New York Time's Article on Ramen / Ramen Tour

Found this article on NYTimes that was published last in 2010 about ramen in Tokyo.

The writer went around Tokyo trying various ramen, with an American ramen blogger as a guide!

http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/01/31/travel/31ramen.html

It is really interesting to see that there are so many non-Japanese raman fans like me. And they are passionate enough to blog about them too. Some of those featured in the article are Ramenate!, Ramenadventures and Ramentokyo.com.

The article featured Ivan Ramen, a ramen shop in suburban Tokyo setup by an American chef that I wanted to try for a long time. He puts it perfectly that -

"A good bowl of ramen is balanced perfectly: the soup, the noodles, the toppings, everything works together. So when you’re eating it, even though it’s all these disparate ingredients together, somehow they feel as if you’re eating one thing.”

Glad that I am aware of and have tried most of the ramen shops mentioned in the article, e.g. Nagi, Ikaruga, Mutekiya, Keisuke, Jiro, etc. Out of all these I personally prefer Ikaruga (I've yet to write about it though...), exactly because of the reason stated in the article that it is a very well-balanced bowl.

I received a link a while ago about a organisation in New York organising a ramen exploration trip to Tokyo.

http://www.newyork-tokyo.com/wp/ramen/

The date of the trip was just shortly after the earthquake so I guess it has been cancelled unfortunately. But this reveals the niche popularity of ramen in the US. Amazing cultural power of food.

Not sure if there are such demand of a ramen tour from Singapore...

Maybe the new survey on my blog will find out?

Happy Good Friday!

Hachiya (蜂屋) Ramen Pack & Making Char Siew!!

When I went to Japan, I received a ramen pack from Hachiya (蜂屋), a renowned shoyu ramen store in Asahikawa with over 60 years of history.

As usual, the pack contains only noodles and the soup.



So, its time for me to try my cooking skill again!
I've attempted to make tamago last time, so its time to try the next key ingredient...

Char Siew!!

Starting with some pork belly, I followed a recipe, tying the chunk of pork up, boiled, pan-fried and stewed it.

And, beyond my expectation, it was quite tasty!

Homemade char siew!

The piece of pork belly that I bought was quite small, so it was hard to slice it up.
The char siew didn't came up as a round piece as I would have wanted.

But, it was actually easier than I thought, compared to making the perfect runny tamago.
Will definitely try it again soon, recording the process in more details.

Well, back to the ramen.
With the homemade char siew and some boiled spinach, here's my dinner...



Itadakimasu!

Rokurinsha (六厘舎) @ Tokyo Ramen Street, Yaesu, Tokyo

A very happy new year to everyone!

May 2011 be a delicious and filling year for all the ramen fans all over the world!

As with every year, I'm having my holiday in Tokyo over the Christmas and New Year holidays.

And what will a ramen walker do? Ramen-eating!

The first ramen adventure in 2011 brings me to Tokyo Ramen Street, located at the underground mall linked to the JR Tokyo station.

It is a labyrinth under the Tokyo station - there is a complex network of underground malls and linkways under the station linking the various buildings and neighbouring subway stations. It took me a while before I found it, near the Yaesu side of the Tokyo station, tucked away in one of the end of the underground mall.

This Tokyo Ramen Street is still not very much a street yet - there are only 4 ramen shops now, compared to other similar concepts in Japan.

My destination today is Rokurinsha (六厘舎), a hugely popular shop which is known for being a pioneer in the tsuke-men (dipped ramen), starting several new trends and styles. At peak hours, the queue could be over an hour!

The queue continues around the corner...

A little bit of background on Rokurinsha. It started in April 2005 first in a residential area in Ozaki of Tokyo. With its signature "super-rich soup and super-thick noodles", it fast gained popularity and fame, winning the best tsuke-men of the year award in 2006 and 2007.

Surprisingly, it was so popular that its 100-people-long queues received complains from the residents in the neighborhood. It tried various ways of crowd management such as altering the queuing method and so on, but with no solutions in sight, the Ozaki store was closed in Aug 2010. This news was even report on the newspaper!

