2011 was a great year for us - we started a new life in Singapore where there are lots more eateries to explore. The blog grew hugely as well! December 2010 we had 2,129 unique pageviews - this grew to 14,370 in December 2011. Huge thanks to those of you who follow us regularly, and also to those of you who happened to stumble across our little footprint in the internet some way or another. Do leave us more comments, we love to hear from you guys and gals :)
Anyway I digress! Towards the end of 2011 the darling and I went on a mini Ramen eating spree, fueled by the dozens of ramen joints in and around town. One of our staples that we go to quite often is Shin-Sapporo Ramen over at Suntec City. I don't know how accurate their claim of being the "birthplace of miso ramen" is, nor can I vouch for their authenticity, but they've got a lot of variety both in soup bases and noodle types. Food's good, and no queues, too!
Coming back to the variety bit, Shin-Sapporo has a pretty good variety. They've got shio, shoyu, miso and tonkotsu soup bases, and what's interesting is that each different soup base comes with a different noodle. Generally speaking, stronger-tasting broths are paired with straight, less-absorbent noodles, whereas the less-strong broths are paired with curly noodles that "hold" more soup as you slurp.
On to the food, though! The Gyoza (Pork, SGD5.80) is solid but unremarkable (i.e. pretty much the same as the average gyoza you get at any other Japanese joint).
Kara-Tonkotsu Ramen (Spicy Tonkotsu broth ramen, SGD14.80). Tonkotsu broth is made by boiling pork bones, fats, collagen and other miscellaneous parts for many hours. As you can see compared to the first picture above, the noodles are thin and straight, as tonkotsu broth is considered one of the more 'flavorful' broths. Shin-Sapporo's version is solid and pretty nice, although not as strong/flavorful as the current popular ramen joints. Oh, and don't worry about the kara (spicy) bit, it only really has a hint of chili & slight additional heat.
The Kara-Miso Ramen (Spicy Miso broth ramen, SGD14.80) is paired with the curly noodles. Miso broth (incidentally it's one of the younger/newer styles of broth) is supposed to be slightly less flavorful, but the version on offer here is definitely tasty enough. The generous topping of sweet corn was a slight turn-off for me, though, but your mileage will vary depending on whether you're a corn lover or hater.
Overall we found Shin-Sapporo Ramen a pretty solid place to have your ramen fix. It's not really worth travelling all the way to Suntec to eat at, but if you're in the area you won't be disappointed. Non-halal.
Our Ramen Rankings:
Superb!: Ippudo & Santouka
Delicious!: Nantsuttei, Tampopo & Keisuke Tonkotsu King
Solid: Shin-Sapporo, Keisuke, Gantetsu, Gensuke, Riki, Ikkousha & Bario
Below Average: Marutama, Menya Musashi & Menya Iroha
Four different noodles! That's an incentive for you to return to try the shio and shoyu ones, right :D
ReplyDeleteHehe, we've tried the shio and shoyu and all the derivative ones like chashu/negi ramen, just that the other times we didn't bring camera = no nice photographs to post :P
ReplyDeleteI live in Shin Sapporo, Hokkaido in Japan! Is that where the restaurant originates from?
ReplyDelete@Ben I don't think the restaurant chain itself originated there (unlike chains like Ippudo Tao), but certainly the main chef(s) came from Shin Sapporo.
ReplyDeleteMaybe if you're ever in Singapore you can give the place a try and see how authentic (or not authentic) it is! I'll tour guide :)