Housed in a no-frills, renovated workers cottage with timber floors, communal tables and a modern industrial vibe, Hai Hai is a simple ramen bar, serving pork, chicken and vegetable ramen available as shio (with salt) or shoyu (with soy).

Then there are sides such as steam buns with either pork or tofu, sweet corn with miso butter, coleslaw and karaage.

Diners order and pay at the counter, with the efficient staff jumping into action to ready your drinks in seconds and your meals within minutes.

A coleslaw ($7.50) with shavings of red cabbage, tendrils of wakame and slivers of daikon is given a peppy twist with the addition of pickled ginger that adds vibrancy to each bite.

The perilla-spiked, creamy dressing is thin enough to keep the dish fresh, light and crisp – the perfect foil to the insanely moist chicken karaage ($8.50). Marinated in umami-heavy koji (a popular Asian ingredient used to make soy sauce, sake and miso), its crisp, salty coating hides meat bursting with juices. The traditional pairing of kewpie is tinged with yuzu to give a subtle citrus note and lift.

Bao-style steam buns ($10) arrive as a double act, each stuffed with a thick slice of sweet char siu pork, a squirt of fiery gochujang, kewpie and coriander. The contrasting ingredients marry beautifully and the buns are blissfully cloud-like.

Next up is the hero of the show – and what may just be Brisbane’s best ramen.

Two generous bowls (we really didn’t need the sides) of noodles and broth arrive – one with chicken, the other pork. The vegie option had sold out.

The two bowls are like chalk and cheese in flavour, but both equally more-ish. The pork shoyu ($14) is made tonkotsu-style, boiling up pork bones to create a rich, hearty, cloudy broth, topped with a piece of sticky, caramelised char siu pork belly, a hanjuku egg with a silken yolk, nori, tsukemono, curls of spring onions and a spill of black garlic oil. The thin, straight noodles hidden below are cooked al dente.

The chicken version ($15, left) is lighter and more delicate, made with a fragrant dashi broth that seems like the perfect cure-all. Black sesame seeds are scattered across tender marinated chicken pieces that top just-firm curly noodles, paired with hanjuku egg and a tangle of spring onions. Food is complemented with a short but smart drinks list that will ensure this place becomes a much-loved local.

Originally published on couriermail.com.au