Review Makanai Ramen Noodle House - Chatswood

The cha siu ramen and pork katsudon were made well and were flavoursome. The kids really like the rice balls that are for sale at the counter. The Crab and mayonnaise rice ball is particularly well liked. We were able to sit in their stall, which is compact but nicely themed. You can also see the cooking in the kitchen from there, looking through the window between the kitchen and the seating area. We asked for tap water, but were told that they don't serve it.

Another JOKE ramen alert!!!🚨🚨🚨 O ordered the chasiu ramen with tonkotsu broth and my son had the makanai specials with pork miso broth. Noodles were soggy over cooked!!! Broth had no body and its like water runny. cant feel that umami pork flavor was not there its like bones are just simmered for an hour, and you can smell and taste that pig pen smell like ammonia smell. Same as the miso broth not even a hint of miso. The chasiu was alright.

Visited chatswood which is fairly far from my home and stumbled upon this little restaurant in a special food district which seemed to grab our attention. The place was pretty small and it only seated no more than 3 groups of people, but there were a bunch of seating in the middle section of this area. We had ordered katsudon, katsu ramen, takoyaki, and a green tea daifuku. I had the katsudon, and i was definitely not disappointed. It was extremely flavourful, and albeit the small looking bowl, it filled me up for sure. It was such a simple recipe yet so beautifully crafted, the meat was cooked perfectly, and the egg as well. It had such a recognisable, distinct flavour in the entirety of the meal, just thinking about it gets me hungry. The sauce they made was just done so well, and by letting it spread throughout the meal you could taste its sweetness and saltiness in every bite. and i would definitely recommend trying this out. The takoyaki is also goated af, and there were a ton of bonito flakes. The miso soup was also fantastic and tasted flavourful. The ramen was not that good however, as the broth was pretty flavourless according to my partner. the katsu on the other hand: immaculate. We had a great experience coming here, and would definitely return to try something new next time.

My rating is based on the time it took for my tonkatsu ramen to come out, the state of the dine-in tables - dirty and credit card surcharge with no notice! Firstly I was the only one dinning and an online order had already been made; 15 minutes! So if you’re a local office person and only have 30 mins for your lunch break forget this place! Go to Yatai Ozeki! Highly recommend that Japanese place. Secondly, the tables were not wiped down, there was a tray with a dirty bowl (how long that had been sitting there who knows?). I moved 2 tables and ended in the bar seating in the dining area as that was a some-what cleaner table to sit. It’s as if the staff have no pride in keeping the place clean. Hopefully this review will lift their game. Other than that the actual ramen was good, but Ippudo is still tastier and better portion and value. Lastly, if you are paying with a credit card beware as this place charges you a surcharge without any written warning (no signs), and no verbal notice. By the way the charge was 5.35% of the price of the bowl of ramen! I think this may be illegal and will be checking on Fair Trading NSW!

Alright ramen, I’ve had a lot worse but have also had a lot better. The most important thing is the broth and this broth doesn’t have much flavor but it’s great when you want some ramen and you’re in the area. I tried three different broths that they make and they were all ok. This is a great place to go for a quick lunch.

Good quantity. Good flavor. Reasonable price. Sometimes it's hard to find a seat here. The size and the texture of the noodle were to my liking. The broth was quite thick. It could be better if the broth was warmer when served. The pork and egg was average.

Delicious food, good portions and reasonably priced. We had tried rhe chasiu ramen with tonkotsu broth, which was good.

Got the Makanai Ramen with Hakata Tonkotsu broth. The broth is quite rich and thick, which is probably why they don't give you too much of it. I thought the flavour of the broth was good: by itself, it'd be too rich, but the corn kernels and bean sprouts help balance it out a bit. The chicken piece was tasty and tender. The egg was cooked perfectly: soft and gooey on the inside. Tasty overall but I think I personally prefer a lighter ramen. They do have other broths to choose from so perhaps next time I'll try one of those.

