Ramen Keisuke Tonkotsu Four Seasons @ Bugis Village

Ramen fans in Singapore rejoice. The folks from Ramen Keisuke has opened their fourth branch in Singapore. One thing about Chef Keisuke Takeda is that he does not like to do the same things.

He has many branches in Japan and now with the 4th branch in Singapore, all of his branches sells different things. The broth is made differently, the noodles are different too. Many restaurants add new stuff to their menu, to me, Keisuke adds shops to introduce new things!

This fourth branch in Singapore opens on 10 May 2013 and I can just imagine the snaking queue that will form like his other branches. This branch is called Ramen Keisuke Tonkotsu Four Seasons. Four seasons to represent what Japanese are very proud of, their 4 seasons that have different festivities.



The wife and I with a few fellow foodie bloggers were there before their official opening today to try their ramen. Thanks to their PR folks for the invitation. Here's what you can expect:



This is probably their nicest branch other than the Parco branch. The kitchen here seems to be bigger than my favourite branch at Orchid Hotel.





As you enter into the restaurant, you can experience the four seasons via the drawings on the walls! Can you see which is Summer, Spring, Autumn and Winter? They have cleverly carve the restaurant into 4 different sections.

They have artist draw on the wall directly and we were told the guys just took paint and drew on it straight away without outlining things first!

Reminds me of my childhood home when Dad asked one of his artist friend to paint our outside wall! We had the 'garden of eden' with different animals just without Adam and Eve on our wall!



The brilliant guy behind it all. Keisuke Takeda. This is my first time meeting him in person after tasting food from his various branches. Trained in French cooking techniques, marrying it to make the best Japanese food.

We asked him what was special about this branch. This branch is for those who likes very thick broth. They use 1.5 times more bones when boiling the broth here. They also boil it longer too, 11 hours if my memory serves me correctly.

If you are following me on Instagram (keropokman), I posted a photo of the broth boiling for their first day of service the night before.

When we asked what bones are used for the broth, he told us he uses from four parts of the pig. He only told us 3 parts and said the 4th is a trade secret. I shall not tell you the 3 that we now know. hehe...

If you are like me wondering how the consistency will be maintained when Keisuke returns to Japan. We found the answer ourselves without him telling us. We peeped into their kitchen at the right time and saw his staff using a refractometer to measure the consistency of the broth! Even if eyes and tongues are different, the instruments gives accurate measurement.



Just like in other branches, you order your food on a piece of paper. The Japanese version of it on the other side. Looks familiar ya?

The wife and I with Camemberu and TheHungryCow tried all 5 of it amongst the 4 of us.



Something new on the menu is this Japanese Green Tea Cola! ($3.80) Keisuke like this and he has bottled it under his own brand and is selling it in this branch. It tastes a bit like 7-Up or Sprite mixed with Green Tea. I like it!

On their Facebook page, there's a promo now that says between 10 May - 31 May, if you order a bowl of ramen, you get a bottle of Japanese Green Tea Cola for free!



You can ask for an apron if you want. Big plastic ones. We declined when offered.
What is a beautiful rubber band? It's colourful bands for typing your long hair! Keisuke has long hair so he know guys or girls with long hair need them when they have ramen! So thoughtful ya?



Just like their other branches, they have free boiled eggs and free beansprouts. I love their marinated beansprouts!



If you want to make your ramen the sesame fragrance, you know what to do.

And the noodles......

Spring:
The inspiration according to Keisuke is the colours of spring! (Green and Pink). The green is the basil that goes very well with cheese. The pink is in the bright bowl with the pink spring character.

They had originally wanted to have green shiso, but it is hard to find good quality shiso all year round in Singapore in big quantity so they used basil instead.



How does it taste? It's reminds the 4 of us of having pasta! If you close your eyes and was served this, you might think you are having a bowl of pasta because of the nice parmesan aroma. The taste is nice just that our eyes is telling the brain different things.

Prices for Spring starts from $11.90


Summer:
Summer is hot and spicy! It's a blend of miso, Japanese chilli, Szechuan pepper and Cayenne pepper. It's pork minced that has been mixed with the addictive concoction. If you look and stare into the minced, you will notice small little prawns too.



