Uma Uma Ramen @ The Forum Shopping Mall, Orchard

Located at Level 1 of Forum Shopping Mall, near Coffee Bean and Tea Leaves. Its entrance is at the outer-side, facing the road.

menu

Uma Uma specializes in Hakata Ramen, characterized with thin straight noodles. There's just those few choices in the menu so we didn't take very long to decide.

Friend ordered the Spicy Chasiu Ramen (@$16++) and added tamago (@$1.50++), while I had the Chasiu Rice (@$5++).

Ordered the Asahi Jukusen (@$8++ HH price, $12++ otherwise) since green tea already costs $3++. The Suntory Kaku Highball, which is whisky with soda water, was sold out by then.

cheers~

Asahi Jukusen premium beer

golden hue, hoppy, full bodied and smooth

Beer served in chilled glasses was enjoyable. Oh, and for two bottles of beer ordered, diners will get a complimentary tori karaage side dish. Keke.

tori karaage

We got our food pretty fast.

Spicy Chasiu Ramen with extra order of tamago

closer view

Tried a little of the ramen. It's done al-dente, and the noodles were still pretty hard. I've always preferred the noodles to be cooked slightly longer. Am not sure whether the customer can choose the hardness of the noodles according to one's likings here or not, since the waiter didn't ask us when the order was taken.

sampling chasiu ramen

The soup was leaning towards the saltier side, and it wasn't really spicy.

chasiu rice

closer view

The Chasiu Rice was a mini don. Small bowl and the portion was just right for someone who's not that hungry. Liberally slathered in sauce and topped with chopped spring onions. The sauce was also quite salty.

On average, expect to pay about $30 for a bowl of ramen and a beer.

Bugis+ Food Trail 2013: Ramen Champion

Located at Level 4 of Bugis+. Ramen Champion is a space that houses several stalls of famous Japanese ramen brands; Aoyama, Bario, Gantetsu, Ikkousha, Menya Iroha and Taishoken.

ramen champion entrance

Besides their specialty ramen, each of them have their own Singapore-inspired ramen. For this food trail, we got the chance to try these.

Aoyama's Special Tonkotsu Ramen (@$15+)

The Special Tonkotsu Ramen's broth was light and tasty with thin noodles.

Bario's Ajitama Ramen (@$14.50+)

thick, chewy noodles

Was told that Bario's pork bones soup broth has to be eaten hot, otherwise when it is cold, it can be quite 'jelak'. Characterized with what seemed like a portruding mountain in a bowl, it is in fact topped with huge mounds of beansprouts and cabbage. Have always thought of this as a man's ramen.

Next up, Gantetsu's ramen, which has a dollop of shredded ginger ontop. Its egg looked yummy too!

Gantetsu's King Chashu Ramen (@$15+)

Ikkousha was 2011 Ultimate Winner of Ramen Champion, hence, was anticipating its Spicy Takana Ramen (#2 in terms ramen popularity).

Ikkousha's Spicy Takana Ramen (@$15+)

It has the best broth! Mix the takana up, and the first two gulps almost made me choke because of its spiciness. But just can't stop slurping the 12-hours boiled pork bones broth! Only gripe was, why isn't there any ajitsuke tamago in this bowl?! There's just takana (spicy preserved vegetable), black fungus, spring onions and few slices of very thin chashiu.

lovely Hakata noodles

Liked Iroha's fatty chashiu lots! Almost melt-in-your-mouth kind. Its soup is chicken shoyu based.

Iroha's King's Ramen (@$18+)

Next, there was this bowl of fiery red looking ramen from Ikkousha. There's three spicy levels to it; normal, medium and dangerous. Normal is as far as I'd be willing to go!

Ikkousha's God Fire Ramen

After all the eating, and this being our 8th stop, I thought I could eat no more. That was when, Taishoken's Cold & Spicy Tsukemen was brought out. It tasted pretty refreshing and light, although it is still carbs!

Taishoken's Cold & Spicy Tsukemen (@$15+)

Ramen Champion is at Level 4. At the entrance, diner will be given an electronic tag. Pass this tag to the ramen stall, so that your orders are recorded into the tag. When about to leave, just pass the tag to the cashier at the exit and payment shall be collected then.

