Address: #03-02 Millenia Walk, 9 Raffles Boulevard, Signapore 039596
Tel: 63377166
Web Site: http://www.nantsu.com/sg/index.html
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One of the two new ramen joints found at the renovated Parco Millenia walk. Located at a some what odd location but apparently still good enough to attract the crowds. I was there on a weekend with my regular ramen girls at about 2pm. A queue was still there and we waited for about 20 mins before we got our table. Thankfully the waiters will take your orders while you are still waiting in the queue. The noodles were served promptly once we were seated.

Do take some time to browse through the menu, Nantsutei has put in effort to make its menu more interesting than others with pictures of their..boss?

I haven’t ramen (or rather, good ramen) for a while so I was pleasantly surprised by Nantsutei has to offer. Like the other new ramen franchises we see in Singapore, Nantsutei hails from Japan. I figure the Japanese must have discovered that Singaporeans kind of like ramen and are willing to pay good money for it.

I orders Nantsutei’s plain vanilla ramen which starts at $12. It is not that “plain” per se actually, seeing that it came with the standard toppings that we have all come to expect of. A slice of tender and flavourful pork charshu, healthy amount of negi (Japanese spring onion), a piece of dried seaweed and some bean sprouts. Pretty decent I must say. Unfortunately there is no egg, in fact there is no egg in any of the default selections on the menu. You have to explicitly add an egg or expect none. I suppose the reason that they do not include one because the egg is really not their strong point. It is basically a hard boiled egg with an almost solid yolk. Don’t expect it to be of Marutama quality.

Disappointments aside, if the egg is not the selling point, Nantsutei’s broth and noodles definitely are. Its broth is a deviation from the standard milky and rich tonkotsu that we all have come to adore. A layer of black and appetite inducing garlic + sesame oil floats on the surface. You’d expect this to make the already strong broth harder to stomach, but the ma-yu (Japanese for the oil used) actually does the exact opposite. The aroma gives the broth a soothing character and somehow cancels out the oiliness, making this bowl of ramen one of the few tonkotsu ramens that I can empty without the aid of multiple glasses of water (yes, Miharu, I am talking about you, again).

The noodles go well with the soup. Though they are not the kind of hand made and springy kind that you find in certain chinese ramen, but it serves the purpose well. Nothing outstanding that takes away the soup’s limelight.

Suffice to say that the combination of the above is enough to garner the support of the ramen lovers in Singapore. Affordable price for a good bowl of ramen, I see no reason why Nantsutei will not become the new favourite for all.

Address: 2 Orchard Turn, #B3-25 Ion Orchard.
Tel: 65099394

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New ramen franchises are sprouting out every where. Sadly, it doesn’t add to the variety.

The problem with all the new ramen places in Singapore is that there is little difference between shop A and shop B. The distinction is mostly cosmetic, with little changes in the choices offered. As it happens, Aoba is just but another place that sells ramen. Albeit with a tongue numbing soup base.

Aoba’s biggest selling point, if I may say, is that it really sticks to its Japanese roots. The soup base is really as thick and as rich as the Japanese kanban promises. A flavor that most Singaporeans will need to enjoy with multiple glasses of ice water, and a pair of strong kidneys. There are two major flavors in the soup, saltiness and oiliness. Both of which are good in moderation, but Aoba has clearly crossed that line by a huge margin.

I know that Miso is salty. But it is never supposed to be the single ingredient that overpowers everything else. There is no point in cooking up a broth when the end product tastes like diluted miso paste with animal fats. If the selling point of your ramen is the broth, you better make sure that people will actually be inclinded to finish it. Even a salt lover like me couldn’t stomach all the soup in the small bowl, I doubt anyone else will be able to.

The noodles and the char siew are quite standard. Come to think about it now, I am not even sure I remember what they tasted like after the soup numbed my tongue. I guess you have to make a trip down to find out yourself. For the salt-challenged people, I suggest that you try something else besides the miso ramen. Maybe the shoyu and shio ramen will not be as devastating as the miso one.

Aoba is a place to go to if you are a ramen fan like me and is dying to try out all the ramen you can find. If you are not, you might want to venture somewhere else and save yourself that $13 for a bowl of ramen.