Had the chashu ramen, its the most expensive ramen I've ever eaten ($16.90) and the worst by far! The soup had a thick layer of fat on top, almost no flavour and the pork was so overcooked and tough, it was like eating cardboard. To top if off, the portion size was really tiny! So disappointing, will never eat here again!

The Volcano (super spicy) ramen I tried for the first time at the re-opened shop in Chatswood was just salty and not spicy. Would be good if they have smaller portion too for the small eaters.

Always get my lunches from here it’s awesome highly recommend quality and consistency is always what you expect 10/10

Had the Makanai ramen with tonkotsu soup. Total disappointment. Nothing like what it was when the shop was on street level. Soup gluggy with thick layer of oil on top. Portion is meagre but even so I struggled to finish it, it was so bad.

Great quality ingredients, amazing flavour, flawless presentation. The staff are always very friendly and helpful. Quality of meals is always consistent.

Caught an employee not washing their hands after using the bathroom, they don't offer their loyalty card correctly as "the way it was written isn't clear but this is how it works" Not to mention there are several better Ramen options in Chatswood.

A little bit disappointed. Portion is smaller than before. Ordered the signature ramen, only one piece of fatty pork and a piece of over fried chicken. I miss the old one.

The quality has dropped astronomically I understand they have now forfeited quality and just invested in quantity . The broth tastes watered down the staff doesn't look like they enjoy themselves and the food is just appalling. I drove 1 hr to get my ramen fix because I remembered how good it used to be. I will not be returning !

Loved this place! Great food portions and the soup tastes good :)

The karaage chicken i didnot find it fresh ...

... Pretty average. There Tokyo style is better than their tonkotsu. If your like me and you don't like corn ramen make sure you say no corn because the ramens say they come with 'vegetables', seems that means a huge scoop of corn and its juice which overpowered their rather mildly flavoured tonkotsu broth. On a whole the ramen had too much additives in it by default. Whoever said best ramen in Aus needs to get out more. On the plus side the service was great. Very friendly and polite which is a nice change. I would go again in a squeeze.

I was a huge fan of the old Makanai and was looking forward to trying out their new store inside Westfields. Not sure if there was initial teething problems with their new opening but when I went today, the food was not only better but the portions were bigger as well. I had the Katsu Curry and my wife the Ramen - both fantastic. I will be back to try the other dishes.

New on the list of "It has mushrooms in it?" is Chicken Katsu Curry at Makani Noodle House! Never had any with mushrooms before, but todays did. And then when I explained I was allergic and asked if i could get something else, they informed me I would have to pay for both meals if I did so. There was ZERO sympathy from this restaurant, even though i explained my allergy and explained i LOVE Japanese food, and had never had any with mushrooms before, the lady just sorta shrugged and said "Well you could still eat the rice." Never going back, that's for sure.

The Best Ramen In Town. Very Friendly And Clean

I ate here a couple weeks ago, and it was SO good I had a craving for it, so I came back for takeaway today. I ordered chicken katsu ramen with the hakata tonkatsu soup. I added their mayu black garlic sauce and extra egg. It was ready very quickly! They must have accidentally left out the egg, because as I was walking down the street, one of the girls working actually ran out and caught up to me to hand me the egg! I was very thankful and it made my day that she did that! Service is very friendly, and of course the food was incredible. The mayu sauce really makes it special, and the chicken itself is very flavorful! Also, the takeaway was packed up really well for travel, which is nice to see as some places tend to be careless. I rarely order the same thing twice, but this ramen has been so good I cannot get enough of it! Thank you!

awesome flavour + consistency + service. always happy to eat here :)

It was truly visually appealing but taste a bit blank for me, especially I am expecting it to pack more taste as I ordered the black garlic one, but even with that the ramen soup did not shine through. Nevertheless, the ramen would make you full.

