Vegetable Ramen – Ajisen Ramen, Macau ferry terminal, Hong Kong

During our stay in Hong Kong we had booked a couple of nights in Macau, and it meant we needed to get the ferry over the water. We arrived at the ferry terminal (which is in a shopping centre) not quite expecting the quite mad, packed scene that awaited us.

Once we’d worked out where and how to buy our tickets for the ferry, we realised we had a bit of a wait, so went in search of some lunch. We stumbled across a place which looked like it did decent ramen’s and we both fell in love with the cute Japanese logo. There was a small queue but we were seated in no time and ready to order.

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It turns out that Ajisen ramen was founded in Kumamoto, Japan in 1968 and is a chain with over 700 shops worldwide. I had no idea it was a fast food restaurant, but laterly have found out that it is, and that it’s famous for its Tonkotsu soup (pork broth).

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I chose the Vegetable ramen and my, oh, my…it was GOOD.  Beyond good. It was spiritual. Quite probably one of the best soups I have ever had. It had a mikly, rich broth, flavoured with toasted garlic. It was jam-packed with vegetables – sweetcorn, bean sprouts, crunchy carrot noodles, spring onion, spongy mushroom, dried mushroom and a tangle of perfectly al-dente noodles. Bliss.

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Everything about this soup was perfect; the taste, textures and timing. It was moreish and I ate every single last mouthful. PLEASE open a place in London Ajisen Ramen!

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Words and pictures by LadyLavish

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Tomato and red pepper, Blue Waters, Antigua

I’m not a huge fan of tomato soup, mostly because I usually find it pretty dull, though I do like it with red pepper and even better with some added chilli as it definitely livens it up a bit.

Tomato and red pepper soup

This soup was homemade and tasted fresh as a daisy. Tomato-y and Summer-y and flavoursome. However, the problem was, it tasted like pasta sauce. It would have made a lovely spaghetti pomodoro – it even had the right consistency. But as a soup it was too thick and too sauce-like. And the red pepper was completely over-shadowed by the tomato. So much so, that I couldn’t taste the sweetness and flavour of the peppers at all.

It definitely improved with a nice soft buttered roll, but that was more about the bread than the soup. Ramp up the peppers and add some chilli!

The view from the table at Blue Waters, Antigua

Mind you, the view from the restaurant just about made up for it!

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Words and pictures by @LadyLavish