This week's featured: Char Siew Ramen（チャシューメン）
A little place I found about a year back while with my parents, "Baikouken" serves ramen of exceptional standard. This bowl you see above is the Shoyu base Char Siew Ramen. There are a total of 3 main soup bases that ramen is cooked in Japan.
1) Shoyu Base: Japanese Soy Sauce base. It is the base in which many would call balanced. Not too salty and overbearing nor is it too light, a perfect taste for one who's a novice to tasting ramen.
2) Shio Base: This base is the salt base and many would think it would bring about an extremely salty flavour to the whole concoction. On the contrary, this is the lightest of the 3 flavours and has only a mild salty taste to it along with an olive oil like finish. Best to have this piping hot, once it cools... it wouldn't taste as good. Trust me.
3) Miso Base: The famous fermented beans of Japan, Natto（なっとう／納豆）are crushed and made into paste. Said paste has many uses such as coupling with cucumbers and in this case, your ramen soup base. Although fermented beans on one hand may sound frighteningly hard to digest, they are extremely healthy and are widely used in Japan. However, the miso base ramen is saltiest of the three.
Now, as you all know... Singapore is famous for having restaurants that boast many different food groups and where they hail from different continents of the world. However, the restaurants don't often have the same taste or standard as that of the Mother nation the food originally came from. It wasn't without effort that I managed to find this restaurant though. It wasn't long ago that I chanced upon this one run by actual Japanese from the Hokkaido region of Japan, Sapporo to be exact. The main branch around Boat Quay was where I first tasted this awesome bowl of piping hot ramen.
In ramen, many local Japanese look for the flavour of the soup base and also the texture of the ramen(the noodles itself) whereby in union the 2 would blend and satisfy. The soup base here boasts excellent brewing and the noodles were just the right texture. As commented by friends of mine, this restaurant is also generous with their portion of the bamboo shoots and char siew. The char siew as you can see comes in a huge volume and would definitely leave you full to the brim. What better way to drown it down with a Sapporo beer after. A good way to enjoy the ramen even more, would be the addition of a plate of well-made Gyoza(dumplings). They also offer other additions to your ramen such as extra char siew, bamboo shoots, sweet corn and also the famous Japanese ramen eggs.
Definitely a satisfying meal and a great place to hang out. If you're short on time though, a quick bite out of this bowl at its secondary branch in town would satisfy your growling tummy. Be careful of the queue there though, it's become quite popular and the limited space they have at their town's branch means long waiting time(though it's worth it for sure). A quick way to get in touch with Japan while on your weekend shopping. Otherwise, a very good joint before a chill out session around Boat Quay and somewhere near clubbing places... isn't it just Convenient?!
So be sure to not miss this joint and its delicious ramen on your way to a club or a weekend trip down bustling town.
The locations of the Ramen Stores...
North Canal Branch
7 North Canal Road, Singapore 048820
Tel/Fax: +65 6534 3808
Opening hours: 11.00 - 15.00 & 17.00 - 22.00 (Mon-Sat)
Last Order: 21.30
Link to StreetDirectory:
http://www.streetdirectory.com/asia_travel/travel/travel_id_39173/travel_site_265/
Takashimaya Branch
Ngee Ann City Tower A
391 Orchard Road, B2 Takashimaya Food Hall
Unit B201-4, Singapore 238873
Tel/Fax: +65 62353483
Opening Hours: 10.00 - 21.30 (Mon-Sun)
Last Order: 21.00
Link to StreetDirectory: http://www.streetdirectory.com/asia_travel/travel/travel_id_28735/travel_site_142832/
Well, till next time;
"wash your hands before you eat!"
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