Restaurant Review: Ryu Ramen & Curry at SM Jazz Mall

I discovered Ryu Ramen & Curry at SM Jazz Mall by accident. After a routine medical checkup, my husband and I decided to have dinner. For some odd reason, I was craving for ramen. It was probably because I needed something to help me gain strength because my arm was hurting after I had an injection. We were supposed to go to SM Aura to have ramen either at Ramen Nagi or Ikkoryu Fukuoka Ramen. We ditched the idea because it was out of the way, and we were rushing to go home. I told my husband that we should just get something quick from drive-thru. He initially agreed with me, but he changed his mind when he saw me cringing from pain. We were on the lookout for a ramen house on our route, but there was none. That was until I thought of checking out SM Jazz Mall. It was our first time to go there so Boyet was hesitant. He said that it’s impossible for a small mall to have a ramen house. I then told him, “Lahat na ng malls may ramen! At saka huwag mong mamaliitin ‘yang SM Jazz. May Vikings nga ‘yan e!” =)) And true enough, we immediately spotted Ryu Ramen & Curry as soon as we parked our car.

I was surprised that Ryu Ramen & Curry was relatively busy during our visit. It was a weeknight so I’m not sure where the crowd came from. Although I noticed that some of the guests were in their pambahay clothes so I’m thinking that their main clientele are the unit owners of SM Jazz. Anyway, the interior of Ryu Ramen & Curry is typical of a Japanese restaurant. It’s minimalist with the colors black and brown on the fixtures. The large hanging lights accentuated the simple setup of the restaurant.

Now, let’s head to the food. I have been to a lot of ramen houses over the past couple of years. In my mind, I have the top two on the list. Topping my list is Ramen Yushoken followed by Ramen Nagi. That’s why it was a bit unfortunate for Ryu Ramen because I really had very high expectations. My top 2 have been in their spots for quite some time. Ika nga ni Vice Ganda, unkabogable sila! Nyahaha!

What he actually got was Shoyu Ramen. This light salt-based ramen is also topped with two slices of chasu pork and soft-boiled eggs with the addition of bamboo shoots and seaweeds. As expected, his ramen is more subtle. I got a few sips of his ramen and I did notice its earthy flavor which is probably brought by the bamboo shoots.

We also got to try their gyoza. Trying to be a bit more adventurous, we stayed away from our usual order of pork gyoza and settled with chicken and shrimp instead. Guests have the choice to have the gyoza deep fried, but we stuck with pan fried. The gyoza was good, but there was nothing extraordinary about it.


Ryu Ramen & Curry
Level 1 SM Jazz Mall,
Nicanor Garcia Corner Jupiter Street,
Bel-Air, Makati City


* All photos were taken with an Xperia Z1 Compact