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2013-06-28
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I love Japanese cuisine and I was thrilled to receive an invitation from Estelle OpenRice Singapore. It was long queue during dinner time around 6pm plus when I reached Ippudo Mandarin Gallery. We were introduced to Vivian who is the PR executive of Ippodu who hosted us throughout the dinner. It was a pleasure dinner with familiar faces and also new friends.History of Ippudo:-Ippudo was founded in 1985 in Japan’s ramen capital of Hakata by Shigemi Kawahara, the internationally-acclaimed Ramen Ki
History of Ippudo:-
Ippudo was founded in 1985 in Japan’s ramen capital of Hakata by Shigemi Kawahara, the internationally-acclaimed Ramen King and CEO of Chikaranomoto Company, which encompasses some of Japan’s finest restaurants. Today, there are 44 Ippudo restaurants throughout Japan, serving nearly 20,000 customers per day. Ippudo SG is the second overseas venture after Ippudo NY. Other new and upcoming ventures Ippudo HK, Ippudo Seoul, Ippudo Taiwan, Ippudo Sydney, Ippudo Malaysia and Ippudo China.
The overall interior design of the outlet was cosy and comfortable. There are comics featuring on how to enjoy the ramen so that customers can have a rough idea on how would it be like. The big chandelier hanging at the centre of the outlet brings out the classic feel of the dinning restaurant. The lights are slightly dimmed lower with people chit chatting over dinner is one of the ideal dinning place if you are opting for a gathering session with nice ramen.I ordered Choya Mandarin Orange. It comes with the choya and a bottle of mandarin orange. The choya taste wasn’t strong as it blend into the sweet taste of mandarin orange.
I had my second drink which is the Calpis drink. Calpis is an uncarbonated soft drink which taste is similar to Yakult. The drink has a light and milky and vanilla flavored yogurt taste. I had mine without soda and I am loving it. You can always try it with soda or other mixtures of drink.
We started off with appetizers and side dishes. We were served Goma Q which is the fresh japanese cucumber with sesame. The japanese cucumbers are cut into slices and well marinated. It tasted crunchy and refreshing too.
Crispy Corn is quite an innovative dish I would say. Smoked taste corn and golden shinning colours of corn makes the whole dish looks glowing. It tastes crispy and addictive after the first bite.
The presentation of the Spicy Shrimp Mayo is so beautiful that we can’t bear eating it. Lightly battered deep fried succulent prawns served with Ippudo’s homemade spicy mayonnaise dip. The tiger prawn is fresh served although it has been deep fried. We are able to taste the freshness of the prawn that blends well with the sauce.
Beef Tataki is my favourite out of the dishes. Pan-seared tender beef slices served with a tangy sauce on the side. The beef is said to be imported from Australia and I love the colours and the marbling of the beef. I had them with the slices of garlics and sauce. Thumbs up!
Pork Bun was served. This dish is a mixture of chinese cuisine style but the braised pork is cooked with Ippudo’s original sauce. Texture of the pork was tender and smooth. Perfectly blend well with steamed bun. Yummy!
Here comes the main highlight of the outlet. Ramen! Here in Ippodu the customers are given a choice to choose how would their ramen texture to be served. It can be soft, medium, hard and very hard. We had hard, medium and very hard ramen that night.First comes the Shiromaru Motoaji is their original recipe tonkotsu soup served with thin noodles rosu chashu (pork loin), cabbage, kikurage, pickled ginger and spring onion. It is called the classic Hakata-style ramen.For this bowl, we were served with ‘hard’ noodles. The broth has been cooked for many hours. The base was light and flavourful.
The Akamaru Shiaji is their original tonkotsu broth enhanced with special blended miso paste with special blended miso paste and fragrant garlic oil. It is served with thin noodles, buta bara (pork belly), kikurage and spring onions. It’s a refined, modern-style ramen. We had ‘medium’ ramen texture this time. The broth taste was stronger compared to the original recipe as it has the miso paste in it. The taste would be slightly salty. If you prefer to have more garlic taste, you can get the fresh garlic to be pressed in the broth. It is served to individual table for customers to enhance their ramen taste.
Karaka-Men is best suit for those who loves spicy stuffs.The broth is mixture of the original tonkotsu broth with special spicy miso and ground pork. It tasted spicy for me but others are quite enjoying the taste. The ground pork was sliced to smaller sizes and mixed into the broth so you can’t really taste the pork taste. It has been covered up by the spicy broth.
Our dinner ended with a sweet thought of PR executive as she served us the Yuzu Sherbet. It was splendid dessert to end the session. Everyone enjoyed having the sherbet and the yuzu taste was strong that we were perked up immediately.For more photos, please check out my blog http://hazeldiary.com/?p=1725
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