Ramen Walker

Opening of Michelin 1-Star Ramen, Japanese Soba Noodles Tsuta, in Singapore!

2016-09-28T02:36:00.003+08:00

It has been a long time of almost 4 years since I've updated my blog. Bogged down by work and had not much time to update - but this piece of new is something that I had to write about...

Because Tsuta is coming to Singapore!

Michelin Guide Singapore Post & Video of Tsuta

By now the new should have spread in Singapore - it was on various media such as ChannelNewsAsia, radio and so on. But still I would like to write about it.

I have been following this news since the beginning of the year, when news in Japan revealed that owner Onishi will be opening its first overseas outlet in Singapore. Nothing much can be found online, except that in Onishi's own blog in January, he wrote that he will be going to Singapore for 2 weeks on a business trip.

Back to Tsuta, for those of you thinking of going to his Sugamo store to taste the real thing, supplementing the information on CNA and the Facebook video, you have to take note of a few things as the shop implements a queue ticket system for entry to avoid disappointment.

- You have to line up early. Tsuta will start distributing queue tickets at about 7am plus.

- Each queue ticket specifies a 1-hour time slot from 11am to 5pm that you need to come back for, as the allocated time for you to enter the shop. The opening hours is a 11am, so the earliest that you can start even if you are the first person in the queue is 11am.

- Each queue ticket will need a deposit of 1000 JPY. Seems that they will not give change so please prepare the exact amount.

- They have recently changed the system that someone can actually get multiple queue ticket for their friends. But might be subject to changes, so to be safe it might be better to queue up.

Most of the time the ticket will be wiped out by the fans who queue up, but occasionally there will be free slots or cancellation. Tsuta runs a twitter account broadcasting announcements about the ticketing situation, and if there are some free slots at certain times. You can try your luck to see if you can grab those last minute (Japanese required)

Back to his Singapore store, as per Onishi's video, I'm glad that his offering of Shoyu and Shio ramen will be something different from the many Tonkotsu ramen that is already in Singapore. I do like Tonkotsu very much but I felt that it is a little skewed.

He is currently in Singapore, his fifth day now, training the staff and his team to prepare the ramen, according to his blog. He has also tried our very own Michelin Star soy sauce chicken! You can see that the noodle of Tsuta will be freshly made using using the noodle machine with his own blend of flour (versus buying off-the-shelf noodles made by others). I wish that I can be one of the crew to learn from him how he makes his soup, shoyu tare and char siew!

Looking forward to the opening of Tsuta soon!

(Tsuta Singapore's Facebook Page)

Tokyo Ramen Show 2012

2012-10-29T23:22:00.000+08:00

It is the time of the year for the annual mega-event in Tokyo -

The Tokyo Ramen Show!!

As a ramen fan, how can I miss it?

Patiently queuing up...

This year in 2012, the Tokyo Ramen Show is held over 2 stretches of days - 26-30 Oct and 31 Oct - 4 Nov 2012. Over each period, there are 20 selected ramen stalls gathered from all over Japan serving their best ramen to fans coming from Tokyo and beyond. Some of the stall are special collaboration stalls setup by famous ramen brands, offering ramen that are only available during limited period of the show. By coming to the Tokyo Ramen Show, not only you can try ramen from different parts of Japan, but also menus that are not available usually.

The show was very well-organised. When you arrive at the venue, you first line up to buy your ramen ticket (800 yen each). With that, you can subsequently to exchange for a bowl of ramen. All the stall are lined up horizontally in one row, and a queue extends from each stall, with fans patiently queuing up. The bowl is slightly smaller than a normal bowl, so that you can try more varieties. There are ample seats that you can take your ramen to too after you've collected your bowl.

For the popular stalls, the queue could be at long at more than an hour. However, there are also shorter queues that you can get your ramen in less than 10 minutes.

There are too many choices to choose from! Assessing that I can eat at most 3 bowls, I picked 3 types of ramen of different taste (and different lengths of queues) to try for this visit.

The first bowl - White Soy Sauce (白醤油) Ramen, a collaboration by 3 different stalls, Shinka, Bigiya and Nawate, all disciples of a famous ramen brand "Setagaya". The soup of this shoyu ramen is excellent - simple but deep with chicken and seafood flavor. The queue for this store was not too long, about 15 minutes.

The second bowl - Special Sapporo Miso Ramen. This is a collaboration by 3 of the top miso ramen stalls in Hokkaido - Menya Saimi, Ramen Iri and Menya Tsukushi. The soup is jointly blended by the 3 owners. It was rich and creamy! The queue for this stall was one of the longest among the 20 stores.

Last but not least - Combination Tonkotsu Ramen. This is a collaboration between 2 ramen brands that have ventured overseas - Keisuke Tonkotsu King in Singapore and Nagi in Hong Kong. The soup is a blend of the tonkotsu soup from both stores. I think it means something when the organizer chose to feature a brand that expanded to Singapore! However, the queue of this store wasn't that long.

Had an excellent spread of something simple, strong and creamy. Personally I like the White Soy Sauce Ramen best, as the soup was the most delicious among the three.

Shall I visit the show this coming weekend too?

I'm extremely tempted to do so!

Ikkousha in Fukuoka!

2012-08-26T14:37:00.002+08:00

I just wrote about Ikkousha being crowned the Ultimate Ramen Champion in Singapore last week.

What a coincidence!

Just in the following week, I have a chance to travel Ikkousha's hometown, Fukuoka. While I couldn't write about Singapore's Ikkousha now, of course I should visit the real authentic Ikkousha in Fukuoka.

And here I am, in Ikkousha @ Deitos Hakata, right on top of the JR Hakata Station.

Irasshaiimase!

This Ikkousha outlet is located in the Hakata Noodle Street, a food street with 12 noodles stores from different parts of Kyushu. Besides ramen, it also has shops offering udon, soba and Nagasaki champion.

Maybe I am a little early for lunch

Frankly I was not aware of Ikkousha when I was in Tokyo, but walking around the streets of Fukuoka, I spotted quite a number of them - They are a famous regional brand from Fukuoka!

Checking Ikkousha's homepage, they have 9 outlets in Fukuoka alone, and 1 more in Kyoto. In addition to the Ikkousha brand, there are also other brands such as Gensuke (offering seafood-tonkotsu ramen. unfortunately closed in Singapore), Genkun (offering tsuke-men), Genou (offering tsuke-men too) and Keishi (offering seafood-shoyu ramen). Last but not least, the group also has a noodle manufacturing company, supplying noodles to the group and beyond.

Overseas and beyond Singapore, they have also expanded to Jakarta, with 2 stores now.

Outside the Deitos store, there is this board that was created to share with their customers that they are now expanding to the world!

世界進出 - Expanding to the world!

Attracted by the huge pieces of char siew, I tried the Char Siew Ramen (850 yen).

Giant char siew!!

The ramen is topped with spring onion, black fungus and 4 thin slices of char siew that spill over the edge of the bowl. True to the Hakata style tonkotsu ramen, narrow and white noodles are used, and the soup is creamy with the rich smell of pork bones. The soup is boiled over strong fire in a large traditional Japanese pot, thereby giving it its creamy texture. However, this way also introduces the "pork bone smell" that some might not like. The sauce (tare) used is said to have used 4 different types of local soy sauce, a handful of spices and a few types of seafood.

Personally I like this bowl of ramen. While it does not gives a strong impact in a single area, it is tasty and mild that kept me eating on and on. The char siew is soft and compliments the soup and noodles well. Compared to the outlet in Singapore, I felt that the soup is slightly thicker here in Fukuoka.

There is a direct flight from Singapore to Fukuoka, so to those of you ramen fans out there, you might want to visit Fukuoka and taste Ikkousha and also other famous Hakata ramen!

