Dining in Central Park – Ippudo & Doughnut Time, Chippendale

Bianca: In another life Alex was a Gossip Girl. He had a flock of minions he would dictate orders to, a walk in wardrobe that housed every garish Versace back pack he could get his mitts on and every now and then he would have completely pointless meetings smack bam in Central Park that really had no correlation to any plot whatsoever. And you might think he’d be a Chuck or a Nate but he’s Blair all the way.

Flights to NYC are super expensive so wanting to keep it all Sydney based, Team FFS assembled one Saturday morning for a bit of our own Gossip Girl action at Central Park in our fair city. Less pointless park walking and more shopping and eating.

Vanessa and I have a vast love for IPPUDO and while some may refer to it as ‘ramen for white people’, I’ve consistently had fantastic ramen and look forward to the colder months when I can sloth around and eat noodles and slurp the broth. And then not move for hours after. Both Alex and Ness’s husband Manny had not experienced all that is IPPUDO until our visit and I was pretty excited to share their first ramen experience with them.

The Tori Karaage $7 (5pcs) was really just an excuse to eat fried chicken, with a crispy exterior and juicy thigh meat.

Dumplings are a FFS fave and it was a no brainer the Original pan-fried pork gyoza $6 (5pcs) was going to make an appearance.

But our ultimate IPPUDO favourites besides the ramen, their famous Bao’s. Now I like all types of buns – man buns, buns of steel… but my ultimate favourite? Has to be the Pork Bun! But because we’re indecisive we got one of each; the pork bun, chicken kaarage and the shrimp katsu bun $13 for 3.  It was hard to pick a favourite but there’s no questioning a signature and the pork bun is a classic. With tender melt in your mouth pork and that addictive mayonnaise. I question the lettuce leaf my last visit, as it was limp and soggy but ice-berg this time around provided some crunch in what would otherwise be a very one note ‘bite’.

But on to the main event; and I won’t pretend I am some sort of ramen expert here, no-one needs to see me make a fool of myself.

Between us the old classics, Karaka Men Chashu – With the original Ippudo Tonkotsu broth with spicy miso and ground pork. $22. Operations manager Sho suggested we order our noodles hard as he knew we’d take a ridiculous amount of time taking our photos. Bless. Still retaining a bit of bite, we happily slurped away. That spicy miso will clear all your ailments on a cold winter’s day. Easily my go to favourite!

The Akamaru Chashu $21 another classic with a hint of garlic oil.

Some may balk at chain stores but I’ve consistently loved every bowl of ramen I have had at IPPUDO, now for someone to become my ramen yoda and teach me the ways of the force!

And because we have ridiculously sweet tooth’s and were staring at Doughnut Time for the better half of our meal at IPPUDO, we moseyed on over to pick up a selection for a wee little impromptu photo-shoot at casa FFS.

Now these guys went from a humble little store in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley to a doughnut CONGLOMERATE in a fairly short amount of time. And while I love their quirky flavourings and funky designs they’re far from my favey doughnuts in Sydney.

Bianca

Photos by Alex

*For Food’s Sake dined as guests of Central Park, courtesy of Liquid Ideas. All opinions and thoughts however, remain our own.