Go beyond the noodle at Senpai Ramen in Chatswood

Dessert after ramen. Come again? Slogging through tiramisu post pizza, sure thing, it's been done. I've self-harmed with pudding at countless roast dinners and once followed an eight-course degustation with a McDonald's apple pie (c'mon, we've all done it).

But, until last month, I had never entertained the idea of eating something else after a soup with more weight behind it than a sumo wrestler's right hook. Give me bed or give me whisky, preferably both.

Ramen is a singular experience focused on a single bowl. Many Japanese noodle spots spruik gyoza and crunchy karaage chicken, too, but these only serve to keep you interested until the main event arrives.

Ever seen someone go back for more dumplings once fat-shimmering ramen is on the table? Me neither.

So when chef Chase Kojima opened Sydney's first ramen omakase restaurant in March, I thought he was a bit mad. What kind of modern-day Marcus Gavius Apicius – ancient Rome's original glutton – would be keen to settle in for a succession of five small-plates, followed by scalding-hot ramen, followed by white chocolate and passionfruit ice-cream with mascarpone?

It turns out it's me. I am Apicius. Senpai Ramen's $75 set menu is built around confident seafood and tremendously satisfying broth. Portions are never too large, the flavours are balanced and – on my visit at least – you're in and out in less than an hour. It might be the perfect restaurant for our attention spans in 2022.

Almost perfect, anyway. Staff forget an order of extra abalone and its liver for upgrading our noodles, and the 20-seat dining space is elbow-room only. I wouldn't like to be seated next to the wall of in-your-face neon rods, which look like factory seconds from Lightsabers R Us.

Furrowed-brow staff work from a tiny kitchen, sending out snack after punchy snack. Bang! Here's an exemplary chawanmushi, the dashi-enhanced egg custard steaming with nutty burnt butter, salmon roe and fresh crab. Pow! Ribbons of raw wagyu daubed with minced tuna, all rich, sweet and creamy under a sheen of teriyaki and poached yolk sauce. Zap! Translucent slivers of snapper sharpened with white soy and lime zest.

A chicken wing – steamed and deep-fried without batter to keep things relatively light – is stuffed with pudgy bits of prawn and a smidgen of truffle; miso-marinated toothfish is four bites of crisp edges and fall-apart flesh, served sang choy bao-style in a crisp leaf of butter lettuce.

There is sashimi, too, served with thunderous sauces more in the style of Kojima's Simulation Senpai sushi shop at Haymarket than his traditional Sokyo omakase at The Star. I could happily eat tuna turbo-charged by wasabi and bonito-smoked soy all day.

Then the ramen. It's very good, approaching excellent. Diners can choose between five creations for the headline act, including a straight-up tonkotsu draped with velvet-soft pork cheek, and a clean-tasting yuzu-honed chicken ramen. I'm drawn to the tan tan number starring a pork broth of milky, focused flavour and cold-curing spice.

Tan tan ramen takes its cues from Sichuan's dan dan noodles, in that both feature minced pork and toasted sesame paste. Kojima dials up the depth with black sesame and a gutsy Korean chilli powder.

Meanwhile, the "chilli miso butter ramen" is made on a chicken broth gently simmered overnight for a lush, umami-slinging soup that clings to animated noodles and chubby scallops.

If you find yourself hungry for lunch in Chatswood, you can drop by for a larger serve of ramen by itself. At $24 a bowl, the tan tan is at the pricier end of the tonkotsu spectrum but absolutely worth it.

Sydneysiders have long paid that price for spaghetti of no import at pubs, and ramen deserves more respect – especially when Kojima's broth requires a painstaking (and rather grisly) process of boiling, skimming and reducing a cauldron of pigs' heads for half a day.

Senpai Ramen is taking over the site next door and will double its diner capacity by September. Kojima can consider expansion plans past that, too.

This is a smart restaurant model ready to take off anywhere there are hurried workers and locals looking for fast thrills and value. At $75 it isn't cheap, but I've certainly paid far more for much less.

The low-down

Vibe Fast-paced noodles and neon

Go-to dish Spicy tan tan black ramen (as part of a set menu or $24 at lunch)

Drinks Short list of good-enough wines, plus a few Japanese beers and sakes