Pork Bone House 豚骨家

Profile

Pork Bone House offers authentic Kyushu Ramen, made by real Japanese people, to the vast number of hungry patrons around the Xihu MRT station. They are located in a very small traditional market food court, so the process of getting a table and your food is very hectic, and you may expect a 40 minute wait for your bowl of ramen because there are only 2 people working at the stall. The prices are extremely fair with 130 NT for a normal bowl of their ramen. You can add additional sides for a small cost. You are able to choose the way you want your ramen to be prepared, and this place serve very chewy al dente ramen. If you live in the area this is probably the best ramen around, but I would not travel a long distance and suffer the long wait again because the Ramen is just ok and substitutable by Rakumenya.

Address: 捷運文湖線西湖市場站二樓美食街101攤位

                 No. 283-5, Section 1, Nèihú Rd, Neihu District (Xihu Market Building 2F #101)

Phone #:  N/A

Business Hours: 12:00-14:00, 17:00-20:00

Website: N/A
Accepts Credit Cards: no

Price Range:   $$

Attire: casual

Good for kids: yes

Take out: idk
Waiter Service: no
Outdoor seating:  no
Alcohol: no

Rating

Food Quality: 3.5 out of 5
Decor:  2 out of 5
Service: 2 out of 5

Overall: 2.5 out of 5

Final Thought: Alright Ramen at hectic food court

Review

As you can see, the area around the stall is extremely packed and everyone is battling for ground. You must be a very patient person if you would like to dine at this Ramen shop because if you do not come early enough, you will need to wait approximately 40 minutes before you can start ordering. I arrived at 11:50 and already I was number 46. The place is fairly dirty and cramped, so it isn't a very ideal place for a slow enjoyable dining experience. Also, you might get glared at by other hungry patrons if you enjoy yourself for too long. The service here is also very poor. There are only 2 workers of this stall trying to serve 50+ customers in 2 hour span of time. The male worker spends all the time behind the counter preparing bowl upon bowl of ramen, while the female worker splits her time between placing orders, serving ramen, and assisting the male worker in food preparation. They don't have the time to deal with pleasantries and rush you to do anything and are impatient to deal with your questions. Don't expect a nice setting or great service here, but you can expect to get a decent bowl of Ramen.

The standard bowl comes with a piece of chasiu, black ear mushrooms, sweet egg, bean sprouts, a sheet of seaweed, and noodles. The main reason I only thought it was decent stems from my own preferences. I actually like miso ramen (arashi) or spicy ramen (rakumenya / orochan) over the clearer broths (pork bone house). The soup base was very flavorful and rich, but somehow I thought it was not salty enough or flavorful enough. Also, I was a bit ill so my tastebuds were funky anyway. However I really enjoyed the egg, chasiu slice, and noodles. The chasiu here unlike most other ramen places were braised very thoroughly and had a flavor close to that of the beef in most beef noodle soup places. The egg also had the braised flavor and tastes well paired with its semi sweet and very viscuous yolk. I got noodles that were cooked at 30 seconds so they were a perfect al dente. It had the right amount of snap without being too hard or too soft. This bowl was not hard to slurp down especially after waiting a good 40 minutes for its arrival.

As good as this bowl of ramen is, it is not special enough to warrent a 40 minute trek up north and an additional 40 minute wait just to consume it. There are plenty of viable alternatives closer by like Rakumenya Arashi Ramen. I personally prefer Rakumenya because of their custom noodles and variety of broth flavoring. Pork Bone House is a great option for those living in the Nei Hu area, but great food comes with great patience.