Jyoshoken Seasonal Special Tsukemen @ Ebisboshi Shotengai Great World City

Have you tried Tsukemen (つけ麺) or dipping noodles before? The basic ingredients are pretty similar to ramen; ie. noodles, toppings and hot broth. Probably like a deconstructed version where the noodles are served separate from the now thicker broth, and the way to eat it is to dip the cold noodles into the hot thick broth before slurping it up. Sounds familiar? Yep, much like eating cold soba!

You may have heard of the legendary Mr Kazuo Yamagishi (Taishoken - Higashi Ikebukuro), the inventor of tsukemen. Now, one of his disciples, Chef Hideyuki Nakagawa was recently in town to introduce Jyoshoken Seasonal Special Tsukemen.

From right to left: Chef Hideyuki Nakagawa and Mr Koji Yahata

Jyoshoken (常勝軒) Seasonal Special Tsukemen, crafted by Chef Hideyuki Nakagawa using freshly made noodles and broth made from pork and fish. Was invited to the tasting session at Ebisboshi Shotengai Great World City and thus, had the opportunity to sample this special dish.

Jyoshoken Seasonal Special Tsukemen

closer look of the noodles and toppings

hot dipping broth (boiled from pork and fish)

The egg noodles were thick and cooked just right, chewy with bouncy and springy texture. I was seated amongst native Japanese, so the guys were dipping the cold noodles into the hot broth and was slurping them up quickly while making "zuuzuuzuuzuuu" sounds. I tried to do the same and ended up splattering some sauce on my shirt. Ha ha! What was I thinking? -_-'

chewy and springy well cooked noodles

The dipping broth was concentrated, rich and very strongly flavoured. There were lots of menma (or bamboo shoots), spring onions and a slice of narutomaki (fish cake) in the bowl. Be patient for those who wants to drink up the broth. Now is not the time, yet.

The Special Tsukemen char shiu toppings was from three different cuts; Pork loin, pork belly and back of neck. The loin char shiu was far too lean for my liking, hence it didn't have the melt-in-your-mouth texture. The meat from the back of neck was tender but with a little bite at the same time. The roasted sesame added extra fragrance to the clean tasting meat. Nice. Liked the belly part lots, as it was the most tender out of the three. Yums.

pork belly and back of neck

pork loin

The ramen egg or ajitsuke tamago was almost perfect. Somehow, couldn't quite taste the seasoning in the perfectly textured yolk. Ate the egg last, so perhaps it was overshadowed by the strong taste of the dipping broth that lingered on the tastebuds.

ramen egg

After finishing the noodles, do request for the hot dashi (made from clear mushroom stock) to pour into the dipping broth to dilute it before enjoying it as soup. The dashi stock was unseasoned and has moderately strong mushroom fragrance.

dashi to pour into dipping broth

Jyoshoken Seasonal Special Tsukemen will be available at Ebisboshi Shotengai Great World City and Robertson Quay from now onwards till end of December 2012 (or until further notice). Priced at $16.80++ at Ebisboshi Shotengai Great World City and $14.80++ at Robertson Quay.

Zaseki - tatami styled rooms at Ebisboshi Shotengai Great World City

various sake on display

Here are Jyoshoken locations details:

Ebisboshi Shotengai
1 Kim Seng Promenade, Great World City
#01-22 Singapore 237994
Tel/Fax: 62356190

Daikokuya (Jyoshoken's full menu is available here)
30 Robertson Quay, #01-05 Riverside Village Residences,
Singapore 238251
Tel: 67371521


Special thanks to Prue, Mr Koji Yahata and Darren, from Komars Group for the invitation to this tasting session.

Marukin Ramen @ Scotts Square

Was recently invited to a tasting session at Marukin Ramen Tokyo located at B1 of Scotts Square. First outlet in Singapore, and Marukin Ramen here favours the chicken broth for its ramen soup over the more typical pork-based ones. Not only that, there are four variations of chicken broth (Shoyu Chicken White Soup, Shio Chicken White Soup, Miso ChickenWhite Soup and the Shoyu Chicken Clear Soup) available for diners to choose from.

shop front

typical table setting

noodles menu

side dish menu

Started the night with a sampling of side-dishes. Hiyayakko, a plate of refreshingly chilled tofu with a hint of mild spicyness (from ginger flakes as well as chilli soy sauce). A light and healthy starter.