If you like spicy stuff, you will find it rather addictive. You can mix it in the broth or you can have it on its own with the noodles. It's spicy enough but not killing to me. Reminds me of the fragrant chilli flakes in small bottles that you add to noodles in many Japanese restaurants, just a tad fragrant because of the szechuan pepper and cayenne.

Just make sure you have your first mouth 'correctly' (you know what I mean right, when eating chilli) or you will cough and have to drown yourself with water.

It's very difficult to explain how it tastes. It's like bak chor and yet a bit like hae bee hiam. It's complex, but I think if you try it, you might find it a tad familiar. Tell me what you think!

Prices for Summer starts from $13.90


Autumn:

Autumn's inspiration is mushrooms! They have 3 different types of mushrooms that's fried. Mushrooms if you cook shrink, so it's those small bits around in the photo below. The other inspiration is bonito flakes.



The ball of minced meat you see if a mix of bonito and minced pork. There's quite a lot of bonito in it, it gets you addicted like you know how we sometimes use our fingers to swipe up all the remaining bits in a junk food packet? That's how I can describe the dish.  Very additively nice.

Mix it into your broth and it transform the already nice broth into something greater. If you ask for 'special toppings', you get the extra stir fried pork too! That's very yummy!

Prices for Autumn starts from $12.90


Winter:
If you like the version at Orchid Hotel, this is about the same there except it has been made richer and thicker!



If you like the good old Tonkotsu broth without anything additions like basil and cheese etc, you will like this. It's nice and rich, the reason many people who like me who likes thick rich version queue up at the Orchid Hotel branch.

I like to have this with the marinated bean sprouts. I wonder if I can ask for more spring onions the next time.

Prices for Winter starts from $10.90


King:

If you feel like King! This version was my favourite. It has stir fried pork with ginger on top. There's also onions fried with pork which I like. It also has black fungus.



It's like having a bowl of winter above and asking for a bowl of stir fried pork and adding into it! Rather addictive eating the pork slices.

Prices for King starts from $13.90




These are the bowls that the noodles are served on. It's beautiful isn't it?
They are Arita Porcelain bowls, specially made for Four Seasons.


They have a contest now at their Facebook Page. Take any creative photo when you are dining there and post to their Facebook page. Prizes includes tickets to Tokyo! You can also win one of the Arita porcelain bowls too.


This photo for those into porcelain. ;-)

This is probably their biggest seating capacity branch so far. They have 56 seats here.


There's always talk about noodles thickness when people talk about ramen.

Out of curiosity, we asked if they are made in house. They said the noodles are made using their own recipe in a factory in Singapore. It's the same company that made their noodles in Japan. The factory in Japan has opened a similar factory in Singapore to supply noodles to the 4 branches here!

The noodles they use in the 4 branches are different in thickness and shape. Apparently, the noodles served are based on the broth. This branch has very strong and thick broth, so they use thinner noodles here. The science of thickness of noodles so that it just soaks up enough broth to enjoy it the best. Interesting eh?
Ramen Keisuke Tonkotsu Four Seasons
158 Rochor Road
Bugis Village (between KFC and Mcdonalds)
Singapore 188433

Tel: 6333 5740

Hours:
Mon - Fri: 11.30 am - 2.30 pm / 5 pm - 10.30 pm
Sat, Sun, Public Holidays: 11.30 am - 10.30 pm

Menya Musashi @ The Star Vista

It's ironic, I don't really like to eat noodles made from wheat, but I do like ramen! I prefer to have noodles made from rice flour. Which is why when I order CKT, I only order only Kway Teow and no noodles in it. If the hawker doesn't sell only Kway Teow versions, I walk away.

Back to eating ramen. Why do I like it? I think it's probably the broth made from either pork or chicken. It's the broth and not the ramen that I like, but I eat it because it goes so well together. ;-)



The wife and I met for dinner at Menya Musashi at The Star Vista the  other day. If you always see queues here and wonder if there's ever a time when there's no queue, it's around 6 - 6.30 pm!

I always like my tea cold, and she likes her tea hot!



I have eaten here a few times and we started to notice that there's always specials here. I work near this area and the wife works in town. When I tell her what I ate at Menya in Star Vista, she will says there's no such options at the CityHall branch. Interesting eh?

