Gantetsu Ramen (Ramen Champion @ Iluma)

4th visit to Ramen Champion. This time, I tried Gantetsu from Sapporo. 2 more visits and I would have covered all the 6 Japanese Ramen restaurants. 

Weird that the name of the stall is called Gantetsu considering its meaning is stubbornness. 

Gantetsu Menu

Gantetsu Menu (Special Miso Ramen)

There was no queue. Yet, a 'landmine' was given. Waited for around 5 to 10 minutes before the landmine exploded. Good to know that they cook their ramen only upon receiving orders. 

Special Miso Ramen $15.00

The Special Miso Ramen comes with a ginger paste. It's broth made up of pork and miso was light and flavourful. The noodles was thin and firm. The sweet coin provided a distinct sweetness to the broth.  But the tamago was slightly overcook. Overall, quite an interesting ramen which was not overly salty. 

The six Ramen restaurants are:

1.IROHA from Toyama

2.BARIO from Tokyo

3.GANTETSU from Sapporo

4.TETSU from Tokyo

5.IKKOSHA from Hakata

6.TAI SHO KEN from Tokyo

Gantetsu (Ramen Champion @ Iluma)
201 Victoria Street
#04-08/09/10 Iluma (Bugis)
Tel: 6238 1011
Opening Hours: Daily 1130 am to 1030 pm
Website

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Menya Iroha Ramen (Ramen Champion @ Iluma)

My 3rd visit to Ramen Champion at Iluma. Noticed that the crowd seems to have lessen considerably despite it being lunch time. So if you have been wanting to try the Japanese ramen at Iluma Ramen Champion, now is the best time.

This time, I decided to try Menya Iroha. No queue at all.

Menya Iroha Menu

Menya Iroha Menu (Negitama Ramen)

Ordered the Negitama Ramen. Got my bowl of ramen within 5 minutes as there was no queue at all.

Negitama Ramen (large) $15.50

The Negitama Ramen is a black soy sauce  based ramen. It consisted of bamboo shoot, seaweed, leek, chashu and egg. The chashu was forgettable. The egg was also average. The ramen was curly, thin and springy. The black soy sauce soup base was quite unique. It was flavourful and seems light. However, towards the last few mouthful, I felt thirsty. Looks like its a case of too salty again. 

Ps: Thee six Ramen restaurants are:

1.IROHA from Toyama

2.BARIO from Tokyo

3.GANTETSU from Sapporo

4.TETSU from Tokyo

5.IKKOSHA from Hakata

6.TAI SHO KEN from Tokyo

Menya Iroha (Ramen Champion @ Iluma)
201 Victoria Street
#04-08/09/10 Iluma (Bugis)
Tel: 6238 1011
Opening Hours: Daily 1130 am to 1030 pm
Website

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Lian Huat Heng Cantonese Roast Duck

**Edited 6th Nov 2011

Stall closed**

Lian Huat Heng Cantonese Roast Duck is located at a corner of 'Good Time Coffee Shop'.Have always noticed that alot of patrons in the coffee shop always seems to order from Lian Huat Heng Cantonese Roast Duck. Hence, decided to give this stall a try on 2 occasions.

On both occasions, there was a short queue at the stall.

Roast Pork & Char Siew Rice

On the first occasion, I ordered the Roast Pork & Char Siew Rice. It does not look very presentable does it? Well do not let its appearance fool you. The rice grains were slightly hard, it help that sauce was added as it help soften the rice. The roast pork  was crispy and not too fatty. Delicious and fragrant. The char siew fared even better. Slightly charred parts providing a crispy and crackling layer at some parts. It was well marinated. Moreover, each piece was sliced such that it was not too thin. A bonus, each order comes with a bowl of soup! Why is it a bonus? Well, like any other roasted meat or chicken rice stall, free soup is given. But this free soup comes along with sichuan vegetable 四川菜 (zha cai) and even pork meat that is with soft bones/cartilage! The soup is salty, but well the ingredients inside was good!

Roasted Duck & Char Siew Rice

On the 2nd occasion, I ordered the Roasted Duck & Char Siew Rice. Similar comments for the rice and char siew as above. The roasted duck was disappointing.  Skin was not crispy. Although meat was tough and dry, it was flavourful.

Again, the soup comes along with sichuan vegetable 四川菜 (zha cai) and even pork meat that is with soft bones/cartilage! To me, I have always prefer pork meat that comes along with the soft bones/cartilage compare to those without.(wonder if I am lucky or all their pork comes with soft bones). A sides note, I have noticed that some people's soup had duck wing or duck leg.

Overall, cheap and good. I am sure I will continue eating here and maybe one day I will be lucky and get the soup with duck leg =)

Lian Huat Heng Cantonese Roast Duck

Good Time Coffee Shop

Blk 1 Rochor Road

#01-612 Rochor Centre

Tel: 9018 9409 

Opening Hours: Daily 10am – 7pm

Bario Ramen (Ramen Champion @ Iluma)

This is my second visit to Ramen Champion at Iluma. During the first visit, I tried Tetsu. If you are clueless on Ramen Champion, can read about it in my post on Tetsu.

This time, as we arrived early, there was a short queue (3 people) at Bario (during the previous visit, this stall had a long queue). Hence, decided to try this stall.

More garlic or chilli?

Bario Menu

Bario Menu (Bario Ramen)

Within 5 minutes of queuing (3 people), it was my turn to order. I ordered theBario Ramen(which is their signature dish) and added a Flavored Boil Egg. In return, I got a ‘land mine’! Another round of waiting!