View Ramen Walker's Ramen Map in a larger map

Ramen Data - Ikkousha @ Hakata Deitos

Address: 1-1 Hakataeki-Chuogai, Hakata-ku, Fukuoka (Inside Hakata Ramen Road, Deitos 2F)
Types: Tonkotsu Ramen
Price: 650 - 1050 yen

Ikkousha - 2011 Ultimate Ramen Champion!

2012-08-12T14:53:00.001+08:00

After a year of operation, the winner of the Ramen Champion project is finally decided!

A media event was held on 7 August to announce the winner as well as the next phase of the project. I was invited to the event too, but unfortunately I'm overseas and have to give a miss to this wonderful opportunity to witness the winner and get to know the ramen community in Singapore.

The winner of 2011 Ramen Champion is.... (drum roll)

IKKOUSHA (一幸舎)!!

It was reported that Ikkousha topped the competition, selling 100,531 bowls of ramen in the past year. No. 2 is Bario, who sold 65,529 bowls. The difference is pretty huge. Wonder how were the sales of the rest of the concepts.

(Note: Their normal ramen costs $13, so their sales over the year would be about S$1.3mil just for the small stall! Is that consider a lot?)

I didn't have the time to blog about Ikkousha, but I have eaten it many times. Personally I liked Toyama Black best, but Ikkousha will be my number two. Its tonkontsu soup is tasty but not too heavy, unlike the other stalls in Ramen Champion that people might find them slightly too salty.

The result reinforced the type of ramen that Singaporeans tend to like - Tonkotsu! We already have Santouka and Ippudou that is widely popular in Singapore, and now Ikkousha is crowed the ramen champion.

Where there is a winner there is a loser. Of the first batch of Ramen Champion stalls, 2 of them, Tetsu and Gensuke, and will not be continuing on for the next year. While the soup of Tetsu was good, I personally does not quite like eat tsukemen because the soup tends to get cold fast. Maybe many Singaporean felt the same. For Gensuke, I have not been there before. It seems that it is supposed to be a Halal ramen concept created by Ikkousha using chicken broth. Perhaps the ramen crazy has not caught up within the Muslim community in Singapore?

The next phase of Ramen Champion will commence from 7 Aug 2012 to 30 Jul 2013 with a total of 8 brands. The 2 new entrants are:

Menya Aoyama (麺屋　青山) - A tonkotsu ramen stall with its specialty being its ajitama egg. The egg seems to be marinated in seasoned fresh cream!

Taka no Tsume (鷹の爪) - A stall with its specialty in spicy ramen. "Taka no Tsume", or the eagle's claw, is also the name of a type of chili in Japan that is known for its hotness. Something like our chili padi in Southeast Asia.

Seems that they have brought in 2 concepts to suit Singapore's palate - Tonkotsu and Chili ramen.

Another interesting finding is that these 2 ramen stalls seems to be related to a company in Japan called Menya Kouji Group (麺屋こうじ), that is responsible for producing a group of ramen stalls in Japan. The CEO of Menya Kouji Group, Tashiro Koji, seems to be also the COO of Komars Group, the company behind Ramen Champion in Singapore. Mr Tashiro himself have been trained as a ramen chef under Taishoken, and have opened several successful ramen shops in Japan. It is fun when the dots connect!

I will not be able to try these ramen in Singapore, so please share with me your comments if you have tried them? I will also try to make my way to their stall in Japan... although both are a little far in Chiba prefecture.

Kisshokichi - Kobe Beef Ramen (神戸牛らーめん　吉祥吉)

2012-04-22T11:59:00.001+08:00

This week's ramen adventure brings me to Kobe, where I happen to be doing some regional visits.

The first thing that come to mind for Kobe is of course, Kobe beef.

And something came to my mind... are there any ramen shops that offers Kobe beef ramen?

I did some search on the internet, and I found one in the Sanchika underground mall, near the Sannomiya station of Kobe!

There is a trend of having "ramen avenues" inside shopping or underground mall over Japan. The Sanchika underground mall opened its "Ramen Road (麺ロード)" in Nov 2011. It is not that big with only 4 shops, but they are said to be the selected ones from Kobe.

Sanchika Men Road

The stall offering Kobe Beef Ramen is called Kisshokichi (吉祥吉). Kisshokichi is a restaurant that offers Kobe beef are reasonable prices. It has 6 restaurants in Kobe serving Kobe beef is different styles such as steak, shabu-shabu and buns, and this ramen concept is a new addition in the group.

I order the Kobe Beef Ramen (850 yen), the standard recommendation of the stall.

So, where are the Kobe beef elements in this ramen? It is used in 3 parts:

- Soup. The soup is made from Kobe beef bones. High-end beef bouillon!

- Slices of Kobe beef

- Minced spicy kobe beef miso

The soup and ingredients has relatively strong flavours, so I think spring onions and bean sprouts are added to balance the tastes.

It was an interesting bowl of ramen because the tastes are beef-based, rather than the usual pork, chicken or seafood flavours. However, it is hard to tell that the grade of the beef or how "kobe beef" made the ramen exceptional. Overall, it is not bad but not exceptionally great.

If you happen to be in Kobe and would like to try something different, this will be something interesting!

Menya Sou (麺屋　宗) - Special Uma Shio Soba + Sakura!

2012-04-14T23:05:00.001+08:00

It is the sakura season now in Japan! Personally I think that it is one of the most beautiful moments of the year. I visited the Meguro river and took a stroll along the bank lined by sakura. Beautiful!

Sakura at Meguro river

It was nearly lunchtime and I was looking for something to eat.

And just when I was looking around, I spotted this signboard of a ramen store! What a coincidence.

Following the signboard, I reached Menya Sou (麺屋　宗). Situated along Yamate Dori near the Nakameguro station, it is a small ramen joint with only about 10 counter seats. The main outlet of Menya Sou is at Takadanobaba, and this Nakameguro outlet is its 2nd one.

The note on the left of the picture shows the opening hours of the store. But the information that is more important is the number of servings that they serve per session. Over lunch, there is a limit of only 50 servings, and 100 for dinner!

Menya Sou is an award-winning ramen joint - It was selected by the readers of magazine "Tokyo Weekly" as the ramen of the year in 2007 and 2008, among other awards. Its specialties are shio ramen and tsukemen (dipped ramen)

I ordered the shop's recommendation, Special Uma Shio Soba (980 yen)

The ramen is topped with a whole tamago, bamboo shoot, 3 pieces of char siew, mizuna, spring onion and shredded chili. The char siew is grilled over charcoal before it is served, and I guess it is thinly sliced to suit the simple shio soup. The menma is hand-shredded, so it is much longer than the usual menma served. Something special.

The soup is a combination of clear chicken soup and seafood stock, together with 2 types of salts. It was tasty and light, matching the toppings that are also simple.

Menya Sou also prepared 3 types condiments for us to add to the ramen and play with the flavours - pepper, plum vinegar and its original "sou space". In particular, the plum vinegar (the red one in the center) is for the shio ramen. I added some to my soup - it made the soup more refreshing and even more drinkable. I finished the soup until its last drop!

Pepper, Plum Vinegar and Sou Spice

Another thing that I noticed was the ramen bowl. The bowl used seems to be more sophisticated than those used in other ramen shops.

It was only later that I found out why. The owner of Menya Sou is Yanagi Munenori (柳　宗紀), who is the grand nephew of Yanagi Sori (柳　宗理), one of the iconic industrial designer in Japan and was passionate about promotion of local crafts. The shop uses designs of Yanagi Sori, which include some kitchenware as well. No wonder the bowls look good!

A bowl of ramen that I will recommend for those who like shio ramen. I will try to visit their main store in Takadanobaba next time!