Had the mixed tempura don (rice bowl) here. The serving was generous and it comes with miso soup. The batter was quite thick, especially on the prawn so I probably wouldn’t order this again. They also have noodles so maybe that might be better.

I can't speak for the ramen but it seems to get reviews. The Udon is pretty decent with a generous serving of tempura. It's got it's own seating so it is convenient if you want to eat at hawker lane and are struggling to find a seat

I asked for no bean sprouts. They made a mistake and included them. Mistakes happen, but all they did was pick them out instead of replace the whole dish. There were still lots left throughout the soup. I'm not allergic or pregnant thankfully because that is totally unacceptable.<br/><br/>The broth of the Makanai ramen with tonkotsu base was also very bland. I put chilli oil in it to try to save it but it was only okay. One positive is that they have pretty good inclusions: karaage chicken, seaweed, bamboo shoots, corn, egg. If they improved the broth I would come back.

Tried the Tan Tan Ramen, the broth was excellent. Wasn't blow your head off spicy but did make me sweat which is a good sign. The needle was well cooked and had a good bite.. Only complain would be to and some more chashu..

Found myself at Westfield Chatswood at lunchtime between errands. Noting that they had a bigger and bolder version of our 8 Street - Hawker Lane, I knew I had to check it out. Doing two laps around the area, I settled on Makanai, a Japanese noodle bar for a quick lunch before continuing on our trip.

Pretty average setting. Ramen was pretty average. Service is pretty average. 40c surcharge for eftpos facility under $30 purchase. My ramen costs $17.

Best curry with an amazing taste. Big serving too. Ramen was good with an okay base but the cha shu was tasty and thick. Good value for money on weekdays!

They served super large servings for their curries which is awesome but their ramen aren’t too great. The soup base is watered down and quite bland

I had the ajitama ramen with hakata tonkotsu soup base last night (23/7/2018). The soup tasted bland and flavourless. The chashu just was not the japanese chashu, but a thin slice of cooked pork without flavour nor seasoning, and it was quite dry. And the ajitama was just a boiled egg and lack the flavour or seasoning an ajitama is supposed to have, what is worse is that the yolk was completely raw and liquid, not runny, and it was cold and did not taste fresh. About an hour after having the meal, i started getting stomachache and soon after, I needed to rush to the toilet in westfield. I have had meals at makanai chatswood before and their ramen did not taste like this. I don't know if it is because that the restaurant is not run by Japanese staff and they did not get the proper recipe or what, but i will definitely not dine here again.

Ordered the tantan. Quite mild in spice/heat. Very few ingredients, mainly noodles so felt a little pricier than other ramen places which have more stuff. Normally $15.90 but due to it being public holiday it was $17.50 which just accentuated the price / lack of ingredients for me.

Ordered ramen and also chicken curry take away from this shop. The food was fast and packed properly so I can pour soup in the noodles when get home. Taste was pretty much like all other ramen noddle shop.

This place is well hidden in the Chatswood Hawker Lane, within the Westfield. In the corner of the food court this ramen shop serves delicious noodles. The broth is tasty, the noodles are delicious and the meal itself is refreshing.

There are quite a few ramen joints that are better than Makanai, but what kept us returning to Makanai was the WHOLE soft boiled egg with runny centre, while most places only have half an egg coming with the ramen, Makanai's whole egg took the experience to the next level in its own unique way. The broth is decent, they are generous with their toppings. But the egg transcends the ordinary bowl of ramen to a satisfying experience.

While my girlfriend was trying to figure out what to fresh dish to order from Madame Nhu’s, I was looking for something a bit heartier. I happened across Makanai, tucked into the corner of Hawker lane, and found exactly what I was looking for: a giant bowl of noodle!. The food was very well presented, with a generous-looking bowl of noodles with perfectly placed toppings and quite a few pieces of vegetable tempura. The soup was light in flavour and the noodles were firm and very slurptastic. The tempura was fresh, well seasoned and crunchy. I was pretty happy with the quality and taste of the dish but couldn’t help thinking that just down the road was Marukame where I could have gotten more noodle, with the same trimmings, for 2/3’s of the price here. Next time I’ll have to try the ramen.