There was once I had the Curry Ramen and it was something I really liked. This above is another special (it's 2 months ago) that was the White Miso Ramen. (Can't remember the exact dish name as I just discovered I had these photos in my SD card).

I always like miso based stuff and this was satisfying for me. The char siu was also soft and had a nice feeling in your mouth as you bite into it.



The wife had the 'Black' version of 'chicken'.
Women are sometimes fickle minded, some days they like the white, sometimes the red version, sometimes the black.



This version has the pieces of chicken that was good. Yes, I ate one piece of the meat when the wife offered if I wanted a bite.



We were bring a little greedy and wanted to order something else.
So we had the duck cha shu as well. If you like duck and something salty as you have it with your tea, it's a nice little order.



It was a quick date night.

I have been passing Menya at Star Vista quite often,  I should stop and look at their specials now instead of just walking past it because there's always a queue when I pass by. Yearning for some Ramen this weekend!

Menya Musashi @ The Star Vista
1 Vista Green Exchange
#B1-08
Singapore 138617

Tel: +65 6694 2515

Ramen Keisuke Tori King @ 100AM (Amara Hotel)

A friend of ours was in town recently and she's a ramen girl. Yes, the last trip she was here, the 'Ramen Queen' had at least a bowl of ramen from the different shops!

This time she is here, we brought her to Ramen Keisuke Tori King that has been on her list of place to go. KopiKosongGirl and a few of our friends have been there, but I have been too busy to join them. This time round, I got to try it. The 3 of us went there on a Sunday afternoon around noon and probably it's the best time to go. There were no queues yet!



The big words means Chicken (Tori) King.
The newest branch of the Ramen Shops by Chef owner Keisuke Takeda. This is his first chicken based branch.

Oh, I recently read an interview about Chef Takeda. He was a French chef for 12 years before going into Japanese cooking! Most ramen chefs are trained right from the start as ramen chefs, but Chef Takeda has 12 years of French training in his 20 over years of cooking. Interesting eh?


This place is so much bigger than the other 'pork' branch nearby at Orchid Hotel. We do like the space here. Wider and hot as hot and warm as the other branch.

It's decorated with flags and bits of pieces of manga and old pieces of paper to look like the 60s and 70s. We probably won't appreciate it, but our parents might!

We order using the similar piece of paper as the 'pork' branch nearby. A sheet of order chit for each bowl. They took our orders and we were shown our seats.


Each of us have a some sesame seeds to crush, that's if you like them to be added into your ramen.

We found something quite interesting. If you are a guy, you will be served a blue glass of water. If you are a lady, they will serve you water in a pink glass! We observed the whole place and it's really blue for boys, pink for girls!


The free flow eggs if you feel like having more eggs. The 2 ladies did not touch it, I took one so that I can know how it taste like. It's hard boiled eggs.


Our friend is not a bean sprouts person, but kopikosonggirl and I are!
Nicely marinated sprouts that makes you want to keep eating it!

The little container on the left is some spicy sauce that looks a bit like 'sambal'. Japanese sambal if you want to call it, goes very well with the chicken thigh! They give you an empty plate for the chicken.



Our 'ramen queen' and kopikosonggirl both had the 'Black Spicy' Tori King Ramen Special with all toppings. $16.90.

Oh, doesn't it look so so good? The broth according to our friend Camemberu has been made from chicken bones, chicken feet and kombu with a cooking time of 8-9 hours.

The chicken thigh is a huge one that you can see covers almost the whole bowl. The chicken is probably cooked in some liquid for some time to be so tender. Most people said it's grilled chicken, but during the last time KopiKosongGirl and 2 other of our friends, 'monkey' and 'nic' was here, they saw that the chicken was flame torched to look so pretty. Yes, people who cooks like to peep into kitchens and see how things are done.

It does make sense, since we know the chef has French trained ;-)



It's not entirely chicken as there's a huge piece of 'chaa shuu' on it.

I have been reading a lot about sous vide food recently and I came across an interview that Chef says, he uses wine to marinate his pork and sous vide the meat as well! Japanese food from a Japanese chef with French background, how interesting the way he prepares his food eh? Best of both worlds!