Ramen Data - Menya Sou NakameguroAddress: 3-5-55 Nakameguro, Meguro-ku, Tokyo

Types: Shio ramen, Tsuke-men

Rating: 9/10

AFURI Harajuku - Yuzu Shoyu Noodle

2012-04-07T08:11:00.001+08:00

Visited one of my favourite ramens in Tokyo again for this week's ramen fix.

AFURI has 2 outlets in Tokyo, one in Ebisu and another in Harajuku. I visited the one in Harajuku, which is about 3-4 minutes walk from the JR Harajuku station. There was a short queue outside, and I waited for about 10 mins before managing to get in.

Clean and simple shop

One of the specialty of Afuri is its char siew, which is charcoal grilled before it is served. This gives the char siew a nice smoky fragrance, and some burnt on the surface that makes it look good.

The shop only has counter seats, so I can see my char siew grilling right in front of me. Smells good!

Grilling...

Afuri's standard is its Yuzu Shio Ramen, but I ordered the Yuzu Shoyu Ramen for a change. There are also 2 types of noodle to choose - the normal narrow noodles and a special "shinku hirauchi" noodles. The latter has more texture and is more chewy.

The presentation was mouth-watering. What I like about them is also that its a bowl that is simple yet flavoursome, unlike some others that while it is delicious their richness made you feel full halfway eating them.

Since harajuku is a often-visited tourist area, it will be easy to drop by too. Some ramen shops are really difficult to find!

Ramen Data - AFURI HarajukuAddress: 3-63-1 Sendagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo

Types: Yuzu shio noodle, shoyu shio noodle, tsuke-men
Rating: 9/10

Menya Musashi opening in Singapore!

2012-04-01T13:35:00.000+08:00

I was in Singapore for a short visit and happened to walk past Raffle City.

And guess what?

I just about Menya Musashi Kanzan in my last post, and there I saw near the taxi stand announcement that a Menya Musashi will be opening in Raffles City! What a coincidence.

The opening date is still not clear, and I couldn't find any trace of the news on the internet yet. The website of Menya Musashi is quite basic and it might be the style of the owner to remain low profile.

I would like to share some history about Musashi to prepare everyone for their entry.

Menya Musashi is one of the legendary ramen brand in Japan. Its owner, Yamada Takeshi, together with Ippudo's Kawahara Shigemi and Nanttsutei's Furuya Ichiro are said to be icons of the ramen industry that led to its popularity now.

It is interesting to note that we are going to have all these 3 in Singapore soon! Maybe it is a reflection that we are growing into a culinary capital of the world.

Yamada had an interesting background. According to what others have written about him, he was originally from the apparel industry. After graduating from high school, he started his own apparel company and grew to become an entrepreneur. However, the company went under after the burst of the Japanese economic bubble, and he was debt-ridden. As he was thinking about starting a small push-cart hawker business to earn a living, a conversation with his friend led him to explore using dried saury (秋刀魚 or サンマ, a type of narrow and long fish that is typically in season in autumn) to make ramen soup. This eventually became the signature of Musashi's ramen.

Musashi's flagship outlet is in Shinjuku, about 4 minutes from the JR Shinjuku west exit. In addition, it has 10 more "noren-wake" outlets in Tokyo by Yamada's disciples, each with its own unique characteristics while maintaining the tradition of its roots.

I'm not sure will the Musashi in Singapore be serving what is available in the Shinjuku outlet, but the key characteristics of Musashi are:

Soup: Animal + Seafood Double Soup. The soup is made from a mix of 2 types of soup: Animal-based soup made from chicken and pork bones, and seafood-based soup, made from dried saury and other ingredients such as kelp and prawn oil.

Noodles: medium-thick flat noodles, which are suitable for shoyu ramen.

Chic Japanese Interior: Attention is paid to the interior of the shop, which is mostly in a strong Japanese theme in dark colors. This might be due to his background in the apparel industry.

Looking forward to see the response of Musashi's opening in Singapore! Meanwhile I'll go and try out a few of its outlets here in Japan.

Menya Musashi Kanzan (麺屋武蔵　神山) - Kanzan Ramen

2012-02-18T21:15:00.008+08:00

It has been almost half a year since I have updated this Ramen Walker blog. Sorry for those of you who are looking forward to some updates!

Since late last year, I am fortunate enough to relocate to the land of ramen for work! Rather than reporting on ramen in Singapore, I'll be writing about my ramen adventure in Japan.

My first ramen expedition brings me to Menya Musashi Kanzan (麺屋武蔵　神山) at Kanda, Tokyo.

Menya Musashi is a one of the major families of ramen stores that started in Shinjuku in 1998. Named after a legendary swordsman in the Edo era Miyamoto Musashi, most of the stores have a Japanese styled decor. Disciples of the founder graduates from training at the main outlet, and then set up their own ramen stores in different parts of Japan under the brand Menya Musashi. This is called the Noren Wake (のれん分け) system, a system practiced since the Edo era for various types of businesses. Something like an old franchise system! This store "Kanzan" that I went to is one of those noren wake stores of Musashi.

I ordered the signature Kanzan Ramen (神山らーめん, 1000yen).

The part of this ramen that stands out the most is its char siew. The two large blocks of char siew stood out deliciously, covering almost half of the bowl. The outside is slightly burnt and crispy, and the meaty part is tender and soft. Taking a closer look...

Sitting at the counter, I observed how they prepared it. Pre-cook pork belly blocks are put under a salamander grill (overhead grill) for a few minutes before it is taken out and cut into big blocks. This is how they achieve the effect of the crispy char siew skin. It was good!

The soup is a a mix of fish and animal soups, faithful to its Musashi roots. Other toppings include a whole runny tamago, seaweed, and a handful of menma and leek.

The shop also provides black & white pepper in a grinder, as well as chilli & spice powder as additional seasoning for the noodles. I personally prefers the black & white pepper - the freshly grinded pepper gives the noodle a lovely scent.

The soup was good that I finished until the last drop!

Looking forward to my next bowl of good ramen in Japan!

Ramen Data - Menya Musashi Kanzan
Address: 3-7-8 Uchikanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
Types: Tsuke-men and Ramen in animal/seafood double soup
Rating: 8.5/10

Keisuke Tokyo (けいすけ東京) - Tokyo Shio Ramen

2011-08-07T13:45:00.001+08:00

Taking a break from going to Ramen Champion, I visited Keisuke Tokyo today for my ramen fix.

It is one of my favourite ramen places in Singapore, but it is a little off the places that I usually go to so I don't frequent it that much.

Just happened that I was at Suntec, I decided pop by instead.

And they have further made some improvements since my last visit!

After sitting down, the attentive waitress passed me this order form to fill up.

Make your own RAMEN !!

Looking further down the form makes me understand what it exactly is for. After choosing the ramen that you would like to order, you can further customise your ramen using this form by indicating:

- Strength / thickness of the soup (3 levels)

- Amount of oil on the ramen (4 levels)

- Hardness of the noodles (4 levels)

- If you do not want any toppings due to preference (e.g. bamboo shoot, etc.)

Customisation

While it seems to be possible to customise our ramen at some of the other ramen joints in Singapore, this is by far the most structured way in letting customers customise their ramen. I am further impressed by Keisuke's sophistication!

They seem to have added one more type of condiment to the existing ones - bonito flakes.

With this and others like spicy beansprout and chopped onion, there are even more room to play with your ramen.

I ordered the Tokyo Shio Ramen with egg ($13++) today.

Good presentation

Clear Shio Soup

I won't delve too deeply into the ramen today. But in short, it was a good bowl as per the usual Keisuke standard.

Last but not least, there was another surprise for me this visit...