Land mine

Waited for 15 minutes before the land mine exploded vibrated, signalling that my bowl of ramen is ready.

Bario Ramen $13 + Flavored Boiled Egg $1

Overcooked Flavored Boil Egg

Curly Noodles

The serving of Bario Ramen is not for small eaters. 3 pieces of Char Siew, curly noodles topped with a very generous serving of beansprouts. The beansprout seems much more than the noodles. The beansprouts was crunchy, but with such a big serving of beansprouts, I got quite sick of eating it towards the end. The noodles was thick, hard and curly. Being hard and curly, extra care has to be taken to ensure that my shirt will not be stained. Felt that more noodles could have been given and that each strand could have been thinner. However, to the chef, thick means manly.. The Char Siew was fatty, fragant and with a melt in the mouth sensation. Of course, I did not take all the fats, just one small bite to try as it way too sinful! The Flavored Boil Egg was a disappointment. Way too overcook, yolk was not runny.

The soup based was interesting. Should be pork broth with several other ingredients. But it was overpowered by the flavour of garlic. or should I phrase it that way too much garlic was added by the chef. (you can request for no garlic).

Overall, I am not won over. For the price, it was so-so. Could have been much better. Beats me why there was a long queue previously and during this visit. My  guess is everyone wants to try. But once everyone has tried once, will it be sustainable? Well time will tell. I will try other stalls soon and review them too! If you know any that is nice let me know.

Ps: Thee six Ramen restaurants are:

1.IROHA from Toyama
2.BARIO from Tokyo
3.GANTETSU from Sapporo
4.TETSU from Tokyo
5.IKKOSHA from Hakata
6.TAI SHO KEN from Tokyo

Bario (Ramen Champion @ Iluma)
201 Victoria Street
#04-08/09/10 Iluma (Bugis)
Tel: 6238 1011
Opening Hours: Daily 1130 am to 1030 pm
Website

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Tetsu Ramen (Ramen Champion @ Iluma)

By now you might have heard that there is an ‘Ultimate Ramen Champion Competition‘ happening in Singapore. Six of the best Ramen restaurants from Japan have set up shop in Iluma (Bugis) selling their signature dishes. They will be here for 1 year (1st July 2011 – 30th June 2012) and are competing to be the Ultimate Ramen Champion. 

The six Ramen restaurants are:

1.IROHA from Toyama
2.BARIO from Tokyo
3.GANTETSU from Sapporo
4.TETSU from Tokyo

5.IKKOSHA from Hakata

6.TAI SHO KEN from Tokyo

Like Marche, a card is given to every singe person who enters. This card is used to pay for your orders at the different stalls. There are 3 cashiers located at the exit and that is where you pay the bill. If you lose the card, you will need to pay $200.

Inside, its free sitting. There are lots of seats available. During lunch time (weekday), it can be quite crowded. There is a queue at almost every stalls. Surprising, it was when we were exiting that had the longest queue. With 3 cashiers (max capacity) operating, the queue was still slow moving.

With 6 different stalls, it is hard to decide what to eat. But no worries, they are here for 1 year. I am sure I will try the rest soon enough. Queues at  Ikkosha, Bario and Iroha were too long. As I was feeling hungry, I decide to go for Tetsu which had a slightly shorter queue.

Tetsu is a Tsukemen stall from Tokyo and was listed as best Tsukeman Ramen by Tokyo Times. It’s concept is to serve the ramen and soup separately. The ramen is then dipped into into the soup. Having been around for 5 years, it has expanded to 15 outlets.

Tetsu Menu (1)

Tetsu Menu (2a)

Tetsu Menu (2b) - Tsukemen

You might have noticed that there are numbers in the Tetsu Menu (2a) and Tetsu Menu (2b). When you order, you can just say the numbers. I ordered (2) + (9) which is Very Rich!Special Paitan Tsukemen  + Flavoured Boiled Egg. In total (queue and wait my food), I waited for 15 minutes.

(2) Very Rich!Special Paitan Tsukemen $12.50 + (9) Flavoured Boiled Egg $2.00

This is the soup for the Very Rich!Special Paitan Tsukemen. Its pork, chicken and seafood broth. If you notice from this picture, there is a thick layer of oil on top of the soup! As the menu states, this is a Very Rich soup do not attempt to drink it as if you are drinking soup. Try a sip first as it is very salty. Could not taste any flavour from the pork, chicken or seafood which was definitely overwhelmed by the saltiness of the soup.

There’s leek, bamboo shoot and a slice of chashu in the soup. Nothing fantastic about the cha shu.

Ramen

On it’s own, the ramen is dry and tasteless. You can dip the noodles into the soup. For me, I scooped some of the soup into my ramen and mixed it. It was surprisingly delicious. There’s quite a large amount of noodles. Towards the last few mouthful, I felt thirsty due to the saltiness.

Flavored Boiled Egg $2.00

The Flavored Boiled Egg cost $2.00! It was disappointing. Unlike in the menu which shows that the egg yolk was runny, this was way overcooked!

Overall, I find this meal on the high end. There are certainty other places that sells great Japanese food at similar or cheaper price. In this case, the only item that was nice was the ramen. Soup and egg was disappointing. For the soup, it was too salty, maybe this suits the taste bud of the japanese.

Well despite this, I believe I will be back to try the other 5 stalls! After all, I am a foodie! If you have tried any of the stalls and like it do let me know!

Tetsu (Ramen Champion @ Iluma)
201 Victoria Street
#04-08/09/10 Iluma (Bugis)
Tel: 6238 1011
Opening Hours: Daily 1130 am to 1030 pm
Website 

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