Address: 61, Robinson Road, Robinson Center, #01-01, Singapore 068893
Tel: 6438 4140 (For deliveries)
Website: http://www.men-tei.com/
Operating Hours: Mon-Fri: 11am – 3pm, 6pm – 10pm (Closed on Sat, Sun & PH)

Men-Tei Photo Gallery (Requires Flash)

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I have been dying to try new ramen places in Singapore but always lacked the motivation to go alone. Luckily Keri had a craving for ramen as well and we finally paid a visit to Men-Tei Ramen even though it has already been around for quite a while.
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地址: 台北市大安區永康街14巷4號
電話: 02-23968357
網站(日文): http://www.bakudanya.net/
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地址:
台北市忠孝東路4段122-1號2樓

電話:
02-27520768

Google 地圖:

檢視較大的地圖

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地址: 台北市大安路一段83巷8號
電話: (02) 2721-6688
網站: http://www.oisiiyo.com/

Google 地圖:

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昨天才剛說了之前去吃樂麵屋的經驗, 今天去忠孝東路那邊逛逛的時候就決定去玫瑰緣別館解決晚餐.

如果你沒有時間看完全文的話, 我先把感想說在前頭好了. 有名, 人多到要排隊的店不一定好吃.

店家外觀:

特製豚骨拉麵:

今天中午吃了太多東西所以沒有多餘的容量吃菜單上其他的東西, 而且很奇怪的是這拉麵店菜單上既然少見的沒有拉麵店必備的煎餃.

還記得我說樂麵屋的湯頭需要加重一點嗎？相比起來玫瑰的豚骨湯頭幾乎是白開水, 清淡無味. 嘗完湯頭的我幾乎不敢相信自己的舌頭. 不敢相信這讓人大排長龍的拉麵竟然是用這種湯頭…而且還是日本電視冠軍得主所教導的拉麵. 不過那也是1999年的事情. 或許在10年前這拉麵算得上是清淡好吃, 不過對習慣重口味的海鮮/混合湯頭的我來説味道真的是不夠. 我承認我偏好重口味, 但是對這拉麵湯頭我真的沒有誇大. 喝湯的時候真的只能感覺出裏面所加的起士的味道. 雖然店家的湯頭應該是豬骨還有雞骨熬出來的, 我真的喝不太出來.

麵條也很一般, 不過軟硬適中應該符合台灣人的胃口. 咀嚼起來沒有什麽口感, 跟那湯配起來讓我想起吃泡麵的感覺. 麵裏頭的配菜還可以勉強接受, 就是尋常的竹筍乾以及滷的不是很入味的叉燒. 我可以了解因爲叉燒通常都是用滷的所以味道會流失, 不過滷的不軟也沒有味道是怎樣? = =

因爲沒有什麽胃口所以就沒有點其它的配菜, 不過拉麵本身給我的印象就不怎麽樣. 或許是連鎖店的關係吧？ 其他的店有沒有這麽誇張我不太清楚, 不過今天的經驗真的是讓我大失所望. 衝著日本拉麵電視冠軍的名聲來結果卻讓我敗興而歸. 讓我想起前幾天在台北饒河夜市吃的x班長牛肉麵…很有名但是不好吃. 爲什麽這些吃了一次就不會再想要回去的店總是有這麽多人介紹還有推薦呢? 浪得虛名也就算了, 至少沒有那麽好吃也不要輸給其他默默無名的店吧？

過幾天再去吃一下我朋友說不好吃的赤阪拉麵好了…

地址: 台北市大安路一段83巷10號
電話: 02 87728159

Google 地圖:

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老實說我原本是要去他們隔壁的玫瑰緣別館吃豚骨拉麵的, 不過玫瑰的生意很好外面排了一堆人所以才臨時決定品嘗一下隔壁的樂麵屋(忠孝店). 兩家買的主力商品同樣都是豚骨湯底的拉麵, 看來樂麵屋是來踢舘的.

店家外觀:

招牌豚骨拉麵:

紫蘇餃子:

一個人去吃不了多少只好點招牌豚骨拉麵來看看味道如何. 吃拉麵配餃子是我的習慣, 樂麵屋忠孝店裏只有紫蘇餃子並沒有普通口味的餃子所以就點了那個.

話説樂麵屋可以讓你選擇湯頭的濃郁度以及麵條的硬度, 服務生會提供表格讓你選取你個人的喜好. 麵條的種類也可以讓你自由選擇, 有寬麵以及細麵可以選擇. 我個人是比較喜歡細細的麵條,麵條的硬度以及湯頭都是選適中.