Keisuke is going to open their 2nd outlet named "Tonkotsu King" in Tanjong Pagar on 8 Aug (Monday)!

The new shop is located at Orchid Hotel in Tras Link, near Tanjong Pagar MRT station.

Let's see if I have the time to pop by for lunch on Monday.

Menya Iroha (麺屋いろは) - Negi Ramen, Ramen Champion, Iluma

2011-07-23T15:25:00.006+08:00

Visited Ramen Champion today to continue my quest to finish all the 6 ramen brands.

And there I'm, greeted by a queue!

Really? I have to queue to enter?

The advertisements at the MRT station screens sure did work to bring in the crowd. Iluma is usually pretty empty and when I was at Ramen Champion on its opening day it was quiet too. Happy that ramen is creating another storm in Singapore!

Today, my feet bring me to Menya Iroha (麺屋いろは).

Another queue, but I'm happy to wait

Iroha comes from Toyama Prefecture (富山県), a prefecture in central Japan on the side of the Sea of Japan. A place that is little known by people overseas. Some adventurous tourist might have been to the Kurobe dam and Tateyama mountain, which are located in Toyama.

location of Iroha HQ

Iroha seemed to have received many accolades - It achieved top sales for 2 consecutive years in Tokyo Ramen Show 2009 and 2010, selling 13355 bowls of ramen over 5 days. Assuming a bowl of ramen was sold at 700yen, they would have earned about S$150k just in that 5 days. It also received an award from the prefecture governor of Toyama as an outstanding enterprise.

Iroha has several specialties, and one of them is the Toyama Black Soy Sauce Ramen.

I ordered the Negi Tama Ramen (leek & egg ramen, $13) version of this specialty today.

The toppings of char siew (x2), egg, chopped & shredded leek, seaweed, bamboo shoot and a sprinkle of black pepper sit on top of curly noodles and the signature black soup. Presentation was good, and the colors contrast well on top of the black soup.

The soup base is made from a mix of seafood (dried fish, kelp, etc.), chicken and vegetables. The black color is due to its secret black soy sauce, which is said to be made in such a way that it maximises the "umami" of the sauce while keeping salt content low. Together with the seafood and chicken broth, although the soup looks salty, but surprisingly it is light but full of flavour. I think that it goes down very easily and you won't get sick of it.

The egg, I must say that it is so far the most runny among the 6 stores in Ramen champion. Some of them are too well-done.

Runny yolk

Another part that I enjoyed a lot is the char siew. A harmless looking piece, but it was very tender. The fatty part of the char siew literally melted inside my mouth. Was impressed by how well it was done.

Last but not least, the leeks, intentionally hand-shredded to preserve the crunchiness according to Iroha's website, complemented the noodles well. I enjoyed the feeling of chewing the noodles amid the crunchy shreds of leek.

Although shoyu ramen is usually not my top favourites, Iroha's black shoyu ramen scored high in my list. From the immediate reaction of my taste buds, it is so far the best among the 6 ramens in Ramen Champion.

Reading through Iroha's website, there seem to be items that they were not able to bring it to Singapore. Really want to try them...

1) Noodles - The noodles in Japan are made using deep-sea water taken from the Toyama bay, which is supposed to have positive health effects. The flour used are made from the whole grain flour that is more nutritious. Whats more, they have also kneaded lotus roots into the noodles to give it more chewiness.

2) White prawn soup (白エビだしスープ) ramen - An item on Iroha Japan's menu, the ramen's soup is taken from dried shells of white prawn, a premium ingredients even used in sushi. Sounds delicious.

I think that we should count ourselves lucky, because looking for an Iroha is not easy.

They don't even have an outlet in Tokyo yet!

Their 9 stores in Japan are in Toyama, Ishikawa, Hakata, Kyoto and Kanagawa. And there we have it here in Singapore.

Will definitely go back and try their other offerings.

Ramen Data - Menya Iroha @ Ramen Champion, Iluma

Address: 201 Victoria Street, 4F Iluma, Ramen Champion
Types: Shoyu Ramen (Black Soy Sauce), Spicy Miso Ramen
Price: S$11-18
Rating: 9/10

Tsukemen TETSU (つけめんTETSU) - Ramen Champion, Iluma

2011-07-17T21:57:00.006+08:00

Following my last visit to Ramen Champion, today's visit brings me to ...

Tsukemen TETSU!

Tetsu is one of the pioneers of tsukemen (dipped noodles) in Japan. While tsukemen was not new in the ramen scene, it used to be served cold - cold noodles served in cold soup - to be eaten in summer when the weather is too hot for a bowl of hot ramen. However, there are people (like me) who doesn't like soup cold. Started in 2005, Tetsu was one of the first ramen brands to serve tsukemen hot. Its popularity soon caused many to follow.

In a short 6 years, it has quickly expanded to about 10 outlets around Japan, including iconic locations such as Roppongi Hills in Tokyo, Landmark Tower in Yokohama and the station mall in Kyoto.

I ordered the "Very Rich Special Paitan Tsukemen", the standard item on their menu, plus an addition egg.

In Japan, they are famous for their rich seafood-tonkontsu soup, but I think they have modified their menu to cater to the Singapore crowd who might not like the seafood taste.

The thick dipping soup is made from chicken and tonkotsu soup, and a clear layer of oil coats the surface of the soup. Char siew, bamboo shoot and chopped leeks swimming inside the soup. Noodles used are normal, straight noodles.

I like the taste of the soup and it holds onto the noodles well. The char siew was also tender although I would hope for more. The part that I would hope that it can do better is the egg, which came fully cooked an not runny.

Half way into the noodles, the soup turned a little cold. And it is where you can try the first-of-its-kind service in Singapore, that is unique to Tetsu...

The hot stone! (焼き石)

see the stone in the middle?

You can approach the staff at the TETSU store to give you some "Yaki-ishi", and they will then deliver to you a piping-hot stone into your soup. It sizzles for about 5-10 seconds, transferring the heat into the soup. Your dipping soup is hot again now!

And when you are finished with the noodles, the experience is not done yet.

You can bring the soup to the TETSU counter again, and look for a thermal pot labeled "Dashi Soup". The purpose of the soup (made from bonito flakes I think) is to dilute the thick soup, so that you can down the delicious soup till its last drop. When diluted, the soup has an added seafood taste and the fragrance of katsuo.

Soup for drinking, not dipping

All in all, the overall experience at TETSU was good. It was enjoyable eating the ramen, with the dipping, hot stone, dashi soup and all. It was slightly disappointing that the egg wasn't runny, and I personally think that they could bring in the bowls they use in Tokyo to Singapore too, just like Bario and other stores. It will make the noodle much more appealing, and reinforces their branding too. The shape of their bowl in Tokyo resembles the logo of Tetsu.

Ramen Data - Tsukemen TETSU @ Ramen Champion, Iluma

Address: 201 Victoria Street, 4F Iluma, Ramen Champion
Types: Tsukemen
Rating: 8.5/10

Bario (バリ男) - Ramen Champion, Iluma

2011-07-09T23:15:00.013+08:00

The ramen scene in Singapore as been quiet for a while with no new entrants, and I had some trouble looking for what to write.

But all of a sudden, 6 ramen champions descended onto Singapore at one go!

Taking over the previous location of a Japanese theme restaurant park Ebisuboshi-Shotengai, a ramen-only restaurant park called らーめんチャンピオン (Ramen Champion) opened on 1 July 2011, bringing into Singapore 6 renowned ramen stores from Japan. Such concepts are not uncommon in Japan - for example there is Tokyo Ramen Street at the Tokyo station and Ramen Museum in Yokohama. But having one in Singapore is another thing. I'm not sure is this the first of its kind outside of Japan.

