Mochi Ramen Bar

Review

Move closer together!

Photo: Heribert Corn If you wanted to try the Japanese ramen noodle soup at the new Mochi Ramen Bar at Vorgartenmarkt, you should have done so last week. If you were lucky, you could still get a seat in the afternoon, but not anymore. In the meantime, the bloggers and social networks have warmed up, and the first rave reviews will appear in the next few days - and that will be the end of the free seats. The Mochi people already have dark circles under their eyes. They were prepared for 80 portions of noodles a day, says Tobi Müller, and are currently producing 180 with their Japanese noodle machine. So what have Tobi Müller and Edi Dimant done so insanely right again? At first glance, it doesn't seem that difficult to find an answer: The topic of ramen has been in top social form for some time now; the location at the Vorgartenmarkt - which is just before the hype - couldn't be better for such a project; the styling of the restaurant in light wood and dark gray, with an irritatingly repellent look thanks to the lowered shutters, is once again extremely well done; the menu is small, and everything on it looks great and tastes great; the service is - a Mochi trademark - warm and friendly, and then Lou Donaldson plays his soul jazz to boot.
Hype always plays a role when Mochi launches, that's just the way it is, but that doesn't explain the fact that this new, small, obscure noodle soup restaurant is the best of its kind in Austria. Chef Edi Dimant does a lot for it. In order to learn how to prepare the broths properly, he flew to Japan to attend a ramen school, but soon gave it up and did internships in good ramen restaurants. For the pork bone broth, he soaks the bones for eight hours, then cooks them for twelve hours in three huge cauldrons in the middle of the restaurant. The result is an extremely intense, full-bodied soup (€ 11.80), such as the Yokohama ramen with braised pork, marinated egg, nori seaweed and spring onions.
Before that, there are a few good snacks, such as the great cucumber salad or probably the most tender, fluffiest and best gyoza since Haizaki-san no omise in Schleifmühlgasse (3 pcs. The crispy, slightly rubbery, sweet and spicy squid ika piri fried in rice flour is almost too much, but once you've got a seat, and then "Cafe Hanoi", a creation of coffee jelly, sweet condensed milk and endlessly crumbly peanut crumble, is no longer an option, but it doesn't matter (€ 4.90). You'll have to wait in line. To sum up: the Mochi people's ramen bar has been long awaited, now it's ready and, as expected, it's great and well attended. Mochi Ramen Bar 2nd, Vorgartenmarkt 12 + 29 no reservations Tue-Fri 12-21, Sat 11-21

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