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Sunday, April 1, 2012

Menya Musashi opening in Singapore!

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.

6 comments:

  1. I am going to pay a visit. It has opened at Raffles City already :)

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  2. Thanks Daniel! I'm not in Singapore now so I'm not too updated.
    Let me know what you think about Musashi!

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  3. Just tried it, doesn't serve the same type as Shinjuku as apparently all of their shop concepts are different from one another.

    This flagshop shop serves the same ramen as Ueno; different types of Tonkotsu broth (white, black & red) with slightly curly and thick noodles.

    Love the noodles, cooked just the way I like, a bit al-dente. The Tonkotsu broth was also thick and rich. I ordered the Black Kakuni (stewed pork) Ramen and my partner ordered the White Kakuni Ramen. I prefer the black due to its fragrance and savoury aftertaste.

    In my opinion, definitely better than Santouka and Ippudo, both of which left me feeling really thirsty (MSG alert!) after having their ramen.

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  4. Thanks for your post!

    Yes, each Musashi shop has a slightly different concept and specialty. From what you said, seems that it was based on the one in Ueno called Bukotsu. I guess you have tried that before?

    Looking forward to more of your views on other ramen in Singapore!

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  5. Your blog proved to be very useful for me. I tried 8 ramens during my last visit, several recommended by you :D

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  6. Thanks Daniel for your comment! Please let me know which ramen you like in Singapore too!

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