Nantsuttei - Ramen's Black Gold

By Mark

Intro:

Nantsuttei is a highly popular standalone Ramen shop that's worth a visit (or several). While its uses the ever-popular tonkotsu broth, it differentiates itself from the rest with its potent addition of mayu (fried garlic oil), making it an extremely memorable bowl of ramen.

Ambience:

While I'm not as idealistic to believe that the repeated exclamations of Japanese welcome's and thank you's in Ramen shops are out of spontaneity, Nantsuttei's staff appear to adhere to a rather rigid regime of phrase-chanting (ie one waitress would shout a phrase out and the kitchen staff would complete it for her simaultaneously). Yes, it is supposed to add to the authenticity of the eatery, and I'm certainly not ignorantly complaining about the noise it creates, but my issue is with the management-dictated feel of it, instead of it being something more spontaneous. Apart from the above-mentioned point, I suppose it could be put down to the staff's lack of enthusiasm as well. It's not like they don't put in effort -they do, and in fact, shout the phrases at the top of their voices, and there's absolutely no faulting them there. I just get the feeling that like mindless soldiers, the staff are merely implementing orders to the best of their ability, instead of doing this because they enjoy being here. Smiles betray sincerity, and I didn't spot a single one on the staff's face. Take a look at Starbucks -while I'm critical of its prostituting cafes, the staff there have been sufficiently inculcated into its culture to genuinely feel a sense of belonging, however misplaced that may be. That sense of family, I believe, is what's sorely missing here.

The store's entrance, where you'd usually see hordes of people queuing

With its Japanese-inspired décor on its interior and exterior, and its rather limited seating capacity, Nantsuttei's the kind of shop that I wouldn't be surprised to see occupying a corner space by the roadside, meaning by extension that it looks slightly out of place in the modern, glitzy Millenia Walk. Like a corner shop though, it enjoys long, snaking queues, especially on weekends, outdoing its neighbouring rival, Keisuke Tokyo.

Its interior décor features a lot of Japanese calligraphy and a couple of articles about its founder. It felt to me like the calligraphy was posted there just to occupy wall space and prevent the place from looking too dull, but then again, I know next to nothing about the language and architecture, so I'm not in much of a position to comment, except from a hungry customer's viewpoint.

At this juncture, I should add that my S.O. and I were once kept waiting for 30 minutes while a large segment of the restaurant was unoccupied, save for a few typically anti-social diners wasting time away on their handphones while waiting for the rest of their dinner group to arrive. That's a truly horrible feeling to have, and I'd place the blame entirely on the shop's management. It's just plain inefficient to seat people without having the entire group present, especially in a shop of this size, and is something that wouldn't be seen happening in any of Keisuke's outlets (they have an all-diners-present policy implemented specifically to prevent such idiocy). I'd have left, if not for my love of the amazing ramen here, which brings me nicely to the food itself.

Bar seating, giving you a nice view of the preparation of your ramen

Food:

Gyoza ($6.00)

Departing from my standard practice of reviewing an eatery's ramen only, we had gyoza as well this time round. At first sight, the gyoza's burnt areas led me to suspect that it was either frozen  instead of being made fresh, or the work of a gorilla left unsupervised in the kitchen. The former suspicions were unsurprisingly confirmed after taking a bite of it. While juicy, the gyoza was clearly underdone and didn't contain much in the way of fillings, which in itself was unremarkable. The individual pieces of gyoza were also stuck together, thereby eliminating the gorilla chef theory and making me undeniably certain that it was far from fresh.

Look at the burnt bits and the stuck-togetherness. Not very appetising

Ramen with Ajitsuke Tamago ($13.00)

Fortunately, Nantsuttei's ramen is not as bad as its gyoza and its service, which are in dire need of serious improvement. Its broth, which is its most noticeable feature with its oil-like colour and texture, is one of the best I've had the privilege of trying in Singapore. The way it strikes an almost perfect balance between the pork undertones and the mayu signifies tremendous amounts of effort poured into creating the perfect broth. On one memorable occasion, a reverent hush descended on my group the moment we took a sip of the broth, and continued for a good 5 minutes or so, well into our eating time. Eating a dish becomes a shared religious experience when a group of 6 otherwise-noisy hot-blooded males are so moved by it that they fall silent. Nantsuttei's broth is simply incredible, and there's really no other way to describe it.