The black spicy has the toasted szechuan peppercorn and garlic in oil poured over it. That's the difference between the black spicy and the original chicken broth version that I had.



I had the Tori King Ramen Special with All Toppings. $15.90.


Both ladies loved the chaa shuu, the chicken thigh, the egg, noodles, even the black fungus that was on it, but found that the chicken broth is a bit overpowering. Our Ramen Queen liked it but could not finish it all as it was a bit oily and peppery, probably because they had the 'black spicy'.

I like the my ramen and after tasting the ladies' black spicy and mine, I prefer the original chicken broth. It's easier on the palate. The chicken broth was really rich and flavourful. You can taste that it has been boiled and reduced for hours.  You got to have it before it turns cold.

I finished up all my noodles and half the bowl of broth. I thought it was a bit wasted if I don't finish all the goodness in it, so I cracked open a hard boiled egg and ate it with the broth. Yummy (the soup, not the hard boil egg,  remember to go for the Tamago egg ajitama !)



The big board that greets you at the main entrance.

(You can click on the photo above to see the bigger version of it if you want to read the words.)


Ramen Keisuke Tori King
100 Tras Street
#03-15
Amara Hotel Shopping Mall (aka 100AM)
Singapore 079027

Tel: +65 6604 6861
Hours: 11:30 AM to 10:00 PM daily.

Ramen Bar Suzuki @ Boat Quay

Singapore's becoming a Ramen island! So many new ramen places opening up, and each getting more and more authentic to the real Japanese flavour. The wife loves ramen, so when we know of one, we will go try it out!

We were discussing about work the other day and somehow ramen was mentioned and a colleague said that there's a new Ramen place at Boat Quay that his friend says is like the one he just had in Japan few weeks ago. It's called Ramen Bar Suzuki.

I told the wife and off we went last Saturday evening! We thought it was probably still new, because there was no queue when we went around 7:45pm. The place was empty too, but halfway through our meal, we realised it was nearly full. Talk about timing!


Compared to Keisuke Tonkotsu King, this place is much cooler (as in temperature) and a little larger too. It sits around 30 or so and there was a table outside the shop too. 


Their grounded sesame seeds, instead of a Suribachi and Surikogi, you grind it using the little plastic apparatus that turns on top. They have garlic flakes here though! Potent ones too!


There's also the free eggs and seasoned bean sprouts which we liked. The sprouts were spicy and very addictive.


The signs says you get free rice if you dine during lunch time.
We were there for dinner, and we don't think we need the rice, it was filling enough!


For those who loves fried pork fats, they have this here!


The Best Way To Eat their noodles.
See the words in red, and the asterisk. ;-)


Just like Tonkotsu King, they White, Black and Red Tonkotsu Ramen.
They call it Pure White, Jet Black and Cardinal Red here. Order using separate sheets for each order.



Pure White Tonkotsu Ramen (Extra chashu, seaweed and flavoured egg version, $15.20)
I like everything so I ordered the works. If not, the price starts from $12.90.

The broth is rich and flavourful. I finished it all up! I shall not compare the broth, every shop have their own variations and we should respect that. The 3 of us at home have 3 difference preferences for ramen, and our own favourites.

The meat slices were not dry here though and quite delicious. Glad I had the extra chashu.
The garlic chips are quite potent! After being re-hydrated with the broth, it is the hot kind which I like.


The noodles are really thin here. Eat it quick before they turn soft and soggy.
You can specify the way you like it, but I just ticked the original Japanese preference on the order chit.


The eggs does not have runny egg yolks, but were really soft though.
Maybe I will leave out the egg in my next order here.

(My mum told us the other day, you all ah pay so much for these eggs, she said she has perfected it. Looks like we should visit her home and try it!)



KopiKosongGirl had the JetBlack Tonkotsu Ramen.
She had only the one with extra chashu at $15.20.

Jet black is based on squid ink and roasted garlic. Squid ink is not my favourite ingredient around, but is the wife's. She liked the broth and also the thin noodles.



Dipped Ramen with Tonkotsu Soup and Fish Powder (with extra flavoured egg) $15.90.