Makanai !! The place that my kids always ask for on the weekend! They love shorty ramen with chicken kaarage.. I love the spice one .. SUPER VOLCANO!! My husband loves the Tantanmen!!<br/>Their Gyoza always tasty and crunchy on the outside! Very nice!!<br/>The place is in Hawker Lane, great place for every one in the family!

I don't mind the food here. They have a few different options besides the ramen. I don't really like the spoon they give with the ramen though. My friend really loved these sweet rice balls they used to make but they stopped making them and my friend was sad for a week i think.

Easy and quick place to grab a ramen or udon soup. I went for the udon and replaced the noodles with buckwheat ones. Added wagyu beef to it. It was nice enough though could have been more flavoursome. Order and grab a buzzer and you collect when it's ready. The laksa was also nice and not too expensive. Food court style food.

I visited Makana, in Hawker Lane Chatswood Westfield, a little while back. When Hawker Lane opened this place had queues galore and I finally managed to get in when it was a little quieter. It's a fantastic dark wooden interior and I loved siting in the venue to eat. It's a little oasis removed from shopping centre towards the back of Hawker Lane. <br/>I only managed a small lunch for one but ordered the miso and pork bone broth ramen with teriyaki chicken. Fantastic deal - they offer four choices for broth. Pork bone, chicken and soy, chicken and miso and pork bone and broth. I tried out the miso and pork bone broth because I had never had it before and I quite enjoyed it - quite a strong flavour - like a heavy miso. The teriyaki chicken on the side is very hard to mess up and it was as delightful as you would imagine. <br/>The patronage has settled down quite a lot in Hawker Lane as a whole but the meal game is still strong. As a food area Chatswood is impressive and Asian heavy, Hawker Lane offers many treats worthy of feasting, Makanai among them.

Haven't been to this one at chatswood Westfield before. Yesterday was the first time, and got food poisoning straight away. Very bad experience. Stuff don't seem to understand English particularly well either.

Best Ramen I've had in Sydney... and I've had a lot of ramen. Service was quick, friendly and helpful. Vast, private, and intimate dining area.

Ordered the plain Udon. Soup lacked flavour and needed more from the chicken/<br/>Pork used in making it. We also ordered the chicken karage. Chicken was oily and tasteles.<br/><br/>Overall price is higher than other please offering a better product.<br/><br/>Most likely won't be coming back

Tasteless gluttonous food. Disappointing. A feeble attempt at Ramen. Bento box was 100% deep fried. So were the Gyoza. No Japanese staff. Not value for money.

Came here on the public holiday last week, they charged an extra 10% for that, which I wouldn't have minded if the food was decent. I got the Volcano ramen with a side of kaarage chicken, plus a can of soft drink. The ramen lacked flavour aside from the medium spicy, the soup itself was watery & oily. It didn't have much topping, 2 thin slices of cha shu, half an egg & small piece of nori. The pork was dried & tasteless. The side kaarage chicken tasted ok, but very small for the extra $5.80. For a total of $27.50 ($25 without surcharge), it was one of the most expensive ramen meal I've had, and more close to one of the worst than the price tag warrant!

While the ramen here is not the best ramen I've had, it is still up there. A bowl of ramen for me should always be like a warm and friendly hug and this place definitely fits that bill. I visited Makanai with my boyfriend for our first date, so it has a special place in my heart. I'd love to come back and try more of their menu!

We tried curry chicken don and pork don which were very tasty. The store was a bit small but full of Japanese style. The only thing to improve is there was no soup so it was pretty dry as we had fried chicken and pork. And it was a little pricy for only one rice and there was no soup.

