste the fried batter of the croquette. The scallop was a nice silky texture on top but again not enough flavour to balance out the batter.

Wagyu rump cap skewers were the next course – tiny wagyu bites on a grill (two per person) served with cup lettuce leaves sprinkled with a spicy dusting. We were encouraged to wrap the lettuce around the wagyu and eat it in one piece. The wagyu had a bit of chew being from the rump but the lettuce cups added a nice crunch. I wish we had more of the meat as the lettuce felt much larger and it was fairly messy eating.

A cold noodle dish with cubed tuna, sesame and a hint of wasabi. The nashi pear noodles went nicely with the udon, giving it a sweetness and crunchy texture. There was plenty of cubed tuna and the soup was salty balanced with the sweet of the nashi pear. A nice palette cleanser dish.

We chose to order the kaisen kobachi add on – this was $26 and we ordered one to share between two. I would recommend skipping this, it wasn’t anything too special that would add to the experience. Salmon sashimi with fish roe, tuna sashimi and scallops in a spicy aioli, served with an egg yolk ‘sauce’.

Finally, we had a choice of a range of ramens on the menu. Most of the ramen was based on the same underlying Chintan chicken clear broth and switching out the condiments and protein, with the exception of the tonkotsu which was a 12-hour paitan pork broth. We ordered the tonkotsu and the wagyu brisket soy. Both ramens were delicious – salty silky soup paired with noodles perfectly made. The wagyu brisket soy was saltier of the two soups, whilst the tonkotsu was a lighter. These servings were definitely not the size of a normal ramen serving but did the job of filling you up given the omakase courses were fairly small. Definitely one of the strongest dishes of the night (I guess they are known for their ramen).

Dessert was a roasted green tea pan cotta dotted with mocha pieces. The consistency of the panna cotta was also pretty bad, very similar to the chawanmushi – lumpy and not silky smooth. The roasted tea flavour came through strongly and it had a nice balance between creamy and acidic with the fresh fruits.

Overall 3/5: the ramen was definitely the best dish of the night and I would definitely come back at lunch time so I could try a few more different flavour pairings. The omakase set menu was decent value for money and the final serving of ramen ensures you leave the restaurant feeling satisfied. Highlights for me were the wagyu tartare toast, the robata grilled pieces and the cold noodle dish. Would recommend trying the ramen but I doubt that I would return for the omakase menu (in its current state).