Ramen Isshi (已結業)

Ramen Isshi is conveniently located at One Raffles Place, next to Raffles Place MRT. In fact, I have been going to ORP for lunch, but have never known its existence as it is located at the far end on the 4th floor. After reading this post, do make an effort to visit Ramen Isshi ok? The restaurant is chi-na decorated and for a moment. I thought I had walked into a Chinese restaurant. As explained by our host, Nick Yen, this is a true blue authentic Japanese cuisine restaurant with element of Chinese influence. What makes it even special is that the noodles, baos and gyozas are all freshly made in their own kitchen to ensure freshness and quality. Enuff said, let's tuck in!10 course lunch, felt so pampered! =)Started the lunch with Lemon Yellow Juice which is a concoction of soursop & pineapple. A very refreshing shot to clear our palate. Tofu with Century Egg - $8Soft and smooth tofu with chinese sesame oil rather than the usual japanese sesame sauce. Carrot Cake with Saffron - $8This is definitely very different from the usual squarish carrot cake; similar ingredients are reconstructed to add new life to this dish. Instead of wheat flour, japanese rich flour is used and so it tasted almost like savory mochi with carrots bits and the oh-so-familiar xo sauce. Chicken Wings Fritto - $6Fried chicken mid wings. sliced into halves to make it easier to eat, soaked in soya sauce. Unanimously agreed a finger linking good side dish! Tuna Sashimi & Avocado Salad Asian Style - $12We were suppose to wrap the egg yolk, tuna sashimi and avocado with the seaweed and dip with the sesame sauce. But beware of the tiny red bits, they are sezhuan pepper!Homemade Kua Bao in Assorted Flavours - $8There are 6 flavours namely tumeric (dark yellow), beetroot (red), macha (green), prune (yellow), sesame (black) and original (white). The colour/flavour will be decided by the chef to add a surprise element for the diners. But hor, the original ones a bit plain lah so must dip with the peking duck sauce. Finally, our main course! Tonkotsu Shiro Ramen - $12 Tonkotsu Kuro Ramen - $13Tonkotsu Aka Ramen - $13All the ramen soup based are pork based, with slight variation to cater to the different preference. I personally like the original pork based (Shiro) which was favorable yet light. For those who prefer a stronger taste, Kuro, with added sesame oil, shallot and garlic may be more suitable.Aka came with added seafood broth with a spicy kick. Too spicy for my liking, but the seafood broth was very distinct which reminded me of the prawn soup. To make us even more happy =p, we were also served fruit flavoured makgeolli. Strawberry Makgeolli Pineapple MakgeolliWe adored the Makgeolli and the host generously offered us another serving, this time round, pineapple. But I still prefer the strawberry one la...kekeAlmond Jelly with Framboise - $5Layers of almond, raspberry and passionfruit to complete our sumptuous lunch!Lunch special is offered here, which includes ramen + free flow of salad bar. This is really a good idea, especially for ladies who like to have a balanced meal. Ramen Isshi also provides delivery and currently they have this promotion which includes the container, warmer bag and of course ramen at S$25!To read more & view photo, visit http://fun-hideout.blogspot.sg/2014/12/food-tasting-ramen-isshi.html! ♥ ♥ ♥ 繼續閱讀

Today I am invited to a food tasting session by OpenRice to this ramen outlet. It is opened in the newly reopened One Raffles Place, which is quite convenient as it is connected to Raffles Place MRT. It is located just behind Three Cups Coffee Co. Cafe.The restaurant is decorated in dark tones to create a modern fusion of Japanese and Chinese looks. Menu is kept in the drawer of the dining table, which makes the table looks neat. The main menu is in a thick hard-cover notebook form, where customers can give feedback on the blank pages behind.Ramen Isshi has been consistently ranked as the top ramen in Nakasu, the busiest street in Hakata, Kyushu. And this outlet which I am visiting today is its first outlet in Singapore. There are three kinds of ramen--KURO (Black), SHIRO (White) and AKA (Red). Shiro (White) Tonkotsu Ramen ($12)Ramen in the standard soup Tonkotsu base, served with 1/2 half boiled egg, 2 slices of Cha-ShuIt is the basic of the all the ramen dishes. The soup tastes milky and not too salty. Quite a great combination.Kuro (Black) Tonkotsu Ramen ($13)Served with 1/2 half boiled egg, 2 slices of Cha-ShuKURO RAMEN--a fragrant combination made by frying garilc and shallot in sesame oil 4 times to create multiple layers of taste.I am expecting it to be served in black coloured soup, but it turns out not. The soup is not as flavourful as expected, as