"No," he replied.
OK. Fine. It looked like I had to go eat this Ramen on my own. I'd been searching for a good bowl of Japanese Ramen. When I googled it, there'd been many posts about the newly-opened Hokkaido Ramen Santouka at the Tokyo Street, Level 6 of the Pavillion.
The reviews all looked very favourable. It only allowed to be opened after it met the standards and requirement of the original chain of restaurants in Japan. There were only 2 outlets in Singapore and 1 in the shores of Malaysia.
So, I headed to this very famous ramen chain, anticipating the ULTIMATE bowl of ramen.
I'd already known what I'd order. The legendary Tokusen Toroniku Ramen with the Shio flavoured broth. A small order cost RM33.50.
Tokusen Toroniku Shio Ramen,
What I could not forget about the Ramen was the fragrance of the broth. When the bowl was placed before me, I caught a whiff of an extremely rich, robust and nutty aroma that came from the white broth. Mmmmmmm. It was enough to make me salivate. One spoonful of the broth, and I was definitely propelled to gastronomic heavens. It tasted smooth and rich, savoury. Very hearty indeed.
Japanese Ramen in Shio broth
The egg noodles were springy, but other than that, I really did not care much for it. In fact, I couldn't finish eating it. What a waste, huh?The toppings for the Tokusen Toroniku Ramen were served separatedly. The prized ingredient was the Toroniku Cha-Shu, a rare cut of pork jowl. It was supposed to be very tender, somewhat like fatty tuna. And people described that it had this melt-in-the-mouth quality. I counted six thick slices on my plate.
The toppings
I scrutinized a slice of meat, and find that it's very lean, with just a thin layer of fat over it. The correct way to eat it was to dip the pork in the warm broth so that the fat melts in your mouth as you eat it. I found the cheek to be very delicate in flavour and tender too. It's very refined.
The other ingredients were the bamboo shoot strips, the black jelly ear strips, chopped scallions, a pretty thin slice of narutomaki, and a small pickled plum. The bamboo shoots were really crunchy. Frankly, I think the ramen was good enough without the scallions, bamboo and jelly ear. I suppose it added extra texture to the noodle soup.
What I did like, however, was the pickled plum. It tasted a bit sweet and sour and when I bit into it, there was this very refreshing taste. Yum.
Well, Ramen Santouka with its irresistable broth and pork cheek slices. Not bad, but I'm game to try more ramen establishments. Psst. Tampopo. When will I get to try your ramen?
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