拉麵的重點就是湯頭(除非你吃的是Soup off的乾拉麵), 豚骨拉麵當然也不例外. 白色濃郁的湯頭是把豬骨以慢火細細熬出來的精華再加上蔬菜的鮮甜所作出來的. 或許是因爲我點的是口味適中的湯頭, 我總覺得湯並沒有我想象中的濃郁. 感覺有點類似一般日式料理店會使用的業務用高湯. 也有可能是台灣人的口味比較清淡, 吃起來的感覺比新加坡的Menya Shinchan順口許多. 吃習慣重口味味增拉麵的人不妨第一次去就點濃厚的湯頭看看.

配料以及麵條感覺起來就是一般的味道. 也不是說不好, 但是就是沒有什麽特別突出的表現. 總而來説應該就是吃起來讓人安心的味道. 這可能是大部分人所追求的味道吧, 不好不壞吃起來習慣就好. 不過店裏有好幾種不同口味的拉麵, 包括豚骨醬油/焦蔥/辣味的變化, 想要吃重口味的人也可以參考看看. 樂麵屋也同時推出適合夏天的廣島冷沾麵, 冷的麵條配上冷的沾醬. 光是聼起來就很適合去暑. 有興趣也可以吃看看交流一下.

至於紫蘇餃子嘛….我只能說爲什麽沒有一般的煎餃….因爲紫蘇餃子吃起來就好像是要抹殺掉嘴巴裏豚骨湯頭的味道一樣. 紫蘇強烈的香味讓人感覺這道料理是專門讓人清口去油膩而推出的. 吃起來沒有增添飽足感反而扼殺了拉麵還有餃子的整體性. 簡單來説就是不太適合一起吃的感覺, 配上普通的煎餃應該會好上許多. 不過這餃子只有在樂麵屋忠孝店才有, 可以以嚐鮮的態度來嘗試一下.

樂麵屋的東西味道其實都還不錯, 所以我可以了解爲什麽很多台灣網友都推薦這家店. 只不過並沒有什麽比較讓人耳目一新的突破.

除了”清口”餃子以外.

Address: 6 Eu Tong Sen Street #02-76 The Central
Tel: 6224-0668
Business Hours: 11:00 – 21:45(Last Order)

As usual, I discovered Santouka through the net. Apparently everyone who has tried it can’t stop praising it for its rich tonkusen broth.

I paid Santouka a visit yesterday and ordered their house specialty Tokusen Toroniku (Tokusen means specially selected, toroniku means pork) ramen. Essentially speaking, it’s just ramen with out the usual char siew but instead you get the top rated pork jowl (cheek) which each pig only has up to 300g.

Just like many other ramen places, you can add a couple dollars to increase the serving size. Interesting you can also do the reverse at Santouka. Reducing the portion of your noodles can save you a buck. I wouldn’t recommend you to do that though, since you will probably need all the noodles to help down the sumptuous broth.

Surprisingly enough, the broth was able to surpass the richness of the miso and blend together to form an interesting concoction. Unlike most miso based ramen which miso overpowers the broth, instead the reverse happened. You can barely taste a hint of miso in the soup, while basking in the silky aftertaste infused into the soup by the bone marrow. The only bone to pick is that not everyone will like the strong taste found in the broth. Even I felt that it was a tad too salty, and that says a lot.

The noodles were the curly kind. Perfectly suited for the broth as curly noodles are better at “grabbing” on to the broth, allowing you to taste the mixture as you slurp down the noodles. I wish that the noodles were a little harder, but that’s just my personal preference.

The garnishing was… the usual, spring onion that has been cut in advance, bamboo shoots and jelly ear fungus (黑木耳). Honestly speaking, spring onion should only be cut just before the noodle is served, otherwise it defeats the purpose of having spring onion because most of the fragrance would have been gone if you cut it too early. The bamboo shoots were one of the worst that I had. Pretty much tasteless, it was like chewing fiber. They should learn a thing or two from Ken’s Noodle House where the bamboo shoot is excellent. The jelly ear fungus failed to provide the expected chewiness, I guess it suffers from the same problem as the bamboo shoots.