Fortunately, this saves the day

The noodles are similarly well done, in the Hakata style that we're so accustomed to seeing accompany tonkotsu broths. They have a very satisfying bite to them, and despite the heaviness of the broth, retain their individual taste, indicating that they weren't over or under-cooked and are adequately fresh. They're mixed with juicy, succulent bean sprouts, which provide a pleasantly refreshing sensation against the broth's heaviness.

On sight, the cut of chashu used here is also exceptional, with just the right amount of fat and leaner parts. This indeed proved to be the case, and along with its tender texture, allowed me to enjoy one of the better chashus I've had for quite some time. Unfortunately though, it got a bit drowned out by the broth's heavy taste, and perhaps should have been better marinated.

That layer of oil... Oh boy this is gonna be good

The egg was quite a letdown though. On all the instances I've eaten here, the egg has always been nearly hard-boiled, and the amount of seasoning is virtually non-existent. This time, I guess they decided to change things up a bit by making it so that the yolk was more or less identical to that of a soft-boiled eggs. Of course, it goes without mention that it remained unseasoned.

As a whole, Nantsuttei's ramen is quite spectacular, and not just its broth, but the entire package (sans the egg) is just so harmoniously balanced and complementary, which is a hallmark of great ramen. Pity about the egg though, and the gyoza's simply not worth wasting money on.

It's waiting for you!

Value-for-money:

As for the ramen itself, $12.00 for the basic ramen is quite a reasonable price for such quality ramen, although it doesn't include the prevailing GST and service charge. It also doesn't account for the sub-standard customer service, which defeats the purpose of having a service charge to begin with. The gyoza on the other hand, I felt, could have been better prepared. As it stands now, it seems like just a convenient way for the uninitiated to signal that they've money to spare, and thereafter, relieve themselves of it.

Conclusion:

Here come two bombs: firstly, the mayu used is poured out from plastic packaging, and isn't fried in the eatery itself. Who knows how old it is. And secondly, Nantsuttei isn't a standalone shop, but is instead a chain of shops (albeit a small chain), having a number of outlets in Japan, which comes as a surprise to me as I'd thought all along that it was a standalone store, although that doesn't take anything away from its spectacular ramen. As far as I know, Singapore's the only foreign country they've set up shop in. So much for romantic standalone authenticity.

While the service is rather mediocre and the gyoza wasn't done very well, they shouldn't deviate your attention from the incredible ramen served by Nantsuttei. Despite all of its failings, I can't deny that Nantsuttei serves one of the best Ramen in Singapore, and is certainly one of a kind. For everyone who hasn't tried it before, and for everyone who has, go down to Millenia Walk and give it a try -it's worth your time!

Have you had anything from here before? What was your experience like? We're interested -do share with us in the comments below!

FOODIE’S RATING
Quality & Taste(75%)	7.8	A sure 8.2 or higher if not for the disappointing egg, gyoza and instant ingredients
Value (15%)	6.5	Pretty average as far as prices go, until you take customer service into account
Ambience & others (10%)	6.0	Contrived at best
Total	7.4	Great ramen, but the eatery is lacking in other aspects

Address:
#P3-06, Millenia Walk, 9 Raffles Boulevard

Operating hours:
11am to 9:30pm daily

A completely unabashed endorsement for a company that's going through undeserved struggling and is being treated as a punching bag for the media:

I typed out this entire post on my Blackberry Q10, which is hands-down one of the most productive and efficient phones on the market. Some of its more outstanding productivity-driven features include of course, its signature keyboard and its Remember note-taking application, for instance. Remember is particularly outstanding in how it allows me to add photos into the note itself, enabling me to quickly upload my photos onto the blog, as well as refer to them easily as and when I need to. Currently, Remember is the only mobile note-taking app that supports Rich Text, meaning that if I copy a chunk of text, the font and colour are retained, instead of being changed to the phone's native font. Also, tables can be copied, like the weightage table above. TABLES CAN BE COPIED ONTO A MOBILE NOTE-TAKING APP, THAT'S REVOLUTIONARY! The photos were also taken using my Q10's much-improved camera, which while not matching a DSLR in sheer image quality, is still pretty impressive for a mobile phone's. Also, the native editing function allows me to touch up the photos on the go. All in all, an amazing phone for people who value getting work done instead of playing trivial apps (which by the way, are not lacking because Blackberry 10 can sideload nearly all Android apps), and that will hopefully see a few more sales as a result of this post :)

