Yoshimaru @ Holland Village Revisited

I was pretty happy with Yoshimaru the last time I visited, so I joined my friends there for a late dinner. Ordered the Toasted Seaweed Ramen.



Everything looked normal until I tucked in. The ramen noodles were clumped together and uncooked. Obviously, the ramen was not even loosened when it was cooked. The experience was bad enough to downgrade this institution. I am even left wondering if I will ever come back, considering there are so many ramen-ya around in Singapore...

Original Review for Yoshimaru at Holland Village

Ippudo Tao @ UE Square

I mentioned that I have been wanting to try Ippudo Tao at UE Square, so I trekked down today. Arrived early in the evening, before any crowd could even build. The air-conditioned interior is quite small, although it is supplemented by quite a lot of outdoor seating. So, bear in mind if you want to sit inside, do arrive early.

Since it was the first time to Ippudo Tao, I decided to try a bit of everything. Ordered the Fried Young Corn, Tao Kuro Tamago (ramen) and a Tao Matsuri Menshi (rice bowl). I asked for the rice after the ramen, so that I could concentrate on the flavours presented.



First up, the fried young corn, which is deep fried and sprinkled with salt and a herb and spice mix. The corn was still crunchy, and the seasoning gave it a nice edge.



I realized during my last visit to Ippudo that the thickness of the ramen served varies with the broth you choose. The Tao Kuro version comes with a thick ramen, similar to the local mee-pok (or linguine). I guess it is similar to the ramen in Keisuke's Watarikani ramen. The broth is topped with the trendy black garlic oil and a dollop of miso. It comes with two slices of belly pork, cabbage, black fungus, minced pork and the ajituke tamago. I was surprised that the broth tasted quite different from the original broth in their Shiromaru ramen. The inclusion of both the black garlic oil and miso added another dimension to the broth. The flavour of the shitake was less apparent, but replaced by the depth of miso and garlic oil. The thicker noodle also gave it more bite. Quite satisfying. Would have gone kaedama if I had not ordered the rice bowl.



The rice bowl comes with come belly pork, shredded egg, seaweed, mentaiko and mayonnaise. Good thing the rice bowl is not too big, since it would be difficult to finish after the ramen and it is also quite rich. That said, it was a great mix of flavours, from the pork, mayonnaise to the mentaiko. And a good mix of textures, which included the seaweed, shredded egg and mentaiko.

I will definitely be back to this place. Will try their kushiyaki the next time, since I did not have any space left in my stomach this visit.

Rating: 7.5/10
Website: http://www.ippudo.com.sg/
Address: #01-55/56 UE Square, 207 River Valley Road
Phone: 6887 5315
Hours: 1100 hrs - 1500 hrs and 1700 hrs - 0000 hrs (Monday to Thursday)
1100 hrs - 1500 hrs and 1700 hrs - 0200 hrs (Friday and Saturday)
1100 hrs - 2300 hrs (Sunday)
Price: $$

Original Review for Ippudo at Mandarin Gallery
Subsequent Review for Ippudo at Mandarin Gallery

Ippudo @ Mandarin Gallery

This place has some reputation for the queues that form outside. In fact, I witnessed it the previous Saturday when a bunch of us went to eat at another establishment in the same building. So, I was quite surprised that I did not need to queue to get in today. Perhaps I was early (6 pm for dinner on a Sunday), since the place did fill up by the time I left, although there was still no queue snaking out of the restaurant.

Since the restaurant is a ramen restaurant, I started by ordering the ramen. Having never been to Kyushu before, I did not know what to expect from Hakata-style ramen that Ippudo specializes in. I ordered the Karaka Tamago, which is the ramen with original Ippudo pork broth, special spicy miso and ground pork with a flavoured egg. What attracted me to it were the words spicy miso. Those who know me well will know that I am sort of a spice monster. Was pleasantly surprised when they asked me the doneness of the ramen while taking the order. Since I like my pasta el denté, I asked for the ramen hard.



The bowl of hot ramen appeared in no time, and I proceeded to tuck in. What struck me was that there was nothing spicy about the miso. I guess the words spicy were for Japanese standards or for the West? So I was a little disappointed. However, the broth was nice and rich, almost creamy. The ramen was nicely cooked, with good bite. The egg was soft in the centre, and well flavoured too. So, other than the disappointing lack of spice, I would still rate the bowl of ramen highly.

Since I had also heard about their pork buns, I decided also to order a pork bun and a shrimp bun. I was told by some friends before that their pork buns were like the "Kong Bak Pau (扣肉包)" that the Chinese have. I have to say that I am not a real fan of those Chinese style buns, but was told that they were very good, so I decided to try.



Well, the buns come with the special Ippudo sauce, which is mayonnaise-based. I have to say that I am not a big fan of such sauces, so the generous serves of the sauce was not to my liking. The pork bun was the better of the two, since the meat was balanced by the sauce, and the lightness of the bun finished the package. Well balanced. The shrimp bun had a shrimp or prawn fritter with the sauce and bun. Okay, the single prawn was reasonable in size, but the fact that it was fried and accompanied by the rich sauce made it too rich for my liking. I do not think that I will order the buns again. Suffice that I have tried, and know what they taste like.

Will I return? Most definitely. I want to try the other ramen dishes. There was also a seasonal cold ramen that caught my eye, so hopefully I will be back before that disappears off the menu. I will skip the Karaka-men, since there was no real spice in it, and move to their pure Ippudo broths.

Rating: 7/10 (the ramen alone would be 8/10)
Website: http://www.ippudo.com.sg/
Address: #04-02 Mandarin Gallery, 333A Orchard Road
Phone: 6733 2426
Hours: 1130 hrs - 2300 hrs
Price: $$