So as of now, while they are looking for a new location for their main outlet, the outlet at Tokyo Ramen Street is its only place you can eat their ramen.

Back to the ramen - I ordered the Ajitama Tsuke-men (dipped ramen with egg, 950 yen), their signature dish.

Spotted this note on the chopsticks stand while I was waiting for the ramen to come (it took a while because the thinker noodles takes longer to cook). A stellar example of Japanese service excellence.

"We have aprons and hair clips that you could use. Please approach our staff if you require it"

Finally my tsuke-men is here after about 5 minutes. It looks good!!

Made from a large amount of chicken, pork and seafood ingredients, this soup is very thick, creamy and tasty, which clings on well on those thick, bouncy and chewy noodles. Slices and cubes of char siew that mingled in dipping soup was tender and melts in your mouth.

Noticed also the powder that floats on the piece of seaweed. You might have seen it in my previous entry about Menya Shinchan or other ramen outlets in Japan, but it is said that Rokurinsha is the first store to have invented it. The powder is the powdered form of bonito flakes. By dissolving the powder into the soup at our own liking, it will add more punch to the soup with the seafood flavor.

Taking a closer look at the noodles too - it looks about 1.5 times that of the usual thick noodles.

And it is not it after you have finished all the noodles.

While I was eating my ramen, the person next to me finished his. Without leave, he called the staff, who added some soup stock to dilute the thick dipping soup. The staff told him to add some yuzu powder as well.

Interesting! It is similar to how the dipped sauce for soba is diluted with soba-yu (water used in boiling the soba) after the meal.

I tried to do the same after my ramen is done. The flavorsome soup is now drinkable until the last drop, and the citrus taste of yuzu made it refreshing.

All in all, it was an excellent bowl of tsuke-men that is worth the wait, especially for its taste.

The location is pretty accessible and easy to find, such that tourist like us can drop by when we are in Tokyo.

My advise would be to avoid the busy hours (I went there at around 3pm) as the queue could be really long.

However, the only gripe that I have is that the dipping soup gets cold when my noodles are about 70% done, because of the repeated dipping of the cooled noodles. Personally I prefer the soup to be hot throughout.

The Tokyo Ramen Street will also be adding on another 4 more outlets of equally famous stores in Apr 2011. Great news for overseas ramen lovers!

View Ramen Walker's Ramen Map in a larger map

Ramen Data - Rokurinsha TOKYO @ Tokyo Ramen Street
Address: B1 Yaesu South Exit, JR Tokyo Station
Types: Tsuke-men
Rating: 9/10

2010 Ramen Trend

I did a sharing recently about my amateurish observation on the ramen scene in Singapore as a ramen blogger. It was quite well-received!

As 2010 is coming to an end, I thought that it will be timely to share the top 3 ramen trends in Singapore on this blog too.

The first obvious trend is the continuous influx of Japanese ramen brands to Singapore.

Just in 2010 itself, 6 ramen brands came from Japan into Singapore - Nanttsutei, Keisuke, Sanomaru, Ippudo TAO, Kusabi and Kura. This excludes the expansion of ramen brands that are already in Singapore (e.g. Santouka, Baikohken, Marutama) and home-grown ramen stores. Compared with about 2-3 years ago when ramen is pretty hard to find, it is now very much within reach of everyone; most of the major malls in Singapore will have 1 ramen store. Good news for ramen fans like me!

But competition is definitely getting stiffer. There should be more new entrants to the market in 2011, and the existing players have to continue to maintain their quality and offer new products to retain and grow their customer base.

Next, we now see the formation of 2 "ramen clusters", i.e. areas with a high concentration of ramen outlets - one in Orchard and one along the Singapore River.

Just like how fashion brands like to open their flagship store along Orchard, ramen brands also clustered along Orchard road to maximise their exposure and establish themselves. With more than 12 ramen outlets along Orchard, you can drop by one easily when you crave for it when you are shopping.

The Singapore River area is where many Japanese expats live, and ramen outlets thrive there I presume with the higher demand. Its also a good place to be for a chill out session with your friends at one of the pubs, and then ending the day with a bowl of ramen - the Japanese way!

