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Sunday, October 31, 2010

New Menu at Sapporo Ramen Miharu - Tori-dashi Ramen

I visited one of my regular ramen joints, Miharu, and what a surprise!

There is a flyer on the wall with a big red word "NEW MENU" on it.

They have created a new item on their menu, Tori-Dashi Shio Ramen (鶏ダシ塩らあめん, S$12), or "chicken stock salt ramen" when translated directly in English.

Miharu is known for ramen with rich miso-based broth, so it is interesting that it has created a light ramen on it repertoire. It might be a coincidence that signature dish of the most popular ramen store (by my research), Marutama, is also chicken-based. The ramen scene in Singapore is getting more competitive with many new entrants, so long-established incumbents like Miharu has to adapt too.

Back to the ramen... of course I ordered the new item to try it out.

looks like a yin yang mark ...

The first thing that jumped out of this ramen is the generous topping of spring onion. The green spring onion took up almost half of the bowl. The clear chicken stock was layered with sesame, adding a flagrant smell to the ramen. It was also topped with a portion of menma, seaweed and 3 flavoured quail eggs. Interesting - it is the first time in Singapore that I saw quail eggs being used in ramen.

... a closer look at the quail eggs.

What I like about this ramen was its chicken stock - it is light and clear but yet delectable. It is supposed to be made from chicken from Shiretoko (知床), an area in the east of Hokkaido that is recognised as an UNESCO World Natural Heritage site. In addition, every mouthful of the noodle will come with some spring onion and sesame, which adds a different texture and taste to the noodle.

The quail eggs, unlike the normal egg, was harder and the yoke wasn't runny. I guess because of the small size of the egg, it is hard to control the runniness. Still prefer the usual larger eggs, which Miharu does well in.

And lastly, after I've finished enjoying the ramen until the end, I still feel a little unsatisfied. I realised why after a while... that this ramen has no char siew or meat at all. It will be better if it has 1 or 2 pieces of char siew, or the fillet of the Shiretoko chicken.

All in all, it was a good bowl of ramen, especially suitable if you long for a light bowl after a heavy meal the previous day.

Monday, October 4, 2010

2010 Q3 Unofficial Ramen Ranking Results!

Three-quarter of the year has gone, and its time to release the Q3 unofficial Singapore ramen ranking!

I'm glad that there are more than 100 votes now! The results should be statistically significant :)

The top 3 ramen places in Singapore by popular voting are:

1) Marutama Ramen
2) Santouka
3) Ippudo


It seems that the results have stabilised.

The top 3 positions are still taken by Marutama, Santouka and Ippudo. Marutama maintained its lead over the other 2, while Santouka shook off Ippudo's tie in Q2 and moved up to the 2nd place.

Nantsuttei was emerging sharply in Q2 right after its opening, but the momentum has lost steam since, and it was unable to catch up with the top 3.

And the other stores are pretty far behind.

Coincidentally, Martutama currently has the largest number of outlets in Singapore (excluding the ubiquitous Ajisen). A combination of taste and accessibility might be linked to its popularity here. Wonder what will happen if I put Ajisen on the ranking....

Looking forward to the full year result at the end of the year!
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