Fancy duck or snapper-based ramen? Check out some of the latest ramen flavours around at these noodle hot spots.
Left: Men-Men Tei / Center: Sapporo Ramen Shirakaba Sansou / Right: Ginza Kamo Soba Kyudaime Keisuke
With over 100 ramen restaurants on the island, it’s no doubt that this hearty, soupy noodle dish is a big hit in Singapore. It’s a go-to for those who want a fuss-free yet satisfying and flavourful meal.
While it’s said to have originated from China, ramen has become synonymous with Japan, where it’s something of a national dish. The basic broths include shoyu (soy sauce), shio (salt), miso (fermented soybean paste) and tonkotsu (pork bone). Different soup bases can be made by combining these different flavours. The noodle is just as important; you can get it straight or wavy and in varying levels of thickness, all of which will affect the taste of the ramen.
In Japan, each region may have a slightly different take on the dish in terms of the ingredients and toppings used. For example, miso-based ramen is popular in Sapporo, where the dish is also a little oilier to trap flavour and heat, warming diners up through the freezing winter.
Ramen eateries are called ramen-ya and usually found in busy locations, making them a perfect place for those who want to pop in and out for a quick meal. After all, ramen is best slurped up quickly to prevent the noodles from getting soggy. For the most part, ramen remains a humble, everyday dish, although it’s recently been elevated to the realm of gourmet food, with ramen restaurant Tsuta achieving Michelin-star status.
Ramen chefs are constantly coming up with new flavours. One such creation is the duck ramen, made by celebrity chef Keisuke Takeda. He opened his first branch serving the speciality dish in Ginza, Tokyo, in 2014. Another increasingly popular flavour in Tokyo is the sardine tonkotsu ramen, which combines the pork bone broth with dried sardine extract, as well as red snapper ramen.
Good news—these exciting new flavours can now be found in Singapore as well! Find out more from these three acclaimed chefs who are helming the latest ramen spots here.