Located in Quezon City, Kureji is serving its customers some weird ass Japanese-inspired dishes. We’re saying that in a good way, by the way. You see, this restaurant is the home of sizzling ramen in the Philippines. That means they serve ramen in a scorching hot stone bowl (think Pinoy style kare-kare). And it’s not just for show.

Their eccentric methods in the kitchen create rather unusual dishes. They serve prawn tempura with a special salt for dipping instead of tentsuyu, they have Manila gyoza which they fill with chicken inasal, butter clams steamed with Asahi beer, and of course, their sizzling udon with an Italian carbonara twist. Hella weird, but we’re into it.

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This carbonara is served in a sizzling bowl, presented like ramen. The raw egg is in the middle, enokitake and other wild mushrooms surround the dish, and bacon bits are placed on top of the udon in creamy white sauce. This leads us to a hot take: Is it more of a pasta or more of a ramen?

Well, the white sauce isn’t exactly a broth. Removing the dish itself from the sizzling bowl leaves us with a classic Italian carbonara. But instead of fettuccine or angel hair pasta, we get udon noodles. It also has toppings that we’ll normally see in a ramen. For instance, the enokitake and scallions are common ingredients in a shoyu ramen, not a classic Italian pasta.

So yes, the carbonara udon is a bit of both. But its flavor is more reminiscent of the pasta dish. And man, trust us when we say that this is a game changer. If your tastebuds love adventure, this must be the place.

Visit Kureji Ramen’s branches here:
78 Malakas St. Diliman Quezon City
Ayala Malls Vertis North
Rockwell Business Center Ortigas