Sis on the other hand after trying Menya Musashi says she is not having any wet version anymore. She liked my dry version previously, so she said she will order the dry version this time.

The dry version has much thicker noodles and chewy!


The broth for dipped noodles are usually more salty. In the menu they say they have home-made fish powder in it. I am not sure what it is, but the soup sure tasted really good. The main ingredient is dried scallops and dried bonito. There seems to be hints of citrus, we think it's probably yuzu or something similar. The soup also had some pickled 'serng buay' taste. There were also huge chunks of delicious pork inside. Unlike the thinly sliced charsiu for the two of us, the meat here are around thumb size and very tender.



Each table has a jug of ice cold oolong tea which is so refreshing.
It's another place where we can come with ramen loving friends. We would probably be back to try other side dishes they have on the menu.

After paying we were given the card that we get a stamp for every bowl of ramen ordered. Every 6 stamps equal to a free bowl of ramen. The lady who served us said, come with 4 friends next time, 1 of you will get to eat free! 


Ramen Bar Suzuki
61 Circular Road
#01-01
Singapore 049415

Menya Musashi @ Raffles City

KopiKosongGirl, her sister-in-law and I decided one day we shall join the queue after resisting it. There seems to be always a queue at Menya Musashi and after sometime you do get curious and wonder how good it is!

This very popular ramen shop in Tokyo looks equally popular in Singapore!


The queue might be long, but it does not really take that long. Probably around 15-20 minutes of waiting that day. You can browse through the menu which they will give out. You can also eavesdrop on what others tell their dining partners about the ramen here.

Or you can also google about it and see what others say about this place while waiting. We were busy on instagram ;-)


After a while, someone walks over and ask us what we would like and takes our order and gives this order chit to us.

You can see what's in the menu in this chit. Basically, they have White Musashi, Black Musashi and Red Musashi. Then choose if you want Kanuni (Stewed Pork) or Cha Shu.

When they seat you, you don't have to wait long for your food to arrive.


The Crispy Gyoza. (5 for $5.90)
Sis loves gyozas and always orders them. They were crispy, quite tasty but we found it very tiny.


The Black Kanuni Ramen ($14.90)
Sis had this and found the ramen not 'q' enough for her liking. It's a bit 'soaked' she said. She likes the broth though, but thinks mine is better.

I tried some of the broth, it's like it has a bit of the 'flour' taste in it.

The Kanuni is nice, soft and well marinated and if you like stewed pork you will probably like it. It not all lean meat, but with some fatty layers which makes it nice to eat. 


The White Cha Shu Ramen ($12.90)
KopiKosongGirl had this she also said her noodles were a bit too soft and she would have preferred it more al-dante. She loved the broth though. I think it also has some 'flour' taste because of the noodles, but she found it nice for her.

The Cha Shu that she had and mine was really enjoyable. Round thin slices of meat that taste a bit like the salty bottom section on a good piece of roast pork. It smells like it and taste like it.



I had the dry version. The Tsukemen ($14.90)
I like the Cha Shu, really yummy! If you like your ramen more 'q', this version is good.
In fact, sis and KKG both preferred my noodles.


Oh yes, for your noodles, you can choose the serving size.
3x has 360g of noodles and it's very very filling. The next time I would probably only try 2x!

A friend who had recently went wanted to try the 5x and it's like 600g, madness trying to finish it!


You can choose the broth for the Tsukemen, either white, black or red.
I chose the red and I find it really tasty! Sis like I said earlier, preferred the red as well.
Quite salty I would say but addictive. It's thicker than the soup version, more concentrated.


I did not want to waste the noodles and since I took the challenge to order the 3x, I made sure I finished it all!

The eggs here as you can see seems more cooked and does not flow. I still liked it because I love eggs. There are places with nicer eggs.

We think the broth at Keisuke Tonkotsu King that we tried recently was nicer. The meats like stewed pork and cha shu here is much better thatn Keisuke though. It's really tasty and flavourful here.

We like that this place as is very comfortable and relaxing unlike most ramen shop which is cramp and very warm. We will be back for another visit.

Menya Musashi 252 North Bridge Road 01-16 Raffles City Shopping Centre Singapore 179103 Tel: 63356500 Hours: 11.30am to 10pm daily.