Takumi’s Spicy Mala Nokou Buta Tonkotsu Ramen

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It’s always ramen (except Kanada-ya) that seems to be one of the few dishes I love that can rarely be more spicy. When I took a short break to go to Belgium this month for a friend’s birthday trip, my friend introduced me to Takumi, a Japanese restaurant which is about a 10 min walk away from Schuman station.

The dish, Spicy Mala Nokou Buta Tonkotsu Ramen has a spicy broth with thinly sliced pork, Chinese cabbage, pak choi, bamboo shoots, spring and fried onions, coriander, egg and seaweed. In short, I give it a 7/10. The ramen is considered one of their spiciest along with the Spicy Mala Nokou Chicken Ramen but was more on the pleasant side with it’s spice, so the two chillies on the menu make sense why it’s not extra spicy.

The chilli flakes were definitely a big part of making the “mala” what it is and a little creamy so it soothed the spicy feel down by a lot. I do have complaints as the rest of the ingredients do not complement the taste as great as it could. The noodles were few and tasted more like instant ramen instead of being hand-pulled noodles. In addition, the pork was more of a fattier part than the thin sliced description it had, but softened up with the broth, and the mix of the cabbage, seaweed and pak choi together.

To describe why it’s a 7 is because while it’s spicy, it’s not mala spice so it does not linger on your tongue. Even after I asked for extra spicy, it wasn’t made as so but I can manage that just like the other European countries, they’re afraid of getting in trouble cause of people with weaker tastebuds.

Still, for a cold winter’s day (it was 5 degrees the day I had it), I made the right choice getting it cause the spice balanced out and warmed up my body. It just needed more kick to it and more noodles.