Tonkichi

19th October, Monday

The outlet at Shaw House. Most famous for their deep fried pork cutlets. I ordered their ramen set, which consists of a ramen, a katsu, and one more side dish. Everything costs $23. Very filling, I couldn't even finish the ramen.


Tonkotsu ramen

The soup was thick and yet not filling. A marvelous balance! I thought it could be a tad saltier, but my mother found it just nice. The ramen was quite okay, but the char siew had the stale and refridgerator taste.

Finally, it's a pity they gave normal hard boiled eggs. If the eggs were those 'phoenix eggs' where the egg white is cooked but the yolk is still runny, it would be better.

V's verdict: 7/10


Tori karaage

3 pieces of fried chicken. For their skill in deep frying the pork fillet, I am surprised by how poor their chicken is. It's not hot enough, and it's dry.

V's verdict: 5/10


Hire katsu

Ah, what Tonkichi is well known for. Indeed, the pork loin was deep fried just nice - not too oily and yet not too dry. The outer layer was also nice and crisp and didn't ooze oil. And it's a huge portion!

V's verdict: 8/10

Okinawan Diner Nirai-Kanai

22nd August, Saturday

A Japanese restaurant which is quite well known for their pork belly. They shifted to Liang Court, from Tanglin Shopping Centre. Had a class gathering here, so we had a really huge group of 20+ people.

Raw squid

I must say the presentation of this dish sucks. If I had to give their presentation a score, it would probably get 3/10 at most. Look at the picture. Doesn't it look icky?

It looked raw and unappetizing, and the squid had a greenish tinge to it as well. But I still gave it a try. A consolation was that it didn't taste as bad as it looks. They seasoned it with some wasabi, so it was still okay. But I wouldn't order this again.

V's verdict: 5.5/10


Jumbo pork belly noodles

The pork belly was quite good. It was tender and fell apart once I prodded it with my chopsticks. Normally I don't eat the fats, but this time I just ate everything up. Other than the pork, the egg was done very well too. The egg yolk was still semi liquid, and the egg white was tasty too.

But this aside, nothing else was special. The soup was arguably decent. But the noodles weren't good; a bit hard and my first impression was "did they use the wrong noodles for this dish?" $13.80

V's verdict: 6.5/10

Kyo-Nichi

23rd July, Thursday

A ramen shop at China Square Central.

Kyo-Nichi ramen (thick soup)

Their soup had collagen added, or so they claim. It was not bad. The egg was quite good, with the yolk still slightly runny, but it couldn't compare to the ramen I had at Men-Tei Japanese Noodles. $11

V's verdict: 7/10

Baikohken (梅光轩）

9th June, Tuesday

A ramen shop located at 7 North Canal Road. I have walked past it before but have never even considered trying it until my friend suggested going there. It's very near to Boat Quay.

Shio Char Siew Ramen



This was one huge bowl of ramen with countless pieces of char siew! The char siew was a bit too salty though. Otherwise, it was not bad. The soup and the noodles were ok. Nothing special though. The most prominent thing about this is simply its size. $16.50

V's verdict: 6/10

Beppu Menkan (别府)

30th April, Thursday

Oniyama Jigoku



The outlet at at Cross St, China Square Central. They allow you to choose the number of chillies -- 1/2/4/6/8, I think. I tried up to 4 before. It's spicy, but anything above that is pointless -- the chilli flavour will overwhelm any other soup flavour. My mouth can take the spiciness, but my stomach can't; I usually end up with diarrhea after eating it.

I think this dish will be heavily skewed towards people who love spicy food, like me. The fried chicken is usually good and juicy, though today's was a little on the dry side. $9.30

V's verdict: 7/10


Mayonnaise prawn

Frying is probably one of the easiest way to make food tasty, simply because it masks the flavour. So even food that is not fresh tastes decent after frying. But this dish was definitely a thumbs down. It is dry and yet not crispy. The prawn was also quite tough. I suspect that it had been re-fried. $5.80

V's verdict: 2.5/10


Agedashi tofu

Tasted quite bad, but still less bad than the mayonnaise prawn. $3.60

V's verdict: 4.5/10


Salmon cheese fry

The salmon tasted fishy and stale; they probably chose their stalest salmon for this dish! The cheese managed to hide a bit of the staleness, but... just a bit. $3.65

V's verdict: 4/10

Men-Tei Japanese Noodles

23rd April, Thursday

Tonkatsu Ramen (面亭 - Men-Tei Japanese Noodles)



(oops, that's my finger at the top of the picture)

Located at Robinson Centre. (61 Robinson Road, #01-01). Reached there at 12pm and got the second last table. Within 5 more minutes, there was already a long queue outside.

The ramen was ok. The soup was quite good, having a good balance between tastiness and lightness. Of special mention should be their egg --- the japanese egg tamago, where the egg white is hard but the egg yolk is still soft. It is excellent, and they actually sell it as a separate side dish for $1.50 each. The pork was a bit disappointing though, since there's a bit of the "frozen taste", due to cooking meats without properly defrosting. But I could still bear it, as the frozen taste was quite mild.

Each bowl of ramen costs $13 along with a free flow of japanese green tea and ice water. No service charge or GST.

V's verdict: 7/10