The 6 ramen stores in Ramen Champion are Taishoken (大勝軒), Gantetsu (がんてつ), Bario (バリ男), Tetsu, Iroha (いろは) and Ikkousha (一幸舎). They came from different parts of Tokyo and have a good mix of styles, such as shoyu, tonkotsu, miso or dipped-noodles. They have respectively won many accolades in Japan, and I'm really happy that they are here!

The restaurant uses a card system for ordering like some of those in Singapore.

Owner of Bario, Mr Iwasaki

The interior of the restaurant is similar to that of Ebisuboshi Shotengai. The induction cooker on some of the tables reminds me of the shabu-shabu restaurant that was there. I was there on a Saturday lunchtime - considering that it was the 2nd day of operation, the crowd was a bit thin. Its a pity because on this first week of operation, the owner of the respective brands' owners are all present in Singapore.

The next question is - which one should I eat?

As a man (achem...), I've chosen to try Bario, which means "super guy" in Japanese according to the owner. Well this is more of a joke. The real reason is that I've heard a lot of good things about Bario from Japan.

Your ramen is ready

After ordering your ramen, the stores at Ramen Champion hands you a tag that will ring when your ramen is ready. A good way to keep our waiting time down while being able to enjoy it hot.

Bario offers Jiro-style (二郎系) ramen - ramen in ultra large portion that comes with a mountain of vegetables. Another place in Singapore that you can have this in Menya Shinchan.

I ordered the signature ramen ($13) from Bario.

And it does come with a bang!

The ramen is topped with a mountain of bean sprouts and cabbage, with a few blocks of chunky char siew. The bean sprouts have their tips picked off, keeping the more juicy and crunchy part. It is a sign of its attention to details.

The char siew is really chunky, with the surface / skin charred but the inside still soft and juicy. It was good, but the only thing is that it was slightly salty for me.

The noodles are thick, flat and curly, giving the bowl of noodle a chewy and rugged "manly" feel just like its name.

At first I was dreading that I might not be able to finish the big bowl, and I have to leave behind some food to the horror of the owner. But it was good that I had no problem finishing it.

And... you shouldn't stop there and should finish the last drop of soup!

Why??

Because you will be rewarded with this compliment -

Thank you. You are a man

For ladies (or beginners), the portion could be quite big for your to finish. You might want to start with trying the half-sized ramen, unless you are very hungry.

Ramen Data - Bario @ Ramen Champion, Iluma

Address: 201 Victoria Street, 4F Iluma, Ramen Champion
Types: Jiro-style Ramen
Rating: 8.5/10

New York Time's Article on Ramen / Ramen Tour

2011-04-22T19:32:00.004+08:00

Found this article on NYTimes that was published last in 2010 about ramen in Tokyo.

The writer went around Tokyo trying various ramen, with an American ramen blogger as a guide!

http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/01/31/travel/31ramen.html

It is really interesting to see that there are so many non-Japanese raman fans like me. And they are passionate enough to blog about them too. Some of those featured in the article are Ramenate!, Ramenadventures and Ramentokyo.com.

The article featured Ivan Ramen, a ramen shop in suburban Tokyo setup by an American chef that I wanted to try for a long time. He puts it perfectly that -

"A good bowl of ramen is balanced perfectly: the soup, the noodles, the toppings, everything works together. So when you’re eating it, even though it’s all these disparate ingredients together, somehow they feel as if you’re eating one thing.”

Glad that I am aware of and have tried most of the ramen shops mentioned in the article, e.g. Nagi, Ikaruga, Mutekiya, Keisuke, Jiro, etc. Out of all these I personally prefer Ikaruga (I've yet to write about it though...), exactly because of the reason stated in the article that it is a very well-balanced bowl.

I received a link a while ago about a organisation in New York organising a ramen exploration trip to Tokyo.

http://www.newyork-tokyo.com/wp/ramen/

The date of the trip was just shortly after the earthquake so I guess it has been cancelled unfortunately. But this reveals the niche popularity of ramen in the US. Amazing cultural power of food.

Not sure if there are such demand of a ramen tour from Singapore...

Maybe the new survey on my blog will find out?

Happy Good Friday!

Hachiya (蜂屋) Ramen Pack & Making Char Siew!!

2011-01-29T22:30:00.001+08:00

When I went to Japan, I received a ramen pack from Hachiya (蜂屋), a renowned shoyu ramen store in Asahikawa with over 60 years of history.

As usual, the pack contains only noodles and the soup.

So, its time for me to try my cooking skill again!
I've attempted to make tamago last time, so its time to try the next key ingredient...

Char Siew!!

Starting with some pork belly, I followed a recipe, tying the chunk of pork up, boiled, pan-fried and stewed it.

And, beyond my expectation, it was quite tasty!

Homemade char siew!

The piece of pork belly that I bought was quite small, so it was hard to slice it up.
The char siew didn't came up as a round piece as I would have wanted.

But, it was actually easier than I thought, compared to making the perfect runny tamago.
Will definitely try it again soon, recording the process in more details.

Well, back to the ramen.
With the homemade char siew and some boiled spinach, here's my dinner...

Itadakimasu!

Rokurinsha (六厘舎) @ Tokyo Ramen Street, Yaesu, Tokyo

2011-01-06T21:17:00.012+08:00

A very happy new year to everyone!

May 2011 be a delicious and filling year for all the ramen fans all over the world!

As with every year, I'm having my holiday in Tokyo over the Christmas and New Year holidays.

And what will a ramen walker do? Ramen-eating!

The first ramen adventure in 2011 brings me to Tokyo Ramen Street, located at the underground mall linked to the JR Tokyo station.

It is a labyrinth under the Tokyo station - there is a complex network of underground malls and linkways under the station linking the various buildings and neighbouring subway stations. It took me a while before I found it, near the Yaesu side of the Tokyo station, tucked away in one of the end of the underground mall.

This Tokyo Ramen Street is still not very much a street yet - there are only 4 ramen shops now, compared to other similar concepts in Japan.

My destination today is Rokurinsha (六厘舎), a hugely popular shop which is known for being a pioneer in the tsuke-men (dipped ramen), starting several new trends and styles. At peak hours, the queue could be over an hour!

The queue continues around the corner...

A little bit of background on Rokurinsha. It started in April 2005 first in a residential area in Ozaki of Tokyo. With its signature "super-rich soup and super-thick noodles", it fast gained popularity and fame, winning the best tsuke-men of the year award in 2006 and 2007.

Surprisingly, it was so popular that its 100-people-long queues received complains from the residents in the neighborhood. It tried various ways of crowd management such as altering the queuing method and so on, but with no solutions in sight, the Ozaki store was closed in Aug 2010. This news was even report on the newspaper!

So as of now, while they are looking for a new location for their main outlet, the outlet at Tokyo Ramen Street is its only place you can eat their ramen.

Back to the ramen - I ordered the Ajitama Tsuke-men (dipped ramen with egg, 950 yen), their signature dish.

Spotted this note on the chopsticks stand while I was waiting for the ramen to come (it took a while because the thinker noodles takes longer to cook). A stellar example of Japanese service excellence.

"We have aprons and hair clips that you could use. Please approach our staff if you require it"

Finally my tsuke-men is here after about 5 minutes. It looks good!!

Made from a large amount of chicken, pork and seafood ingredients, this soup is very thick, creamy and tasty, which clings on well on those thick, bouncy and chewy noodles. Slices and cubes of char siew that mingled in dipping soup was tender and melts in your mouth.

Noticed also the powder that floats on the piece of seaweed. You might have seen it in my previous entry about Menya Shinchan or other ramen outlets in Japan, but it is said that Rokurinsha is the first store to have invented it. The powder is the powdered form of bonito flakes. By dissolving the powder into the soup at our own liking, it will add more punch to the soup with the seafood flavor.

