There were are few times that I wanted to go to Tampopo, but dropped the plan instead because Liang Court was a bit out of the way. With another option in Orchard, its much more accessible now.
Back to Tampopo, its 2nd store is at B2, taking up the previous location of Pepper Lunch.
The Ngee Ann City outlet is more modern & bright compared to the Liang Court outlet. The decor is coordinated in light wood color which is quite pleasant.
And of course, the purpose of my visit is to eat its ramen!
I ate the Black Pig Shabu Ramen (S$13.8), which is the signature ramen of Tampopo. It was nominated as one of the top 10 ramen on ST's Lifestyle page a while ago.
Red & White!The chili flakes floating all over the ramen made it look very spicy! But in fact its not that scary.
Belonging to the Kyushu style, the ramen is made from pork bone soup which is said to have been boiled for 2 days. The noodles are thin and hard, but I think the noodle of most Kyushu ramen should be even thinner and harder. Toppings are menma, spring onion and of course thin slices of black pork.
Yummy!On closer look at the ramen, I found that the noodles are neatly put in to the bowl. You can see that the streaks of noodles are all going in the same direction. I do see that being done in some ramen shops in Japan and I was impressed... great to see that being done in Singapore too! Thats call sophistication.
Nice, isn't it?All in all, the ramen tasted good, but its not something that wow-ed me. The black pork shabu slices when eaten with the noodles and soup didn't quite stand out... maybe it will be better if they change it to char siew slices made from black pork?
But Tampopo offers much more than ramen too - you can have sashimi, tonkatsu, etc etc here. Prices are very reasonable too for the quality that it is providing. I'm sure it will be a restaurant that I will come back again when I have a craving for Japanese food!
View Singapore Ramen Map in a larger map
Ramen Data - Tampopo @ Ngee Ann City
Address: B2 Ngee Ann City (Near Crystal Jade), Orchard Road
Types: Kyushu Ramen, Hokkaido Ramen
Price: $13.3 - 15.3
Rating: 7/10
