Nantsuttei. Umaize-Baby!The name of the store "Nantsutei" sounds like "Nanchatte (なんちゃって)" in Japanese, which means "I'm kidding/nothing great". (pretty hard to translate the nuance)
From one of the Japanese magazines pages pasted on the side of the wall, the owner used this name hoping that even if he has to close the store, he can remain positive and brush it off as a small matter.
And the owner, Furuya Ichiro, was at the store overseeing the operations today!!
Mr Furuya... smiling at the camera?Jumping straight into the ramen as I've written about the background in my previous blog.
I tried the standard ramen ($12++). It is topped with a big piece of char siew, bean sprout, spring onion, seaweed, and the distinctive black sesame oil.
A pretty good value for a top ramen store from Japan.
It was a pretty good bowl of ramen!
The noodles (medium straight noodles) were made to the right softness. The char siew was thick and voluminous, which gives you a good feeling when you bite and chew it. Last but not least, the soup was very creamy and tasty but not overly thick and salty. The sesame oil adds fragrance to the bowl of ramen... although I might say looks pretty dark.
Tried the gyoza too. It has a funny name of 夫婦円満餃子, which means "gyoza of blissful marriage". Not sure why it is name in such a way, but it was juicy!
Some sidenote too that most of the waiter and waitress were trained to speak in Japanese, and even take order in Japanese. Impressive.
Nantsuttei is definitely one of the better ramen stores in town. The pork-bone soup with black sesame oil is unique among all the ramen places in Singapore. Will definitely come back again to try the "Dragone Ramen" and "Golden Curry Ramen"!
Ramen Data - Nantsuttei, Parco Marina Bay
Address: P3-06, Parco Marina Bay
Types: Tonkotsu
Price: S$12-16
Rating: 8.5/10
I was Nantsuttei for lunch yesterday. Ichiro Furiya was behind the counter overlooking the action the whole time with his arms folded and his stern face occasionally breaking into a smile.
ReplyDeleteAt a table next to me, was a 30+ year old couple that ordered 2 bowls of ramen and a plate of gyoza. The moment the ramen was served, the guy proceeded to transfer the chop spring onions and leeks to his female companion's ramen bowl. THEN!!! I saw Ichiro giving the couple the "killer stare"! He looked like he was gonna leap over the counter and snatch the ramen from the couple next to me. Fortunately, he calmed after a minute and got a waiting staff to go over to enquire if everything is ok and if they needed anything else.
So my question is, what is the ramen eating etiquette? Or is it Japanese to not pass the food around? Was there any particular reason for Ichiro's reaction or was I imagining it?
Hi Spike! Thanks for visiting my website!
ReplyDeleteMy 2 cents is that, by not eating the ramen as it is served is in Japanese culture a disrespect to the chef. The spring onion and leeks are added to the ramen for a reason (I guess is to enhance the taste, adds a "crunchy" texture to the ramen), and by taking it out it sort of kills the intent of the ramen. That might be reason that he is mad.
Another reason might be that the spring onion and leeks are one of the key components of his ramen. If you read the menu or the website, you could see that it is highlighted alongside the noodles, soup, etc as one of elements that he spends extra effort on. And that person is discarding that(!!).
A similar example is that at traditional Japanese sushi restaurants, its a disrespect to the chef if you add wasabi into the soy sauce. The chef has already taken that into consideration an added the right amount of wasabi into each type of sushi, the he believes is the optimum.
My take is that this is not just the etiquette for ramen, but for Japanese food in general. We should respect and appreciate what is being served. Of course if the condiments are given to us we could use them accordingly.
I'm not a Japanese but hope that this explanation is not too far off.
Hi, you are fast. Am excited about Nantsuttei's opening here. When I was last in Tokyo, I almost tried this at Shinatatsu (a row of ramen chain collection located in Shinagawa). However it was late and we were hungry. Seeing the queue we decided to head next door to Higomonzu instead. And it was Good! Nantsuttei is supposed to be at least equally good and more popular so I always wondered how it really was. So glad it is here in Singapore. Btw since you are so interested in ramen, have you tried Menya Kissou? Worth the queue?
ReplyDeleteHi rei,
ReplyDeleteGreat to find another person who is passionate in ramen!
Amazing that you know of Menya Kissou. How did you find out about that? I have seen it on a ramen ranking site in Japan but have yet to try it. According to that website, it is currently voted number 2 among the ramen fans across the whole of Japan (and Nantsuttei is ranked 344 now). From the data, I guess its worth the queue. Would like to try it next time I go to Tokyo too.
Are you referring to Tabelog? But you mentioned specifically a ramen ranking site so should not be. I do remember few years back I came across a ramen ranking site.
ReplyDeleteHaha I'm not only passionate about ramen - I am passionate about good food. My next trip to Tokyo is going to be squeezed with so many to do (food) list that I'll come back 10kg heavier even if I can only attempt a few of it.
FYI before you go, check out opening time of Menya K as it seems to open only for a few hours before they are all sold out.
Hi rei,
ReplyDeleteThe site that I'm referring to is this site called Ramen Database. Its a Japanese site.
http://ramendb.supleks.jp/
Will definitely go early to queue up!
Japan is really a land of delicious food. Too many that you can't finish!
I only managed to try Nantsuttei last month. The staff were really professional and proud of their noodles. I had to run out of the restaurant just as the noodles (2 bowls) arrived and only returned about 5-10 mins later (read my blog or ask me for the reason next time we meet). The waiter informed that he would replace my noodles and shortly after, a fresh 2 bowls of noodles arrived.
ReplyDeleteAmazing!
ReplyDeleteThats the ramen spirit - they wouldn't want you to taste their noodles in a soggy state and have a bad impression, after they have spent so much time making every bowl perfect.
They should be given some service star award and teach the rest of the restaurants here what is good customer service!
Oh ... and I found out what happened from your blog! :P
ReplyDeleteI liked the ramen there. Nice texture, good broth =) Comfort food!
ReplyDelete