Taking a closer look at the noodles too - it looks about 1.5 times that of the usual thick noodles.

And it is not it after you have finished all the noodles.

While I was eating my ramen, the person next to me finished his. Without leave, he called the staff, who added some soup stock to dilute the thick dipping soup. The staff told him to add some yuzu powder as well.

Interesting! It is similar to how the dipped sauce for soba is diluted with soba-yu (water used in boiling the soba) after the meal.

I tried to do the same after my ramen is done. The flavorsome soup is now drinkable until the last drop, and the citrus taste of yuzu made it refreshing.

All in all, it was an excellent bowl of tsuke-men that is worth the wait, especially for its taste.

The location is pretty accessible and easy to find, such that tourist like us can drop by when we are in Tokyo.

My advise would be to avoid the busy hours (I went there at around 3pm) as the queue could be really long.

However, the only gripe that I have is that the dipping soup gets cold when my noodles are about 70% done, because of the repeated dipping of the cooled noodles. Personally I prefer the soup to be hot throughout.

The Tokyo Ramen Street will also be adding on another 4 more outlets of equally famous stores in Apr 2011. Great news for overseas ramen lovers!

View Ramen Walker's Ramen Map in a larger map

Ramen Data - Rokurinsha TOKYO @ Tokyo Ramen Street
Address: B1 Yaesu South Exit, JR Tokyo Station
Types: Tsuke-men
Rating: 9/10

2010 Ramen Trend

2010-12-30T21:09:00.003+08:00

I did a sharing recently about my amateurish observation on the ramen scene in Singapore as a ramen blogger. It was quite well-received!

As 2010 is coming to an end, I thought that it will be timely to share the top 3 ramen trends in Singapore on this blog too.

The first obvious trend is the continuous influx of Japanese ramen brands to Singapore.

Just in 2010 itself, 6 ramen brands came from Japan into Singapore - Nanttsutei, Keisuke, Sanomaru, Ippudo TAO, Kusabi and Kura. This excludes the expansion of ramen brands that are already in Singapore (e.g. Santouka, Baikohken, Marutama) and home-grown ramen stores. Compared with about 2-3 years ago when ramen is pretty hard to find, it is now very much within reach of everyone; most of the major malls in Singapore will have 1 ramen store. Good news for ramen fans like me!

But competition is definitely getting stiffer. There should be more new entrants to the market in 2011, and the existing players have to continue to maintain their quality and offer new products to retain and grow their customer base.

Next, we now see the formation of 2 "ramen clusters", i.e. areas with a high concentration of ramen outlets - one in Orchard and one along the Singapore River.

Just like how fashion brands like to open their flagship store along Orchard, ramen brands also clustered along Orchard road to maximise their exposure and establish themselves. With more than 12 ramen outlets along Orchard, you can drop by one easily when you crave for it when you are shopping.

The Singapore River area is where many Japanese expats live, and ramen outlets thrive there I presume with the higher demand. Its also a good place to be for a chill out session with your friends at one of the pubs, and then ending the day with a bowl of ramen - the Japanese way!

Last but not least, with increasing competition, the ramen brands in Singapore have evolved and try to cater more to the local Singaporean taste.

With our liking of all things spicy and with chili, thats what they've given us!

Can you guess where are they from?

Influx of Japanese ramen, formation of ramen cluster and localisation of ramen.

These are the 3 trends that I observed this year.

As a ramen fan, these are great developments - more to choose from, easier to find, and more new products to spice up the ramen scene.

Looking forward to see how these trends will evolve in 2011!

White Miso Ramen - Kura (久楽) Plaza Singapura

2010-12-24T22:08:00.004+08:00

This weeks' ramen adventure brings me to Kura (久楽) at Plaza Singapura.

Japan Food Holdings, the company behind the ubiquitous Ajisen Ramen and other Japanese restaurants, opened a multi-brand Japanese food concept call "Tokyo Walker" in Plaza Singapura in November.

Sounds like the name of my blog? Yes it does!

They, just like me, were "inspired" by the series of popular magazine " Walker" in Japan that reports about cool happenings in the cities in Japan.

Interesting that the restaurants inside are not totally Tokyo ... Champon is a dish from Nagasaki, a Udon restaurant is from Osaka...

... and Kura is a Hokkaido ramen franchise!

Kura serves miso ramen in 3 types of misoes - red, white and spicy.

Interestingly, while Kura comes from Hokkaido in the north of Japan, its founder, Okuhara Souji, came from Okinawa that is all the way in the south.

He went to Hokkaido and started trial and error of creating his ideal bowl of ramen.

That explains why Kura doesn't call themselves Hokkaido-style ramen, but rather Okuhara-style (奥原流) ramen.

I've also wrote an email to Kura in Japan, asking them if there are anything in particular that they have customised their offering for the Singapore outlet.

Glad to hear that they have chosen to offer exactly what they are offering in Japan to deliver us the authentic taste.

I ordered the white miso ramen ($12.8) this time.

The ramen has a variety of toppings - char siew, tamago, chopped leek and onion, tenkasu (天かす), minced meat, seaweed and a dash of spicy miso paste. This gives the ramen a range of taste and texture when you eat it together with the yellow curly noodles. The white miso soup base, with a mix of pork and chicken stock, tasted good but might be slightly salty for me.

What it could have done better is how they serve it. When the ramen is delivered to me, the seaweed was already soft and sinking. Similar to other concepts that are brought in by franchise, the presentation is far from what the photo shows... making it looks less delicious as it should.

Overall, it is a good bowl of ramen, much better compared to its neighbour. But among the many other ramen stall in Singapore, it might not be the among the top in my list.

View Ramen Walker's Ramen Map in a larger map

Ramen Data - Kura @ Plaza Singapura
Address: #04-01 Plaza Singapura
Types: Miso
Price: S$12.8
Rating: 6.5/10

Ramen in Jakarta! Marutama Ramen - eX Plaza Indonesia

2010-12-06T22:09:00.007+08:00

This week's ramen adventure takes me to Jakarta!

Guess what I've found?

the orange basketball...

Marutama Ramen!!!

Didn't know that they have expanded to Indonesia too.

Curious to find out how it fares compared to the Singapore outlets that many Singaporeans like, I have chosen to have lunch here instead.

Marutama ramen already has 2 outlets in Jakarta - one in eX Plaza Indonesia and the other Sentral Senayan I.

I spoke to store manager about the ramen scene in Jakarta. Currently, there are still only 2 ramen chains in the market - Marutama and another one call Ramen 38 (Sanpachi). While the number of shops is still small, its definitely getting popular there.

Interestingly, the manager was trained in Singapore's Marutama, and was well-versed with the other ramen competitors in Singapore!

Back to the main topic, the decor of Marutama's Jakarta outlet is exactly the same as that of Singapore.

stylish and dim interior

The Jakarta menu has some interesting difference, which I guess is to cater to local taste.

For the ramen, you have a choice of whether you want it spicy or not, and whether you want your char siew to be pork or chicken char siew. The Indonesians must like spicy stuff more than Singaporeans (we don't even have this distinction here), and of course they have a larger muslim population too.

... and there are more chili to come.

After you've ordered your ramen, the will give you a small plate of chili padi too. Interesting.

I've ordered the Ebi Ramen (69,000 Rupiah, about $S10), which is a dish not available in most outlets in Singapore.

The soup tasted almost the same as those made in Singapore, but I have a slight feeling that the Singapore branches are better and have a clearer taste. The noodles and char siew were good. The only area that I wish that it could have been better is the prawns. The prawns used were not that fresh.

