What the Locals Love - Beppu Ekimae

I've tried this place once a long time ago, and I only remember that I wasn't impressed.
Seeing how mad the queue in front of this place every time I passed by, I started to wonder if I have to give casual Japanese food resto another chance.

Judging from the mad queue, it can't be that bad, right? The locals love it, will I?
Let's see ;)

The Beef Shoulder with Spicy Peppercorn Jigoku Ramen. The soup is pretty interesting, a combination of pork bone soup base with Sichuan-esque hot ma lak flavors. Not bad. The few pieces of beef, although tender, they tasted a little too...corn starchy? As for the ramen, it was ok when it arrived, we wished we consumed it quickly as the ramen lost its chewiness a little too quickly.


The Spicy Assorted Meat with Cold Ramen...the "assorted meat" includes slices of sweet omelette, slices of ham, and a piece of imitation crab meat :S The spicy sauce was neither spicy nor flavorful. I am not a big fan of this dish :(


The stuffed chicken wings...in terms of textures, the dish wasn't that bad. Crispy on the outside, with fragrant stuffing of spring onions and crunchy chicken gristle. In terms of flavors, the dish could use a lot more seasoning, the sauce it was served with didn't help much either.



The crispy tofu, which was served swimming in a pool of oil (ugh), had nice textures. Crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. However, again, the dish was flavorless. I may not have a sophisticated palate, but this was rather hard to accept. We had to dip these pieces of tofu in soy sauce to make the it more bearable.

The drink on promo was Iced Green Tea with Red Bean. It's nice, not too sweet, perfectly creamy and the best part is...buy one get one free :)

At the end of the meal, our server knocked over a bottle of soy sauce, spilling soy sauce on SC's iPhone, left leg and foot. His sandal was thoroughly soaked in soy sauce. The service team apologized repeatedly and helped him wiping his sandal clean with wet tissues. Since they were apologetic and the phone was ok, we were fine with it. They also gave us a 10% discount...the bill came up to HK$195 (after 10% discount) for the meal.

Overall, the meal isn't exactly an experience I'd like to repeat any time soon.
I have to remind myself that long queue =/= value for money =/= good food.
Maybe only when I'm desperate for ramen and there's no other choice.
:S