When it comes to ramen, there are many tastes and regional variations whether it be shio (salt), shoyu (soy sauce), tonkotsu (pork bone broth) in Kyushu or miso ramen which is served up in Hokkaido. On top of that come the crazy novelty ones which include things like cheese, coffee, ice-cream, tequila, kiwi, ham, lemon, pineapple, sake and so on. The kind of things that the true ramen masters would most definitely turn their nose up at!

Nothing really surprises me when it comes to ramen these days so when I saw a pink ramen dish on YouTube last year I wasn’t exactly shocked. I was interested though but sadly I hadn’t seen that video when it was released so the restaurant had already closed when I began to investigate. However, it did alert me to the rest of their unique south-east Asian fusion menu, and they still had one more branch (the original one) over in Setagaya ward which by pure luck I happened to pass right by every week en-route to and from one of my workplaces.

The prices at Bassanova are reasonable but still a bit more than I’d usually pay for such dishes but as an occasional treat it’s absolutely fine. A vending machine located immediately on the left after entering is used for selecting your order and please note that, as is the way for many restaurants in Japan, only cash can be used as payment.

Inside is a quite stylish counter seating set-up with eight seats more like a cafe than a traditional ramen shop. There are a couple of other little two-seater tables to the side too.

Their signature green curry ramen was the natural choice on my original visit but there was another dish or two that I wanted to try so I did end up going back at a later date. The dish was admittedly a bit smaller than I expected but what it lacked in size it more than made up for in taste.

It’s a rich, creamy, and mildly spicy pork bone broth with Japanese dashi and a taste of coriander. The noodles were tender and the broth was really well-balanced and flavourful.

One month after that initial visit I decided to visit again as I wanted to sample the laksa noodles and was even given a paper bib this time to protect my light coloured shirt from inadvertent splashes.

Again, it was on the smaller side but expected this time. The rich and spicy coconut seasoned broth wasn’t too salty and the shrimp added something new to it all in a positive way.

• Bassanova is located at 1-4-18 Hanegi, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo. It is open every day from 11:00 am till 10:00 pm. Shinadaita station on the Inokashira Line is four minutes away on foot.

Bonus: Whilst searching for the aforementioned green curry ramen I actually came across another interesting dish which had gone viral for its inclusion of matcha. This was not ramen though.

It was a slightly compact Indian restaurant in Shinjuku called Asian Dining Yummy which was famed for its unique flavours of nan bread including a matcha cheese one. It actually tasted really good, even when dipped in the butter chicken curry and I am keen to return and try some of the other weird flavours.

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