Hiyayakko (chilled tofu witth chilli soy sauce)

Then we had the Marukin Potato Salad, which I thought it looked rather cute.

Marukin Potato Salad

doesn't this resemble something cute? (imagine broad beans for its ears and cherry tomato for its nose)

The potato salad is a mixture of texture of mashed and potato cubes. This is a pretty light tasting potato salad.

Then we had the deep fried vegetables in dashi broth. Colourful dish. It has tomatoes, baby potatoes, brinjal, and bell pepper and pumpkin slices.

deep fried vegetables in dashi broth

The bell peppers were soft and absorbed much of the yummy dashi. But the pumpkin slices weren't as soft as I thought it would be.

Another deep fried item was the tori karaage. Small chunks of deep fried chicken, I like! The meat was really juicy and tender.

karaage

juicy chicken karaage

Also sampled the Marukin Gyoza. Small parcels of minced chicken meat wrapped in chewy skin.

Marukin Gyoza

small filling of minced chicken meat

How about the ramen? The chicken broth? First ramen to land on our table (and subsequently in our tummies), was the Tsukemen or dipping noodles.

Tsukemen

closer view of the chicken chashu, nitamago and kikurage mushrooms

thick noodles, chewy that's cooked just right

Tsukemen in tasting portion

Eating the tsukemen was rather fun. The warm collageny dipping broth was thick and coats the noodles with a luscious sheen. The dipping broth really made an impression with its strong rich flavours that reminds you of chicken drippings. Tasty. A few chews of the noodles and off it slids down the throat, almost effortlessly. But beware of the broth flying off in all directions as you slurped it up!

Next, the dish is what most will call the 'what-also-have' dish; the spicy ISSAI-GASSAI Ramen which we sampled in shoyu white based soup. It was nice to have the chilies served separately, so diners could have the option to control the spicyness level of their own bowl. So thoughtful.

Shoyu ISSAI-GASSAI Ramen, served with a separate side of chilies

closer look of chilies

Nitamago, chicken meatballs, shrimp wanton, chicken wing, chicken chashu, kikurage mushrooms, seaweed

thick noodles

Shoyu Chicken White soup was generally soothing and does not overpowers the taste of the rest of the items in this dish.

Next, was the Shio White Wakame & Corn Ramen that has generous portions of seaweed, corn, kikurage mushrooms and green onions. Was pretty amazed by the very thin strands of ramen noodles. These ultrafine ramen noodles are produced by Marukin's in-house Soul-Men (somen) Restaurant and noodle factory in Japan.

Shio White Wakame & Corn Ramen, with thin ramen

closer view

For the finale, we sampled the (Spicy) Negi-Negi Miso Ramen but somehow that plate of chili was missing, so the only 'spiciness' for this dish came from the onions instead. Liked the comforting taste of miso.

Negi-Negi Miso Ramen

close-up

nice thick noodles with a bite

Thanks to Head Chef Tetsuya Tsuyuki (Marukin Ramen Singapore) who crafted all these wonderful flavours.

Personally, I liked the Tsukemen, thick noodles with egg and miso chicken white soup. For sides, the karaage if you're a meat lover and the deep fried vegetables in dashi for novelty.

On a side note, the Tsukemen's dipping broth has very strong flavours so you may wish to have it last if the intention is to share two bowls of ramen; say for example the Miso ISSAI-GASSAI and the Tsukemen in the same sitting. But of course, it's up to your personal preferrence.Gosh, I do sound naggy!

And since you, my dear reader has managed to sit through this lengthy post, here's a bit of a good news courtesy of Marukin Ramen. For the month of August 2012, just say "Marukin Ramen! OISHII!" when you order a main and you'll get a FREE side of the Deep Fried Vegetables in Dashi Broth! Hurry!

For other promotions, you may wish to visit their website.

Thank you Athena and Ashley for the invites.