Keisuke Tonkotsu King @ Orchid Hotel, Tanjong Pagar

Last week, we had a friend, Lyrical Lemongrass visiting from Kuala Lumpur. She was supposedly here for a work trip, but we think she's here for a Ramen Trip! In the 1 week she was here, she had probably 8-10 different types of the 'must visit' Ramen places in Singapore.

KopiKosongGirl and I were going to meet Ms Lemongrass for some ramen at Menya Musashi. She was staying in the hotel in the same building, so she said she had already tried it. There was a queue at Menya Musashi, so while queuing, she told us, the ramen she had at Keisuke Tonkotsu King was so much better and if we got to queue, the other queue will be more worth it!

And so we decided to change shop!


We had to start queuing again! It took us around 40 minutes before it was our turn to get in!
It has been a long time since we queued for anything. We usually bypass queues and go for alternatives. The 3 of us think it's worth waiting here. If you come around 8, the queue might be shorter we reckon. We were there at 7 plus! (during peak hour!)


While waiting in line, you will see this being passed along to you. It's the order chit clipboard. Take 1 piece of paper for each bowl. You can specify if you want more or less of the 'chicken oil', if you would like lighter or stronger taste of the broth, you can choose the texture of noodles too.

When it's about your turn to go get a seat, they will collect your order chit and start preparing it. Probably all except one person is non-Japanese working there, so mark your order clearly, in case you can't communicate with them later! (LOL)


The menu. 3 different kinds plus all the additions you want.
The restaurant is really 'hole in the wall' restaurant. It's a corner lot on the side of Orchid Hotel. The place is very small with only around 22 seating spaces. That explains why the wait was so long. The faster people finish their food, the faster you will get a seat. If you are here, eat faster so others may get a chance too as well.


The service here was super quick though. The moment you sit down, they pass you a bowl of sesame seeds for you to grind.


You will notice a glass bottle of marinated beansprouts. If you are a beansprouts person, you will like it. It's marinated with sesame oil and a little salt and it's a little spicy and very very tasty. One of our dining companion is not a sprouts person, so she did not touch it.


They also have a basket of hard boiled eggs for you. The brown ones are lower in cholesterol! These are free flow, you can eat so many as you want. We were about to take an egg to eat and our ramen arrived. That was less than a minute after we sat down.

These are the hard boiled eggs and not the onsen tamago. ;-)


The Red Spicy Tonkotsu Ramen.

This was quite potent.  It's very spicy, so it's best not to mix the chilli in the soup if you think you can't take it. I eventually finished it all up though!

You should try the original broth side first (without mixing it with the chilli). On your first mouth you would taste the intense 'porky bone' flavour of the soup and you can tell it has been boiling for hours. For folks like me who love pork bone based soup, you will definitely like it.

They have chicken oil on it, so the mix of pork bone and chicken oil was quite fragrant. If you think you don't like the chicken oil, mark it in your order chit. The chilli was not salty if you eat it as it is, but it's heat level is intense. Mix it with the salty broth, and it much better.

I slowly mix the chilli into the soup and as I got more used to it, I mixed more.


The Black Spicy Tonkotsu Ramen

On the first mouth, KopiKosongGirl said it was an 'impactful' peppery taste. It will hit you.
At the end of the meal, you tongue and lips will feel numb. I read it's roasted sichuan peppercorn oil.

So if you like super pepper taste, this should be your choice.


Ms Lemongrass had this and she ordered the 'original' this time. She had the black spicy one the night before and wanted to try how it original one tasted.

She was definitely happy to be back here for more ramen. Slurping the noodles away with the delicious pork broth that she says you can't really get in KL. 

She said the original is the best, and when we tasted hers, we agree with her. It was very nice. The next time we are back, we will order this.


We love the onsen-tamago in the noodles. The ones on the table is hard boiled eggs, but the ones in the noodles if you order it, is the soft runny egg yolk ones. I can easily eat 2 or 3 of these!

The meat slices on the noodles we think they were quite ordinary (doesn't mean it's not nice). Not those melt in your mouth kind. It's you need to bite kind lean meat. You can compare the 3 bowls above. It's the broth and the noodles here that are superb. The flavour of the thick broth was very good and memorable. Even as I write this now, I am so tempted to go back tomorrow for more!

We liked the beansprouts too. Slightly crunchy and it goes well with the noodles and soup.
Be prepared to get very warm inside and have your clothing smell of pork broth after the meal! Not a place to bring your date, unless your date is a foodie and he/she will be totally in awe!

Keisuke Tonkotsu King 1 Tras Link #01-19 Orchid Hotel Singapore 078867  Tel: +65 6636 0855 Hours: Lunch, 11.30am – 3pm / Dinner, 6pm – 10pm