For the longest time, I have heard raves about Ippudo ramen at Mandarin Gallery. Everything I walked past, there is always a queue outside the shop and I seriously thought to myself if it is really that good.
Last Saturday, I was in need of a serious ramen fix and I told BC that I want to try Ippudo ramen (no negotiation! since BC hates queueing and Ippudo does not accept reservations). We headed to Mandarin Gallery around 530pm and there is already a queue building up. We were in queue for about 10 - 15mins and a table was arranged for us.
The ramen menu was pretty straightforward. There is only
3 types of ramen: Shiromaru Hakata (ramen with char siew, black fungus), another type (which I forgot but is pretty similar to Shiromaru Hakata but with garlic oil) and spicy version of Shiromaru Hakata. There are options to add flavoured eggs, pork belly, tender pork cubes or even bamboo shoots (with additional costs). And both me and BC chose Shiromaru Hakata with flavoured egg.
The soup is flavourful and the ramen is Q and firm. If you prefer your ramen to be softer or harder, you can indicate to their staff when they are taking down your order. I opt for normal firmness and it turn out well and Q enough. The char siew is soft and tender but a bit on the salty side. The egg is to die for because the external is hard but the centre is super soft and the yolk is still a bit runny, NICE!
We ordered potato mentai on the side and we find it was just normal with potato baked with mayonnaise, roe and cheese.
Overall the ramenis quite nice as I like the Q noodles and the flavourful soup base. However, the soup does gives me a dry throat after the meal, which I suspect could be due to the MSG. The restaurant is quite noisy as the shop space is small and crowded with people so it's definitely not a place for you to chill out and catch up with your friends. For you guys who would like to try Ippudo ramen, my advices are:-
1) Don't go in big group. Max 4 pax so it's easier to get a table
2) Queue earlier. At least an hour before the normal meal time.
I don't really like Ippudo because of the taste of the soup. It doesnt taste that good to me. I like Ramen Santouka or the one just opened in Tanjong Pagar (Orchid Hotel). Their soup taste much better for me :)
ReplyDeleteI tried the one at Orchid Hotel and I like the unlimited bean sprouts. The soup also doesn't gives me dry throat like Ippudo which is better. :)
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