Last but not least, with increasing competition, the ramen brands in Singapore have evolved and try to cater more to the local Singaporean taste.

With our liking of all things spicy and with chili, thats what they've given us!

Can you guess where are they from?

Influx of Japanese ramen, formation of ramen cluster and localisation of ramen.

These are the 3 trends that I observed this year.

As a ramen fan, these are great developments - more to choose from, easier to find, and more new products to spice up the ramen scene.

Looking forward to see how these trends will evolve in 2011!

White Miso Ramen - Kura (久楽) Plaza Singapura

This weeks' ramen adventure brings me to Kura (久楽) at Plaza Singapura.

Japan Food Holdings, the company behind the ubiquitous Ajisen Ramen and other Japanese restaurants, opened a multi-brand Japanese food concept call "Tokyo Walker" in Plaza Singapura in November.

Sounds like the name of my blog? Yes it does!

They, just like me, were "inspired" by the series of popular magazine " Walker" in Japan that reports about cool happenings in the cities in Japan.

Interesting that the restaurants inside are not totally Tokyo ... Champon is a dish from Nagasaki, a Udon restaurant is from Osaka...

... and Kura is a Hokkaido ramen franchise!

Kura serves miso ramen in 3 types of misoes - red, white and spicy.

Interestingly, while Kura comes from Hokkaido in the north of Japan, its founder, Okuhara Souji, came from Okinawa that is all the way in the south.

He went to Hokkaido and started trial and error of creating his ideal bowl of ramen.

That explains why Kura doesn't call themselves Hokkaido-style ramen, but rather Okuhara-style (奥原流) ramen.

I've also wrote an email to Kura in Japan, asking them if there are anything in particular that they have customised their offering for the Singapore outlet.

Glad to hear that they have chosen to offer exactly what they are offering in Japan to deliver us the authentic taste.

I ordered the white miso ramen ($12.8) this time.

The ramen has a variety of toppings - char siew, tamago, chopped leek and onion, tenkasu (天かす), minced meat, seaweed and a dash of spicy miso paste. This gives the ramen a range of taste and texture when you eat it together with the yellow curly noodles. The white miso soup base, with a mix of pork and chicken stock, tasted good but might be slightly salty for me.

What it could have done better is how they serve it. When the ramen is delivered to me, the seaweed was already soft and sinking. Similar to other concepts that are brought in by franchise, the presentation is far from what the photo shows... making it looks less delicious as it should.

Overall, it is a good bowl of ramen, much better compared to its neighbour. But among the many other ramen stall in Singapore, it might not be the among the top in my list.

View Ramen Walker's Ramen Map in a larger map

Ramen Data - Kura @ Plaza Singapura
Address: #04-01 Plaza Singapura
Types: Miso
Price: S$12.8
Rating: 6.5/10

Ramen in Jakarta! Marutama Ramen - eX Plaza Indonesia

This week's ramen adventure takes me to Jakarta!

Guess what I've found?

the orange basketball...

Marutama Ramen!!!

Didn't know that they have expanded to Indonesia too.

Curious to find out how it fares compared to the Singapore outlets that many Singaporeans like, I have chosen to have lunch here instead.

Marutama ramen already has 2 outlets in Jakarta - one in eX Plaza Indonesia and the other Sentral Senayan I.

I spoke to store manager about the ramen scene in Jakarta. Currently, there are still only 2 ramen chains in the market - Marutama and another one call Ramen 38 (Sanpachi). While the number of shops is still small, its definitely getting popular there.

Interestingly, the manager was trained in Singapore's Marutama, and was well-versed with the other ramen competitors in Singapore!

Back to the main topic, the decor of Marutama's Jakarta outlet is exactly the same as that of Singapore.

stylish and dim interior

The Jakarta menu has some interesting difference, which I guess is to cater to local taste.

For the ramen, you have a choice of whether you want it spicy or not, and whether you want your char siew to be pork or chicken char siew. The Indonesians must like spicy stuff more than Singaporeans (we don't even have this distinction here), and of course they have a larger muslim population too.

