Best ramen in Perth? - Nao Ramen

So Nao Ramen is one of the best ramen places in Perth, according to many foodies and google. It’s always among the first ones to pop up on search engines, almost every single time and I was finally there for my first time because my friend was super eager to revisit (LOL).

Nao looks more like a restaurant and bar or izakaya with such dim light and décor. Can they please switch on the lights so I can take better shots of my food? It was just too dark to even see my food and I didn’t need that ambience for ramen.

They focus on 4 types of broth which are shoyu (soy sauce), miso, shio (salt) and spicy. Oh yea, I really love that they make their own ramen from scratch on site. There are 4 types too and they are egg, spinach, chilli and squid ink infused ones. A huge plus point but wait…no marinated soft boiled eggs as add-on even with that long list? You must be kidding me.

Oh well so I picked shoyu ramen with egg noodles and my friend opted for his usuals, miso ramen and takoyaki.

Here’s how my shoyu ramen (AUD$12) looked under that ‘romantic’ lighting. The bowl was gigantic and I could feel the warmth of steam coming from the soup the moment it was served.

Broth: as hinted by the steam, it was bloody hot. Yes, frigging bloody hot so please only take a small sip or you will burn your tongue. It sounds like a complaint but this is actually a compliement. The ramen was still piping hot when I had my very last bite and it left me sweating literally all over. The shoyu broth itself is quite aromatic with the right amount of saltiness too.

Noodles: thick, wavy noodles cooked to al dente. Noodles are never too thick for me so Nao’s version was on point.

Char siu: quite tender and not too thin but the flavour was rather ordinary. Probably the soup stole our attention a bit too much.

I took a sip of my friend’s miso ramen (AUD$12) soup and it was alright. Quite soothing but nothing really stood out or particularly memorable.

Takoyaki (AUD$6.50) was not bad either cos it’s difficult to go wrong with this crispy octopus snack drenched with mayo, takoyaki sauce and bonito flakes.

Nao's Ramen is not bad at all but not really THAT outstanding. Wouldn’t mind going back for their thick chewy noodles, especially when it’s relatively more reasonably priced than most ramen places out there.

Nao Ramen
191/580 Hay St, 

Perth WA 6000