Restaurant review: Kamitora Ramen, Wan Chai - come early before soup runs out

When it comes to Kamitora Ramen, the early bird catches the worm. We arrived just after the place opened, and it took us less than 30 minutes to get a seat in this popular new ramen shop in Wan Chai. When we left at 7.30pm, the staff had already stopped giving out tickets and posted a sign saying all the soup was sold.

Founded by Juryo Kenta in Osaka in 2007, Kamitora, which translates as "God Tiger", was inspired by the Osakan professional baseball team, the Hanshin Tigers.

It has expanded to six branches — including Hong Kong's first a few months ago — and it continues to draw customers with its limited-quantity soup base which is made daily in-house.

It takes head chef Kimura Mamoru 12 hours — and a lot of stirring — to combine all the favours from the generous amount of pork bone and vegetables. Kansai dashi (dried bonito broth) is blended in to add sweetness to the stock.

Using the same soup base, they offer five different varieties: God of Tora (original, HK$83), Kamitora Special (with all toppings, HK$123), Black Tora (with seared garlic oil, HK$78), Red Tora (spicy, HK$78) and White Tora (original without egg, HK$73).

The order sheet allows guests to customise their bowl by deciding the amount of toppings, such as bamboo shoot and black fungus. There are also noodles of two different thicknesses to choose from.