Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Don't try the Yoshimaru Ramen Bar at Holland Village

Still craving ramen after my Tokyo trip last week, I decided to continue my search in SIngapore for a decent local ramen bar until my next trip to Japan. I had one bad experience at Marutama Ramen at Central Mall last weekend, but I wasn't ready to give up just yet. Yoshimaru specializes in Hakata ramen from Kyushu, with over a dozen branches in existence across Japan, and the first one in Singapore at Holland Village. Hakata ramen is extra thin, very much like Cantonese wonton noodle, and made fresh daily at the restaurant.

The key indicator of an awesome ramen recipe is the broth, and there are countless ramen bars around the world serving the same dish, but the ones that truly stand out have managed to concoct unique broth flavors that elevate the simple bowl of ramen to a heavenly experience (or at least so damn tasty that I would willingly drink up the whole bowl). Unfortunately, Yoshimaru was strike two. The noodles were tender and fresh, but tasted too similar to wonton noodle, and the broth was very ordinary. The soft boiled egg was actually quite well prepared, soft on the inside. Overall, this was disappointing and underwhelming to say the least.

So that leave Ippudo, newly opened at the Mandarin Gallery, left to be sampled. If they do their QC right, the Ippudo dining experience should bring back fond memories of my ramen meals in Roppongi. Or maybe it'll just make me crave for another visit to Tokyo very soon for the real deal.

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