Can't comment on the ramen as we ordered a deluxe wagu beef bento to share. Not a massive portion but what was there was good quality, well cooked and well seasoned. Tempura was light and crispy, beef tender, karaage juicy. Lovely staff and cute shop front. Would go back when it's cooler to try the ramen.

Came to Hawker's Lane in Chatswood Westfield as it's always bustling with people joyously stuffing their faces with food. Tried Makanai Ramen for the first time - they've got a pretty extensive menu of different ramens. As Jase and I are partial to our chillies, we opted for the Volcano Ramen. Do note that for those chilli worshippers, there is also a "Super Volcano" ramen, but we were not game for that. The ramen was piping hot and packed with spicy flavours, however, I did find the broth not very thick, which I would expect from a tonkatsu-base. Would like to return again to try some of their other ramens on the menu.

Having been to Hawker Lane before there are quite a few choices in food and even though it was a hot day we decided we give this place a go since we love our ramen and I've had always wanted to try this place but then it closed before we got a chance when it was its own shop. We ordered the Karaage chicken with pork bone broth (you can choose your own broth for majority of the ramen) and the Volcano (has its own broth so can't choose). The Karaage came on a separate plate which we appreciate as we don't like it being soggy, it was quite nice but bit of it were a little dry in comparison to a few other places we have tried. The volcano, I chose with 2 chillies and the spice level was just right, it was tasty and had a good hit as I could still taste other flavours other than just chilli. Overall a good experience and would be back to try other things.

The Ramen here is OK to have if you are in the hurry and you do not have high expectation for it. Firstly, there is only very little soup, which makes the noodle unenjoyable. The fried chicken is good and Dafu is terrible.

Located in Hawker Lane chatswood, decor is essentially a food court which is decorated like a bustling laneway in Asia. Service was quite friendly. I ordered the teriyaki chicken ramen in the osaka tonko-mi broth (pork bone). The teriyaki chicken comes separate to the ramen. Personally not a huge ramen fan so I thought it was decent without wowing me.

Very good i love this ramen, its th3 best lllllllllllllllllllloooooooooooooooooooovvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeddddddddddddddddd it

Was a regular makanai before westfield had a makeover so was pleased when it came back in the new hawker lane<br/><br/>Unfortunately its not the makanai it use to be, the noodles are very average, store bought quality and the soup base is very bland, not as strong as before<br/><br/>Better places for ramen

Ordered a ramen with shoyu based soup, the chicken karage is undercook and i can taste the powdery chicken tastle lingering. Maybe its lunch time so its very hectic for them .

Delicious ramen with wonderful broths. Boss lady Angela is very friendly and makes sure every dish that comes out is perfect. I highly recommend the Makanai ramen with traditional Tonkotsu flavours and the Nabeyaki Udon (Nagoya style) - Hot pot udon with tempura prawn, chicken, veggies and half cooked egg which is the current Autumn special. They are open till 10pm every night so get your ramen fix ASAP!

Don't let the decorative shop front deceive you. The soup base is the worst I've ever tasted. Salt is all I can taste. Apart from noodles and a sad piece of pork there is nothing else much in the ramen bowl apart from a red mess that does not taste like it looks. If you are a ramen lover don't disappoint yourself hop on to the next!

Inside the newly renovated Hawker Lane in Chatswood Westfield, Makanai draws the eye with the abundance of autumn leaves that decorate the exterior of the restaurant. The menu is rather extensive (several pages long) so it took some time to look through the options before ordering at the cashier...There are only a few booth seats inside the actual restaurant but there are heaps of communal tables located just outside. There was a free booth after I made my order so I was able to sit under the faux light decor...<br/><br/>I'm not sure whether the air-con was too strong, I was just sitting under the air vent, and/or perhaps the ramen soup wasn't hot enough, but within minutes, the soup started to congeal across the surface and was luke-warm by the time my friend finally received her ramen. I thought the ramen itself was rather average - the chicken karaage was crunchy but soggy where it dipped into the soup; Cha Shu pork wasn't of a fatty, melt-in-your-mouth texture; soup was flavoursome but contained MSG so I were thirsty (and cold) by the end of the meal.