... and there are more chili to come.

After you've ordered your ramen, the will give you a small plate of chili padi too. Interesting.

I've ordered the Ebi Ramen (69,000 Rupiah, about $S10), which is a dish not available in most outlets in Singapore.

The soup tasted almost the same as those made in Singapore, but I have a slight feeling that the Singapore branches are better and have a clearer taste. The noodles and char siew were good. The only area that I wish that it could have been better is the prawns. The prawns used were not that fresh.

I'll try to go to Ramen 38 next time I'm in Jakarta.

From Marutama's manager, the best outlet of Ramen 38 is in Kamome Building!

View Ramen Walker's Ramen Map in a larger map

Keisuke Premium Tonkotsu Ramen @ Keisuke Tokyo

This week's ramen adventure brings me back again to Keisuke, because I was told that...

Keisuke's signature prawn ramen is gone!!

I made my way to Keisuke on a Saturday afternoon, and I noticed something was different.

The photo on the left was taken in March 2010 when Keisuke first opened, and the one on the right last Saturday. Can anyone spot the change?

left - in March, right - in October

Not that the center section of the door curtain was raised...

But, the logo of Keisuke has change!! From

"海老らーめん　けいすけ" to "Ramen Dining けいすけ"

The reference of "prawn" was totally removed from the logo of the restaurant.

Thats a major change.

And when I looked at the menu, the reason was obvious.

Keisuke has done a complete overhaul of their menu, and there are no more prawn related items on the menu anymore. Not its signature prawn ramen, nor the prawn wanton, prawn gyoza, prawn fried rice.

The menu is now re-made into that of a typical ramen restaurant - having a spread of the conventional tonkotsu, shoyu, shio and miso ramens, with tonkotsu as its signature. The price range of its menu has also been significantly reduced - from offering its ramen from $14.8-20, it is now $11-14.8.

It might be reflecting Singaporean's liking in Tonkotsu ramen, which is the mainstream here now. It might also showed its rivalry with its same-floor neighbour Nanttutei, which offers tonkotsu ramen at such a price range, and always has a long queue outside.

I tried the new signature ramen, Keisukei Premium Tonkotsu Ramen ($14.8++).

Although its a new item, it retained Keisuke's DNA - its aesthetics. The ramen is visually pleasing - the red bowl and creamy broth is topped with pinkish char siew, green spring onion, blackish seaweed, yellow cheese, while cabbage and reddish-brown spicy minced meat paste.

You can choose the thickness of the tonkotsu soup - strong or light. I chose the strong one and it tasted rich and delicious. The char siew is large - took up almost 1/3 of the bow by a single piece - and is ham-like in its texture. The cheese topping melts when you soak it into the soup, and clings onto the noodles when you pick them up. The tonkotsu soup, cheese and noodle go amazingly well together. After finishing half a bowl, I mixed the spicy minced meat paste into the soup to create the 2nd taste. I've also added extra toppings of bean sprout and onion, which are placed on the table to be used.

seasoned bean sprout and fresh chopped onion

... took half of my wife's egg too

The soup is now more spicy, which I guess many Singaporean will like.

This visit to Keisuke is both poignant and happy. I was encouraged when Keisuke entered the market and tried to offer something differentiated. Its prawn ramen was sophisticated and well presented. The iconic bowl that it used now sits only as decoration on the shelves, and the staff is still wearing uniforms with the old logo. However, the market didn't accept it. It seems that Keisuke overhauled its menu because too many Singaporeans compared it with prawn mee.

On the other hand, I'm also glad that it has flexibly adapted to the market while not loosing its style. The ramen is still one of the most aesthetically pleasing and sophisticated among those in Singapore. It is also a sign that the ramen scene here is getting increasingly competitive, spurring players to change and adapt. We will see more good ramen shops coming our way.

With this change in menu, I recommend the ramen fans in Singapore to revisit them and try their ramen. I was personally satisfied, and will be making my way back to try the rest of the flavours :)