Finally we come to choice jowl which if ordered a la carte by itself would have costed about half a bowl of ramen. Seven slices of pork that were brewed in a mixture of shoyu, mirin and other assorted ingredients. I don’t know if that rings any bell, but that’s exactly the same way char siew is prepared. Sure, the cut is fantastic and it gave the melts-in-your-mouth feeling, but to me it was just a glorified version of char siew. In fact I think the preparation process destroyed part of the flavour. It was too salty and you could barely taste the meat itself.

The meal set me back by SGD$22.35, including service charges and taxes. I would recommend Santouka to all those ramen lovers who love a strong and rich broth. If you like Miharu then you should definitly give Santouka a go.

Here are some pictures from Ichibantei Taiwan. The food quality is rather close, generic broth and noodles. It is actually not that bad, at least you are guaranteed to get the same taste. In this case, the gyoza actually tasted better than the ones you get here in Singapore.

What I want to emphasis is the price though, the following meal consists of two bowls of ramen, one slice of miso katsu (fried pork with miso paste sauce) and gyoza only cost me SGD$15.

Tonkutsu Ramen

Miso Ramen

Miso Katsu

Gyoza

Address: 10 Coleman St. Shop #01-21/22 Grand Plaza Hotel Shopping Arcade

Visited Kadoman today after receiving the dubious recommendation from Rick, someone who read and left a comment on my Ichibantei review.

I invited the girls along to try out this “new” ramen place, which unfortunately,  turned out to be a really bad experience.

When it comes to dining at a restaurant, most people are looking for the following qualities:

A. Good Food.
B. Reasonable Cost.
C. Nice Ambience.

Usually we only get to pick two out of the above. Since there is rarely one that meets all the requirements.

Kadoman was one of those rare places that fails all three. Ok, maybe it did have this Japanese feel to it, after all the TV in the restaurant was showing recorded Japanese shows and there was a Japanese feel to the decoration, though nothing really immersive that makes you feel like “Wow, this place is right out of a street in Tokyo”. Sure it has menu items written in Japanese and pasted all over its walls to give that authentic atmosphere, but I was there to have a go at the ramen, not the 101 other items they have like sashimi, yakiniku and whatnot. On hindsight, this amazing number of choices available was a warning sign to the quality of the ramen to come.

Let’s talk about the food. I like ramen, which was why I patronized Kadoman in the first place. The exact quote was “if you’re looking for a soup base that is not mass produced, should try it”. Sure, non-mass produced soup is great. It means that the chef actually bothered to prepare the broth from the ground up. However, just like everything else in life, DIY doesn’t necessarily mean it is better.

Such was the case for Kadoman. I ordered their chashu shoyu ramen and I must say it was one of the most disappointing ramen that I have had for a while. Granted the soup was not the typical mass produced type, it actually managed to taste worse than the commercial soup base. Kadoman uses a chicken stock based broth, which sort of reminded me of the one at Marutama. The key difference being that there was absolutely no other flavour that you can taste besides the overwhelming saltiness. It was like hot water mixed with chicken oil and a lot of salt/soy sauce. The taste was just poor and unprofessional.

The noodles taste familiar, I am guessing that it was the same commercially available noodle that I have tried at a few other ramen places. It tasted ok since they are pretty much all the same, with the hardness of the noodle varying. Since I am a noodle lover, I had no problem slurping them all up.

As expected, the toppings were disappointing as well. The egg was not included in the ramen and I had to pay additional charges for it. Tamago came excactly like those hard boiled eggs that you’d expect to see in a bowl of laksa available in your neighbourhood coffee shop, and it tasted just like them. The chashu was bad as well, thinly sliced and with little flavour left in it, might have easily been mistaken as sliced ham.

The best part was the gyoza. It was the glorified version of those frozen gyoza that you can find at a Japanese supermarket. How glorified? With its exorbitant price of course. That must have been the most expensive frozen gyoza that I have ever had. You can find out how it tasted like by visiting a supermarket.

Remember what I said in the beginning of this review? I said “Good Food, Reasonable Price and Nice Ambience” right? Kadoman obviously failed at the food aspect, so let’s talk about the cost. Three bowls of ramen, a pot of green tea and a plate of instant gyoza set us back by $67 or so. The worst thing that you can get after you had a lousy meal has to be a hefty tab.

Kadoman has left me (and the girls) with no desire of ever returning again.