I have been here a few times and the food is tasty but their serving sizes are inconsistent, especially the chicken katsu curry. The chicken katsu curry is tasty, but for $16 I expect a lot more chicken than what they deliver. I have also tried their wagyu beef curry udon which is pretty hard to fault though. Overall I like this place but in a crowded food market like Chatswood I feel Makanai need to lift their game a bit and provide better value for money.

The shop looked good, but that's about it. The ramen wasn't bad but it wasn't good either. Lacked authenticity - but that probably wasn't what they were going for anyway.

I admit; I certainly preferred Makanai when it was its own restaurant, not some little shop in the middle of the Lane under Westfield. Still, their food is still good and one of the few places that I frequent regularly. <br/><br/>Their ramen is good, though not as good as before, but will still fill you up. However it does just feel like a fast food place now. Their curry dishes are really nice and I do recommend it over their ramen.

Been frequenting this place before the renovation. yes i know this place isn't authentic but their Volcano ramen is way more spicy than any other authentic ramen shops..... As expected the volcano still as spicy even though I didn't go for the ultimate 3 chilli nose bleed. The noodle texture is ok, bit floury and the cha shu was bit tough....<br/><br/>However the normal Miso ramen was a disaster..... the soup was leaning towards salty side but lacking the fermented bean flavour, fragrance and characteristic, so it's just a bowl of cloudy salty soup...<br/><br/>However I feel the standard for this new shop has dropped.....  and please bring back those premade Onigiri

What has happened? I feel like they used to be a lot better before the relocation/Hawker Lane spot. I used to go quite a bit a few years back, so was up for it again in its new place as I also had a ramen craving I needed to satisfy.<br/><br/>Kinda felt it was a little pricey for what it's worth, but that's also because they added the public holiday surcharge a few days ago. We ordered two different ramens, one was the makanai ramen and I can't remember the name of the other one, both with tokyo shoyu broth, and they just ended up tasting the same, with the makanai being slightly more expensive because of the karage chicken. What was disappointing was the flavours and noodles. Taste was pretty average, broth was not very rich and deep, and noodles were a little overcooked for my liking. Good thing was that the serving size gets you full and service is friendly enough. It works on the buzzer system though, so you go collect your food when they alert you with the buzzer. Don't think this was the case in the previous location, however as it's now amongst other eateries in an open space, it is understandable. They do have their own seating area though, it is only small so you may need to sit on the tables that are part of Hawker Lane.

Oh dear. There are better options. The karrage chicken that I had gone stale. Udon noodles was ok but soup base was quite salty. Staff was friendly and helpful though.

Beautiful decor like the back streets of Usuki. Chicken teriyaki was nice but not a lot of chicken. Lots of rice. Service was fairly quick on a Saturday afternoon.

Craving for a decent sized bowl of ramen? <br/><br/>Makanai's ramen will fill you right up. With a large selection of ramen, udons and dons you will have a hard time choosing which to have for lunch or dinner. We miss their bento boxes though. Be prepared to wait a little for your food so don't come hangry. <br/><br/>Their ramen is perfect on a rainy day and you don't want to step out of Westfield and brave the rain and wind, Makanai's ramen bowl will keep your insides nice and toasty.

Wifey ordered the udon with chicken karaage (they accommodated the swap with teriyaki chicken). It was a late lunch around 3 pm-ish. They weren't busy (you know what's coming yea?). Her order took 15-20 min to be ready.. 😒 <br/><br/>Despite her being famished (always so considerate of me), i took a slurp of her udon and made a face 'silently' (not wanting to give her any clues to how her udon tasted). That was me being considerate 😜<br/><br/>I wouldn't order the same as her if I am buying any at all from Makanai. Hope you guys have a more enjoyable experience there 👍🏻<br/>