Hi there
Have been hearing quite a lot about this new ramen restaurant Tonkotsu King Keisuke Ramen so thought will try it out with my friend and treat him a birthday dinner & have my reviews on this too.
The branch at Parco has a revolutionary broth which is without pork bone base (as most ramen place use) their broth is made with mainly fried shrimp, giving it a very rich flavour which is kind of like our noodle prawn noodle, and they only use white soy sauce. Keisuke Tokyo Ramen has also recently won the title of Ramen Champion at Tokyo Ramen Championship 2011 in Japan which is The Ramen Champion Series as and their chef has also been crowned as Ramen King.
But enough said on the Keisuke Tokyo Ramen, we are here to review about their sister restaurant Tonkotsu King Keisuke Ramen.As mentioned, Tonkotsu King Keisuke Ramen is the sister ramen restaurant to Keisuke Tokyo Ramen, it is located at tanjong pagar at the new Orchid Hotel ground floor.
It is quite hard to miss because it is located at Orchid hotel where it is an isolated building on the green field next to Amara hotel.
What’s more, they have this gigantic banner right in front of the restaurant which writes “Pork” in Japanese. You can’t miss that.
This ramen place can seat about 20 over people, what they pride in is their soup base, which is their signature pork bone broth.
Their menu is quite simple really, only three kinds of ramen to choose from base on .
- Normal
- Black Spicy
- Red Spicy
Order is being done on an order check sheet while you queue so that the turnaround time will be faster. You are able to concoct your perfect bowl of ramen from soup base, noodle texture, to strength of taste too. I was there on a weekday at around 6pm and there is already a decent crowd lurking there.
We decided to go with one regular Tonkotsu and one Black Spicy – All-In, as it makes sense to try out all the ingredients with just a few dollars difference and experience the real deal.
Each bowl cost around $15 which seemed to be the norm these days (sigh.. Talk about inflation)
Once we were seated we found something quite different compared to other restaurants. Every table comes with a basket of eggs! They even indicate brown is low cholesterol n white is for regular. We were also given a grinder with black & white sesame seeds to add onto the ramen to add that extra omph, a jar of marinated beansprout too, just like Keisuke Tokyo Ramen in Parco.
The ramen comes with one perfectly cooked soft boiled egg with golden egg yolk, big slices of cha shuu (relatively bigger than most ramen joints) some black fungus and with a sprinkle of spring onions. However it also comes with one big sheet of seaweed which you do not usually find in other restaurants.
Soup wise, it is very rich, hearty and flavorful, you can taste the saltiness of the soup, yet you can find hint of pork bone sweetness in it. It is sort of a hybrid between our local bak kut teh and sweet miso soup. Soup is milky probably from the hours of long cooked pork bones.
I find the soup a bit too oily to my likings thou as there are cubes and chunks of cha shuu fats floating in each bowl of soup, not for the health conscious and faint hearted, but may be good for the ladies for it’s collagen?
Noodles were springy and does not taste starchy at all which is how I like. Portion wise is adequate as the soup and ingredients are already quite rich and just enough to hit that ramen spot. I actually have difficulty finishing it half way through my ramen as I am not really used to rich broth.
To me the soft boiled eggs is kind of the highlight to the ramen, after gobbling up the one which comes with the ramen, I eagerly moved on to peel one of those eggs in the baskets just to find out what so special about it, however all I found is – hard boiled eggs. But they do have Japanese mayo on each table, probably for you to dip in it. Since the eggs are free of charge, it should satisfy those hungry diners who are waiting for their ramen or for those who just want that extra egg to conclude that glorious finale to their meal.
I love the marinated bean sprout a lot thou, the sesame oil marinated sprout cuts the oiliness of the soup, not sure if there is any vinegar added in the sprout but it kind of clearing the palate between mouthful of pork bone soup goodness. It is rather refreshing, and you ll find yourself topping up again and again. Quite addictive indeed!
One thing I do wish is if only they have gyoza on the menu then it will be great. I feel ramen and gyoza comes in pair. Without it feels like something is missing thoughout my meal.
Overall the ramen is really filling as the broth is really rich, I feel the black spicy soup is saltier than the regular one, may be the red one is the best as the spiciness can tone down the richness, however from the picture the spiciness look like chilli oil rather than chili miso paste so hopefully the soup will not taste even more oily than it is now!
They serve water like most ramen place but I feel if they have served some hot oolong tea or brown rice tea, it will be better to wash down the oiliness.
The last thing that I do want to mention is I suspect they put quite a bit of MSG in it. After my meal, I just kept looking for water to drown my thirst. Satisfying yet suspicious.. overall, its a place for quick meal, but i imagine it can be a great place to indulge on cool rainy days.
Locations : 1 Tras Link #01-19, Orchid Hotel
Tel : 6636 0855
Operating Hours : until all the broth sold
Nearest MRT : Tanjong Pagar MRT Station (2 mins walk away)
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Cheers!
Dawn