I'll try to go to Ramen 38 next time I'm in Jakarta.

From Marutama's manager, the best outlet of Ramen 38 is in Kamome Building!

View Ramen Walker's Ramen Map in a larger map

Keisuke Premium Tonkotsu Ramen @ Keisuke Tokyo

2010-11-07T20:00:00.005+08:00

This week's ramen adventure brings me back again to Keisuke, because I was told that...

Keisuke's signature prawn ramen is gone!!

I made my way to Keisuke on a Saturday afternoon, and I noticed something was different.

The photo on the left was taken in March 2010 when Keisuke first opened, and the one on the right last Saturday. Can anyone spot the change?

left - in March, right - in October

Not that the center section of the door curtain was raised...

But, the logo of Keisuke has change!! From

"海老らーめん　けいすけ" to "Ramen Dining けいすけ"

The reference of "prawn" was totally removed from the logo of the restaurant.

Thats a major change.

And when I looked at the menu, the reason was obvious.

Keisuke has done a complete overhaul of their menu, and there are no more prawn related items on the menu anymore. Not its signature prawn ramen, nor the prawn wanton, prawn gyoza, prawn fried rice.

The menu is now re-made into that of a typical ramen restaurant - having a spread of the conventional tonkotsu, shoyu, shio and miso ramens, with tonkotsu as its signature. The price range of its menu has also been significantly reduced - from offering its ramen from $14.8-20, it is now $11-14.8.

It might be reflecting Singaporean's liking in Tonkotsu ramen, which is the mainstream here now. It might also showed its rivalry with its same-floor neighbour Nanttutei, which offers tonkotsu ramen at such a price range, and always has a long queue outside.

I tried the new signature ramen, Keisukei Premium Tonkotsu Ramen ($14.8++).

Although its a new item, it retained Keisuke's DNA - its aesthetics. The ramen is visually pleasing - the red bowl and creamy broth is topped with pinkish char siew, green spring onion, blackish seaweed, yellow cheese, while cabbage and reddish-brown spicy minced meat paste.

You can choose the thickness of the tonkotsu soup - strong or light. I chose the strong one and it tasted rich and delicious. The char siew is large - took up almost 1/3 of the bow by a single piece - and is ham-like in its texture. The cheese topping melts when you soak it into the soup, and clings onto the noodles when you pick them up. The tonkotsu soup, cheese and noodle go amazingly well together. After finishing half a bowl, I mixed the spicy minced meat paste into the soup to create the 2nd taste. I've also added extra toppings of bean sprout and onion, which are placed on the table to be used.

seasoned bean sprout and fresh chopped onion

... took half of my wife's egg too

The soup is now more spicy, which I guess many Singaporean will like.

This visit to Keisuke is both poignant and happy. I was encouraged when Keisuke entered the market and tried to offer something differentiated. Its prawn ramen was sophisticated and well presented. The iconic bowl that it used now sits only as decoration on the shelves, and the staff is still wearing uniforms with the old logo. However, the market didn't accept it. It seems that Keisuke overhauled its menu because too many Singaporeans compared it with prawn mee.

On the other hand, I'm also glad that it has flexibly adapted to the market while not loosing its style. The ramen is still one of the most aesthetically pleasing and sophisticated among those in Singapore. It is also a sign that the ramen scene here is getting increasingly competitive, spurring players to change and adapt. We will see more good ramen shops coming our way.

With this change in menu, I recommend the ramen fans in Singapore to revisit them and try their ramen. I was personally satisfied, and will be making my way back to try the rest of the flavours :)

New Menu at Sapporo Ramen Miharu - Tori-dashi Ramen

2010-10-31T11:26:00.012+08:00

I visited one of my regular ramen joints, Miharu, and what a surprise!

There is a flyer on the wall with a big red word "NEW MENU" on it.

They have created a new item on their menu, Tori-Dashi Shio Ramen (鶏ダシ塩らあめん, S$12), or "chicken stock salt ramen" when translated directly in English.

Miharu is known for ramen with rich miso-based broth, so it is interesting that it has created a light ramen on it repertoire. It might be a coincidence that signature dish of the most popular ramen store (by my research), Marutama, is also chicken-based. The ramen scene in Singapore is getting more competitive with many new entrants, so long-established incumbents like Miharu has to adapt too.

Back to the ramen... of course I ordered the new item to try it out.

looks like a yin yang mark ...

The first thing that jumped out of this ramen is the generous topping of spring onion. The green spring onion took up almost half of the bowl. The clear chicken stock was layered with sesame, adding a flagrant smell to the ramen. It was also topped with a portion of menma, seaweed and 3 flavoured quail eggs. Interesting - it is the first time in Singapore that I saw quail eggs being used in ramen.

... a closer look at the quail eggs.

What I like about this ramen was its chicken stock - it is light and clear but yet delectable. It is supposed to be made from chicken from Shiretoko (知床), an area in the east of Hokkaido that is recognised as an UNESCO World Natural Heritage site. In addition, every mouthful of the noodle will come with some spring onion and sesame, which adds a different texture and taste to the noodle.

The quail eggs, unlike the normal egg, was harder and the yoke wasn't runny. I guess because of the small size of the egg, it is hard to control the runniness. Still prefer the usual larger eggs, which Miharu does well in.

And lastly, after I've finished enjoying the ramen until the end, I still feel a little unsatisfied. I realised why after a while... that this ramen has no char siew or meat at all. It will be better if it has 1 or 2 pieces of char siew, or the fillet of the Shiretoko chicken.

All in all, it was a good bowl of ramen, especially suitable if you long for a light bowl after a heavy meal the previous day.

2010 Q3 Unofficial Ramen Ranking Results!

2010-10-04T22:03:00.004+08:00

Three-quarter of the year has gone, and its time to release the Q3 unofficial Singapore ramen ranking!

I'm glad that there are more than 100 votes now! The results should be statistically significant :)

The top 3 ramen places in Singapore by popular voting are:

1) Marutama Ramen

2) Santouka

3) Ippudo

(ref: results for Q2)

It seems that the results have stabilised.

The top 3 positions are still taken by Marutama, Santouka and Ippudo. Marutama maintained its lead over the other 2, while Santouka shook off Ippudo's tie in Q2 and moved up to the 2nd place.

Nantsuttei was emerging sharply in Q2 right after its opening, but the momentum has lost steam since, and it was unable to catch up with the top 3.

And the other stores are pretty far behind.

Coincidentally, Martutama currently has the largest number of outlets in Singapore (excluding the ubiquitous Ajisen). A combination of taste and accessibility might be linked to its popularity here. Wonder what will happen if I put Ajisen on the ranking....

Looking forward to the full year result at the end of the year!

Ippudo TAO @ UE Square - TAO Kuro

2010-09-11T16:22:00.014+08:00

This week's ramen adventure brings me to Ippudo TAO at UE Square, along Mohamed Sultan Road.

It took over the space previously occupied by Ah Yat Seafood... the ramen empire is taking over the abalone world!

Ippudo TAO is Ippudo's second outlet in Singapore. And it is not a simple replicate of its first outlet like the others. It is a new concept store borne out of a collaboration between Ippudo and a Japanese drum group TAO, both originating from Kyushu. It is a collaboration between ramen and art.

How apt this is!

Ramen, an art form itself (to me), is collaborating with another art form.

And art has it commercial angle too, and this collaboration will further push TAO's branding and awareness.

A little bit more on TAO, it is a internationally renowned Japanese drums (Taiko, 太鼓) group that has been performing around the world, including Europe, America and Australia. You can see a video about TAO here.

This collaboration is also not a one-off effort too. For the purpose of this new concept, Ippudo and TAO actually set up a joint venture company to promote the new concept worldwide. The first outlet was opened in Fukuoka in April 2010, and the 2nd one here in Singapore in August. A 3rd outlet was opened in Ginza, Tokyo recently in September.

