My Ramen Finds in Singapore: Which One is the Best?
As one of my favorite Japanese food, I love ramen and I could eat ramen almost once a week. Thanks to Singaporeans' love for ramen, there are numerous ramen shops in Singapore, each with its own specialty and characteristics. Here, I am writing short reviews about ramen shops in Singapore that I have visited.
Chabuton
I probably would not have been to Millenia Walk if my friend did not bring me to Chabuton. The place looked promising with long queue on a Saturday evening. Lately did I know that Chabuton features a Michelin-awarded chef (the first-ever ramen chef to receive a Michelin star), Mr. Yasuji Morizumi, who is also known as 'the king of ramen'. Wow, I'm proudly saying that this was my first time trying Michelin-worthy food *blush*. My Ramen Finds in Singapore: It looks promising, with a queue and a full house to boot on a tuesday evening.
Chabuton Shio Char Siew Ramen - $16.40
For non-big eater, small portion named junior portion is available here, and it costs only $8.30 (considered cheap for a Michelin-worthy ramen). The shio char siew ramen came with 3 slices of char siew, and soft-boiled egg was added for additional $1.50. In Chabuton, you can customize the ramen to your liking - you can choose the oil level, saltiness level, and texture of the noodles. For me, I would like to have my ramen with soft noodles, high oil level and low saltiness level. On every table, there are various condiments - some of which I had never seen in other ramen places before, such as fried shallots and layu sauce. The soup was perfect - not too salty and full of porky goodness with a hint of creaminess. I must admit that Chabuton has the best tonkotsu soup so far. The noodle was springy and the egg was soft-centered. The char siew was too thin that I did not feel like having three slices.
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9 Raffles Boulevard, #02-15
Millenia Walk
Singapore 039596
+65-68370335
Opening hours: 10am - 10pm
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Ramen Champion
This place has drawn my attention since some time ago. Ramen Champion is a place where you can find many kinds of ramen under one roof (should I say it is like a food court for ramen?). To be fair, you need to try every stall here to decide which one is the true champion haha.
Triple Chashu Ramen - $16.80
I have tried 3 different stalls, but here I would like to highlight the ramen from Shodai Koji stall called triple chashu ramen. Was I too greedy for ordering this? But for sure, no regret ordering this! Triple chashu represents three kinds of chashu used for this ramen (chicken thigh, pork belly and pork collar), all of them were outstandingly yummy. The thin noodle that I chose was springy. The egg was boiled just nicely, neither overcooked nor raw. The pork bone broth was slightly too salty for my liking, or perhaps this indicated the special characteristic of Yokohama ramen?
Sapporo Miso Ramen - $14.80
This is from Menya Ryu stall. The Sapporo miso broth is made from 3 different kinds of miso: black, red and white, mixed with pork bone and chicken. Taste wise, I prefer triple chashu ramen. If triple chashu ramen was too tasty, this one was way too salty (lol the sarcasm).
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201 Victoria Street, #04-140
Bugis+
Ramen Keisuke Tonkotsu King
This is probably the closest ramen shop from my school. Ramen Keisuke is popular in Singapore and it is always crowded with office workers every time I pass by its outlet at Paya Lebar Square. The place is however, small and rather cramp.
You will be given a mortar with black and white sesame seeds to grind and sprinkle over the ramen
Complimentary plain water
Free-flow bean sprouts
Protein lovers, rejoice! There is also unlimited supply of hard-boiled eggs here. I must admit, ramen is better to be enjoyed with onsen egg, but who can complain if you get free stuff?
Tonkotsu Ramen - $10.90
We will be given an order form along with the menu book. We can choose our ramen topping, level of pork oil, noodle hardness and request for unwanted item in the ramen (optional). The serving of the ramen was enormous. The cha shu was big and flavorful. The porky taste was very strong and I finished it until the very last slurp.
Black Spicy Tonkotsu Ramen - $11.90
It tasted quite similar to normal tonkotsu ramen, but it was black in color and spicy in taste.
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60 Paya Lebar Road, #01-04
Paya Lebar Square
Singapore 409051
+65-63416123
IG: ramen_keisuke
Opening hours: 11.30am - 3pm; 5.30pm - 10pm (Mon - Fri) // 11.30am - 10pm (Sat - Sun)
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Ajisen Ramen
Despite people's complaint that Ajisen's standard keeps dropping over time, I still find myself coming back here whenever I crave for ramen but I'm too lazy to travel to town. Well, Ajisen is easy to find at most shopping malls thanks to its widespread location in the island. It is the place to get some pocket-friendly ramen and if you don't mind the low standard. Another downside, the ramen is sometimes inconsistent in taste. If you are a ramen expert with high standard, you probably would be disappointed with Ajisen.
Chicken Teriyaki Ramen
The ramen came without soup, and I found it looking like Indomie goreng haha. The soy sauce tasted dominant in this dish.
Seafood Tom Yam Ramen - $12
Tom yum is not something I actually like, but I gave this ramen a try. The soup was spicy (but my friend felt it was not spicy enough) and sour. There was a reasonable quantity of scallops, squid and crabmeat inside too.
Cha Shu Ramen
I like the cha shu and the tonkotsu soup, although the cha shu was rather small in size. The soup was not too salty and it tasted great with the noodles. I was disappointed that they used hard-boiled egg instead of egg with runny center.
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Singapore 569933
+65-64818861
Opening hours: 11.30am - 10pm
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Menzo Butao
We were running out of dining option at Marina Square and we decided to try Menzo Butao. Similar to Ajisen Ramen and Osaka Ohsho, Menzo Butao also uses iPad to order the food. The menus are kinda similar too! They must be under the same management.
Spicy Nankotsu Ramen - $17.90
I dared not to try it upon seeing the bright red color of the soup. Apparently my friend did not like the nankotsu (chicken cartilage) so at the end she only ate the noodle, egg and soup.
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6 Raffles Boulevard, #02-180
Marina Square
Singapore 039594
Opening hours: 10.30am - 10pm
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Verdict
All in all, I would crown Chabuton and Ramen Keisuke Tonkotsu King as the best ramen in Singapore that I have tried. It is hard to choose between these two as I think they are on par. But if you ask me which one has the best soup, I would say Chabuton. Whereas, Ramen Keisuke Tonkotsu King has the best (and thickest) chashu slice. Therefore, basically these two ramen shops are strongly recommended for you to try when you are in Singapore.
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