Lambkotsu Ramen

Japanese$$$$

Brisbane ramen pioneer Taro Akimoto’s of Taro’s Ramen fame has tackled something very different: a shop far in the city’s deep south, in Underwood, dedicated to a halal lamb take on traditional tonkotsu pork bone-broth ramen.

Lambkotsu Ramen is relatively tiny even by Taro’s standards, with just 15 seats, and it’s serving just four variations on lamb ramen: original with bay leaf and coriander seed oil, a red lamb ramen with Taro’s signature chilli and sweet miso oil, a black ramen with burnt garlic black oil, and a green lamb ramen with sweet pickle, basil and kale oil.

There are no sides, no beer (naturally, given the shop’s halal nature). To make the ramen completely halal, Akimoto is currently using lamb shoulder sourced from Top Cut Butcher in Logan Central. He’s long been happy with his soup process but he needed to change the tare, or seasoning, to eliminate the sake – which took a lot of trial and error until he was happy with the results.

Akimoto is using the same housemade noodles that he tosses into his Taro’s ramen, but with turmeric and cumin added to the dough. Otherwise, it’s smoked dashi kunsei nitamago for a big slug of umami, with fresh shallots, coriander and Szechuan pepper to balance out the richness.

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