Ramen Champion Great World City -A Brave New World

By: Mark

Their new emblem or something

Intro:

Arthur and I were invited to the much- anticipated opening of Ramen Champion's new outlet at Great World City on 19th November. I, to say the least, was incredibly excited and practically salivating over the opportunity to try the various new ramen stalls. In fact, after waiting close to 2 weeks for it to open, I succumbed and headed down on my own prior to the food tasting session, at the expense of being labelled a "ramen rapist" by Arthur. Bearing in mind my much-documented inability to resist ramen's seductive allure, this title is well-deserved I suppose, and one that I now carry around with a similar pride to that which is bestowed upon war medals. Veering back from that deviation, I'm delighted to say that Ramen Champion's new outlet deserves all the attention it's been receiving recently from the media. This outlet is yet another haven for Ramen lovers, and will definitely receive a warm welcome from them.

Ambience:
Like the outlet at Bugis+, Great World City’s Ramen Champion is unmistakable with its broth-derived aroma wafting in the air, attracting anyone with a nose and a stomach who happens to be on the same floor (true story –I was unable to find the store until I picked up the scent of ramen broth).

Decorative entrance

In contrast to the outlet at Bugis+ which had the rustic feel of a foreign land far-removed from reality, Great World City’s felt a lot more modern, with brighter lightings and more chic interior finishing. Its windows that separate it from the building's exterior are not fully covered with stickers, causing me to feel not as isolated from outside life than Bugis+.  The result is an eatery that feels less distant from the real world and bears more resemblance to other eateries around its price range. There’s nothing here to complain about however, and I believe that Komars wanted to preserve a sense of identity for each different outlet of Ramen Champion, instead of creating homogeneous eateries much like huge fast food chains.

At the end of the outlet, there are large tables with long benches accompanying them, which will accommodate bigger groups more easily. This is definitely a nod in the right direction by Komars, recognising and catering for the Marche-type crowd (ie large groups in search of an eatery with a good variety of food) that’s likely to patronise a place like this.

I must say that I really like this place. Like Bugis+, it clearly strives to integrate elements of Japan into its overall architecture, from its finishing to its furniture. This is bound to please ramen lovers, and the atmosphere of the eatery makes it extremely conducive to indulge in ramen gluttony.

Food (initial impressions): 
During the tasting session, we were provided with a free flow of the ramen stalls’ various side dishes and ramen (which of course, allowed us to eat to our very spacious stomachs’ content). The side dishes included gyozas with various toppings, chicken karaage and spicy chicken wings, which were in general, very well done. Arthur and I felt though that the central focus of Ramen Champion should be placed on the ramen dishes themselves, which is why we are not including photos or detailed reviews of the sides. Make no mistake though, they are very worthy appetizers, and I’d definitely recommend them to any seriously starving customers, to whom a bowl of ramen by itself wouldn’t be enough. Also, this section will only include our initial impressions of the ramen, with reviews being put up soon.

Bishamon Zero

BISHAMON ZERO

This rendition of miso ramen tasted as perfect as miso ramen gets. Considering the frankly mediocre standards of Bishamon outlets outside, this is surprising, albeit in a welcome way. The broth was well-balanced, with no individual flavours overwhelming the others. It also had a tinge of spiciness to it, which, like the other flavours, wasn’t overwhelming at all. These factors, combined with the other ingredients, made the components of the ramen perfectly complementary, making us tremendously impressed.

Trust us. It's as good as it looks.

