BIRRIA RAMEN IN CANBERRA
If you thought birria tacos were messy, wait until you try our birria ramen. We took the same slow cooked birria and rich consommé from our tacos and turned it into a big bowl of ramen. Sounds a bit weird, but trust us, it works.
SO, WHY BIRRIA RAMEN?
Honestly, it started because of TikTok. Birria ramen had been going viral for ages, but no one was really doing it in Canberra. So I thought, you know what, let's try it.
The first few versions were pretty simple. Almost like instant noodles with our birria and consommé. It worked, but the chef in me kicked in. If I'm going to put something on the menu, I want to be proud of it.
That's when things got a little out of hand.
THE STOCK CHANGED EVERYTHING
I started thinking about ramen properly. If you want a really good bowl of ramen, the broth is everything. So instead of taking shortcuts, I went back to something I used to make every couple of days when I was working as a head chef at a wedding venue. Proper beef stock.
Beef bones, onion, garlic, celery, carrot, leek and spices, cooked low and slow for one to two days. It takes forever, and honestly, you don't see many chefs making stock this way anymore. It takes time and patience, but there's really no shortcut if you want that depth of flavour.
Once I got the beef stock right, I felt like the ramen was 80% there. The other 20% came from our birria chillies. Ancho, guajillo and chile de árbol. That's what turned the beef stock into that rich, spicy birria consommé.
MAYBE A LITTLE TOO MUCH FLAVOUR
When I finally got the broth together, I honestly thought it was one of the most flavourful soups I have made in my career. Rich, warm, spicy and just packed with flavour.
Maybe a little too packed at first.
The first few versions were pretty wild. I went a bit heavy with the chillies and we had people literally sweating while eating it 😂. I loved it, but I also knew not everyone wanted to fight for their life over a bowl of ramen.
So I kept tweaking it. I got feedback from customers, friends and family, pulled the heat back a little and eventually landed on the version we serve now. It still has that punch, but you can actually finish the bowl without needing a shower afterwards.
DO NOT SKIP THE LIME
Once the broth was sorted, the rest came together pretty easily. We already had the slow cooked birria brisket from our tacos, then in went the noodles, fresh onion, coriander, cheese and of course, lime.
And I'm serious about the lime.
I always tell customers, please don't skip it. If you're thinking about skipping it, DON'T 😂
That squeeze of lime changes the whole bowl. The broth is rich, beefy and spicy, so the acidity cuts through all of that, lightens everything up and somehow brings the whole thing together.
It's a small thing, but trust me on this one.
THEN REGION CAME IN
Then one day Tenele from Region Canberra came in to try it.
We didn't really think much of it at the time. Then the article came out and suddenly we had a heap of birria ramen orders coming through. I was actually sitting there wondering why everyone decided they wanted ramen that day 😂
Turns out Region had just published a whole story about it.
Pretty cool seeing something that started with me messing around with a TikTok trend turn into a dish people were coming to Braddon specifically to try.
You can read the full Region Canberra story here.
COME TRY IT
So if you're in Canberra and haven't tried birria ramen yet, come give ours a go. We're at 31 Mort St in Braddon.
Check out the full menu here, or if you already know what you want, order takeaway online and we'll have it ready for you.
And seriously, don't skip the lime. 😂