Isn't it amazing that we got it even before Tokyo?

The restaurant has booth indoor and outdoor seats that offer a different feel. The interior of the indoor part is modern, using a black-red-and beige color scheme, giving it an atmosphere of a restaurant bar. The music played is some upbeat music.

Whereas on the outside, the setting is simpler. The seats have a view to a screen projecting TAO's drum performance on it. With the drum beat energetically pounding in the background, this section of the restaurant gives it a more Japanese atmosphere, which I prefer more.

... well but at sat indoors this time :)

wall decoration

This wall decoration of drummers I guess echoes the theme of the restaurant. What is interesting is that it is made up of hundreds of small discs hanging of a nail. It must have taken a lot of effort to assemble this.

random shot - new napkin

Time to go into the food...

Ippudo TAO's menu differs from the Ippudo's in 2 ways.

First, it offers yakitori as one of its key items.

As I'm a fan of yakitori too, I ordered my favourite tsukune to try.

Served in a stone plate, the tsukune was grilled well and it was delicious.

What's more, it came with a tool to help the helpless foreigners to take out the meat from the skewer! I've been to quite a number of yakitori store, and I don't remember so far that I've come across this. Good job!

Although I prefer to bite the yakitori off its skewers, I took a try. And indeed it is quite easy to use.

The 2nd difference is in its ramen. Ippudo's Shiromaru and Akamaru has taken a side-step, and the key ramens here are called TAO Kuro (Black) and TAO Aka (Red). Both of them are still based on tonkotsu soup that Ippudo is good at, arranged in a new way to represent the spirit of TAO.

I ordered the signature TAO Kuro, with an additional egg.

(Still have gripes about them not having egg as a default topping...)

TAO Kuro has a tonkotsu-shoyu soup base and topped with pork-belly char siew, black fungus, spring onion, uma-dama (special blended miso ball), and charred fragrant oil that gives it the "kuro" look.

Taking a closer look...

It uses not the typical narrow noodles of kyushu's tonkotsu ramen, but a thick, curly and noodle that is bouncy and catches the soup.

Similar to the other Ippudo ramen, TAO kuro is a well-made and delicious. I particular like it thick taste and also the noodles that matches the dish well. I have not yet watched any performance by TAO so I'm not sure if it has expressed TAO's spirit, but its definitely a good bowl.

This Ippudo, I guess due to its location, has no queue too!

Many a times I was trying to go to Ippudo after work, but once I see the long queue I was put off. (Sorry that my love for ramen doesn't go as far as queuing up for 30 mins after a long day at work..). For the Ippudo lovers out there including myself, it is a way to have the same good taste without the queuing.

And I'll sit outside next time to see TAO's performance on the screen!

The Ippudo and TAO JV aims to expand this concept to more territories.

And its expansion plans involves opening of a theater restaurant in Broadway of NY!

Who could have imagined that a theater restaurant will one day serve ramen!?!

Looking forward to their opening in the future.

View Ramen Walker's Ramen Map in a larger map

Ramen Data - Ippudo TAO @ UE Square
Address: 207 River Valley Road #0-55-56, UE Square
Types: Tonkotsu

Making Ajitama (味玉)

2010-08-01T23:20:00.006+08:00

This week's ramen adventure brought me to... making my own ajitama (flavoured egg)!

I went around the net to look for some recipes on the net, and found these few that I referenced the egg-making journey from.

(In Japanese)

http://cookpad.com/recipe/188024

http://cookpad.com/recipe/212285

ingredients...

The ingredients are:

Egg (of course!) .............. 6 pcs

For the sauce where the eggs will swin in:

Ginger ...................................................... several pcs

Garlic ........................................................ 2 cloves

Green parts of leeks ............................... 2 stalks

Soy Sauce ................................................. 50cc

Mirin ......................................................... 50cc

Water ........................................................ 100cc

Sesame Oil, Chili Oil, Dashi Stock .......... a little

First, chop up the garlic, ginger and leeks. I guess these will give additional flavour to the sauce.

Next, add the ingredients for the sauce (water, soy sauce, etc) into a tupperware. It already looks delicious at this stage!

The sauce bath is now ready! Moving on to making the soft-boiled egg, which I guess will be one of the most tricky part of making ajitama.

Following the instruction, I started boiling the egg from room-temperature water...

... and prepared a ice bath to cool down the eggs for easy peeling after the egg is boiled and also to stop the cooking process.

About 4 minutes after the water started boiling, I took the eggs out and cooled them in the ice water bath.

Next comes the peeling of the shell.... and it was hard!

I guess some of my steps in preparing the egg was not right, and several of them became casualties along the way...

Because the eggs were half-boiled, the eggs were very soft and delicate. As I was peeling off the shell carefully, the egg white broke off for a few of the eggs, and the semi-cooked egg yoke oozed out. Oops!

I must try out other methods to make this step work...

Well, moving on, the survivors are put into their soaking bath. This looks good!

The recipe recommends to soak it for 3 days.

It was a long wait, and I was eager to find out how my first attempt in making ajitama went.

Took it out every day to see how they are doing.

This is after day 2... the eggs picked up quite a bit of color!

On day 3, it is ready to be eaten...!

It has totally taken on the color of the sauce, and looks like what it is served in the restaurants.

... and the moment of truth to see how it the critical part of the ajitam - the yoke - went.

Hmm... it is not as flowy than I've expected.

But nonetheless it look pretty good, and it tasted good as well!

According to the receipe, the yoke will harden in the process of soaking in the sauce. I think I have to control the length of boiling and the soaking time accordingly to make the yoke harden in the right way at the end.

Will be trying to make ajitama again and perfect it!

Ramen ranks No. 2 in the ranking for the most loved Japanese food by tourists!

2010-07-29T22:32:00.004+08:00

Just caught a report released by the Japan National Tourism Organisation (JNTO) about a survey conducted to 15,355 foreign tourists to Japan.

On the question of "Which was the most satisfying food that you've had in Japan", ramen came in as No. 2!! Very interesting results from the perspective of a ramen fan.

Sushi was No.1 with 42.1% of vote. Pretty much expected, as Sushi is usually the first thing that comes to a foreigner's mind when we talk about Japanese food. And the sushi in Japan is definitely good too! Even chains such as Tenka Sushi serves decent sushi.

Ramen is No.2 with 20.8% of the vote, closely followed by sashimi at 19.8%. In 4th place is Tempura, 11.1%, and Udon at 8.9%. This is an encouraging result (for me), as ramen is a much younger cuisine than sashimi, tempura and udon. I doubt many foreigners will know what ramen is 10 years ago, while sashimi, tempura and udon are fairly common.

Isn't it amazing that ramen rose so fast through the ranks of Japanese food?

Some other interesting results are:

- For Taiwanese, Ramen is actually No.1! The ramen culture must have already been widespread there.

- For Singapore, the percentage of the top 3 of Sushi, Sashimi and Ramen are pretty close.

- German loves sushi? About 63% of them answered that it was the most memorable.

I'm sure in years to come, it will become as popular, if not more, than sushi!

Looking forward to the 2010 survey to see how the result will change.

Ramen Walker

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Ippudo TAO @ UE Square - TAO Kuro

Making Ajitama (味玉)

Ramen ranks No. 2 in the ranking for the most loved Japanese food by tourists!

Kisshokichi - Kobe Beef Ramen (神戸牛らーめん　吉祥吉)

Menya Sou (麺屋　宗) - Special Uma Shio Soba + Sakura!

Menya Musashi Kanzan (麺屋武蔵　神山) - Kanzan Ramen