Butaou

BUTAOU RAMEN

This stall’s name and sukiyaki style of ramen bear uncanny resemblances to Bugis+’s Buta God, making us wonder if they shared the same chef. However, we were assured by the PR team that they were separate entities. As compared to Buta God, Butaou’s broth was almost diabetically sweet, signalling an overuse of soy sauce without enough pork to ground it and give it substance. Also, I found Buta God’s pork more well-marinated and homely than Butaou’s. With their near-identical styles of ramen, these stalls are in unavoidably direct competition with each other, but if you asked me, I’d definitely take Buta God over Butaou any day of the week.

Cheap looking bowl does not mean cheap tasting Ramen.

Tonkotsu Itto
I (Arthur) felt particularly strongly about the following two Ramen stores and as a result decided to "fight" Mark for the rights to covering this section of his post. He was reluctant at first but with a costly bribe of one Chasu , he finally gave in to me. With that out of the way, here are my initial impressions:

TONKOTSU ITTO

To start with, Tonkotsu Itto was unmemorable to say the least. When I first read Mark's review, I was actually a little disagreeable with his harsh rating, even taking to a long discussion with him regarding it. Now however, having tried it myself, I must agree that this stores Ramen, as of now, is quite unimpressive indeed. The first word that came to my mind when sipping in the soup was "deception". What I mean here is that the soup is decently thick, but deceivingly so. Why? Because, as far as I could taste, much of the soup's thickness comes from starch and not actual time and effort put into the boiling it. Don't get me wrong, adding starch to the soup might not be too bad an idea, but here it just ends up tasting bland and looking thick on initial observation, a combination that creates anticipation then crushes expectations. The noodles are similarly mishandled, overcooked to the point of complete brittleness, having minimal resistance and chew to them. As for the egg and Chasu, they were pretty average at best.

Look closely at the soup...

Miyamoto
I was particularly interested in this store's Ramen, being that it seems to share a style quite similar to Bario Ramens'. I was personally quite hopeful that Miyamoto would be able to match Bario's flavorful experience whilst presenting a few tricks of their own, being that Bario seems to be the only one of its style around in Singapore till date. To that end, it's actually a little iffy; and my hopes were in a way, half granted. 

MIYAMOTO RAMEN

Let's start with the good points. The first was clear once the bowl arrived on our table. Coupled with the broth and noodles was a generous serving of succulent, fatty looking Chasu which beckoned drooling. It didnt only look good though, it tasted good too. The meat was of good quality and had been lovingly marinated and cooked to give off a heavy and well smoked flavour. Here's the thing though, Miyamoto's broth is especially light, a broth of chicken and pork that was clearly flavored off with salt. This made for a confusing eat that contrasted extremely heavy with light taste. As of now, i am still undecided as to whether this should be considered a good or bad paring, but generally, the soup was decent enough. Its like a ever slightly heavier version of your standard Shio Ramen with a slightly more sophisticated taste. 

High hopes for this guy...High hopes still.

The noodles on the other hand was not very well done. Similar to Tonkotsu Itto, it was quite brittle, though its bulkier thickness did help, it was not sufficient to make it great. As for the egg? That might as well have been hard boiled.  

Overall:

Bishamon Zero was undoubtedly the star of this food tasting session, with the others lagging quite far behind it. However, ramen quality can suffer, and it’s clear that they put in a special effort in their food preparation to accommodate the tasting session’s attendees, meaning that it wouldn’t be completely objective to base our judgement of the stalls on this tasting session alone. Rest assured that we’ll be back to write up more comprehensive reviews of this outlet, the process (ie more ramen!) of which I’m obviously looking forward to.

As a whole, Komars has put in a commendable effort in opening this new branch , and I suspect that having an outlet in Great World City would serve as a reason for many to visit this mall. We’d like to thank them for their hospitality during the tasting session. Although they aren’t directly involved in the preparation of the ramen, they have advanced the ramen culture in Singapore by sourcing for ramen stores in Japan to bring over, and by providing the capital to set up Ramen Champion (along with all the accompanying risks of a business venture), among many other things. Their dedication to ramen is clear to all, and much appreciated by ramen lovers like us.

Have you had anything from here before? What was your experience like? We're interested -do share with us in the comments below!

Address:
#01-22, Great World City, 1 Kim Seng Promenade

Operating hours:
11:30am to 10:30pm daily