IIKO Mazesoba is the first brothless ramen specialist in Australia. Mazesoba ‘まぜそば’ is a brothless ramen that replaces soup with an umami soy based sauce. The literal translation of its name means ‘mixed noodles’, describing the way diners should mix the housemade wheat noodles, toppings and sauce prior to slurping. Mazesoba is thought to have originated in the 1950s in Nagoya. It was inspired by a Taiwanese recipe (and because of this, it is also sometimes known as Taiwan Mazesoba in Japan).
Our first outlet in Darling Square opened in November 2019 and now you can also find us at Green Square.
Ramen can be classified by the different sauces or tare : shoyu (soy), shio (salt), miso (soybean paste) and tonkotsu (pork bone). Each city or region of Japan has its own specialty, for example, Sapporo - Miso ramen, Hakata - Tonkotsu Ramen or Tokyo-style Shoyu Ramen.
Ramen can also be categorised by its type of soup: chintan (clear broth) or paitan (white/cloudy broth).
With its growing popularity, variations of ramen now also exist such as tsukemen (dipping noodles), hiyashi chuka (cold noodle) and of course, mazesoba (mixed noodles). The world of ramen is unlimited as it is driven by creativity and craft of many notable ramen shops.
Amongst ramen masters, what classifies as a ramen is a wheat noodle dish that contain kansui or ‘alkali water’ in its recipe. Using this definition, we would say that mazesoba is a type of ramen.
Since its birth in Nagoya in the 1950s, mazesoba has increased in popularity in Japan, South-East Asia, Canada and other parts of the world. We decided to open our own mazesoba restaurant because we felt that Australians would also love this brothless ramen dish.
We trained professionally in Osaka with a Ramen Sensei to learn authentic methods and recipes to create our original take on the mazesoba.
With the support of our amazing customers and the entire family at IIKO Mazesoba, we want to keep striving to be the first and best mazesoba restaurant in Australia by continuously improving our craft and cultivating the love of Japanese cuisine.