the garlic and shallot taste is quite faint.Aka (Red) Tonkotsu Ramen ($13)Made with spicy Szechuan pepper, fresh made XO sauce loaded with scallops and seafood stock.Served with 1/2 half boiled egg, 2 slies of Cha-ShuIt does not taste like ramen. It reminds me of Penang White Curry instant noodle with its spicy soup base and the texture of the noodle. I am expecting somthing along the china's version of mala mee, but it is not. It is quite milky. One can barely find any scallops or seafood in this dish.The outlet's ramen chefs are hail from Japan and have been trained in Hakata-ku in Kyushu, Japan. The noodles are made fresh everyday here in a noodle-making room (The room is made of glass) in the restaurant and so is the soft and succulent chashu. You can check out the the noodle making process daily between 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.For $25, you could also have the ramen for takeaway in a stainless steel lunch box and carry it in a designer thermal bag. With the noodle in one container and the soup in another, one can have ramen in Tsukemen style by dipping the ramen in the soup. Remember to wait 10 minutes before it can be eaten as the noodle used for takeaway has a harder texture than the usual served in the restaurant.Gyoza wrapped in Homemade Skin ($5)Served with vinegar and rāyu (ラー油 Japanese chilli oil 辣油).Cooked in a pan-fried and steamed method, the gyoza tastes average and a bit too char on the base.Besides ramen and goyozas, the place also make their own Chinese baos here in a special glass room in the restaurant and they come in 6 natural flavors : Black Sesame, Plain, Turmeric, Green Tea, Beet Root and Blueberry. Available in assorted flavours for $8 for 4 pieces. The in house made bao is soft and pillowy, as well as, tasty on its own. It is served with a slice of Cha-Shu, shredded spring onion and some hoisin sauce. It would be better if there is more sauce in it too, as one can barely taste it.Carrot Cake with Saffron ($8)Round sticky rice cakes lightly flavored with saffron, stuffed with prawn and served with homemade XO sauce.The rice cake reminds one of mochi with its QQ texture, but the filling of prawn is too little to be take note of. I think it would be better if the XO sauce is stuffed inside and become something like crystal bun.Tuna Sashimi & Avocado Salad Asian Style ($12)It is Tuna and Avocado Tartare, served with sesame seed flavoured mayonnaise and mala pepper corn. To eat, wrap the tartare with a bit of sauces and some of the half boiled egg yolk in a seaweed sheet like a temaki. A great combination of the creamy texture of avocado and the juicy tuna, but a bit off with the mala part.Tofu with Century Egg ($6)The plain cold tofu is served with sesame soy sauce and century egg on top. I feel that the century egg is too little to make an impression in this dish. Overall feel that there is too much shredded ginger on top which covers other tastes.Chicken Wings Fritto (with Homemade Shichimi) ($6)It is actually fried chicken mid joints. Marinated in a special homemade sauce, the mid joint is cut into before half before deep fried. It tastes quite salty as if the chicken mid joint is dipped in soya sauce. The black ball paste is actually shichimi, commonly known as nana-iro tōgarashi or 七味唐辛子, "seven flavor chili pepper". It is easily found in supermarket in power form. The paste form here is quite unusual.Almond Jelly with Framboise ($5)This dessert serves as a palate cleanser after eating the heavy ramen dishes. It has 3 layers : almond pudding, passion fruit and raspberry puree. It tastes a bit more on the sour side.All the drinks here at Ramen Isshi incorporate the natural approach to mixology that is pioneered at Orgo. To preserve as much of the nutrients as possible, the restaurant uses only fresh cold-pressed juice in all Pure Juices ($4.50) and Total Soy ($3.50) drinks. Total Soy is made with freshly cooked soy beans and left unstrained to retain all the fiber. There is also Soy Smoothie ($4.50) and Juice Smoothie ($5.50) too.Lemon Yellow ($4.50/ Pure Juice)Soursop + PineappleIt is a tangy drink, and there is no separation in the fruit juice as per the normal fruit juice as the juicing process is done by cold-pressed.Yellow ($3.50/ Total Soy)Passion Fruit + Mango The drink is quite thick and fruity in taste, but a bit grainy in texture as there is unfiltered soya bean milk in it.Here they also served fresh fruit Makgeolli (also known as Korean rice wine) with about 5-6% alcohol content.Strawberry Makgeolli ($9)Pineapple Makgeolli ($9)The drinks taste quite fruity and a bit tart with a slight alcoholic taste.Overall the food still has hits and misses. The place seems to be suffering from an identity crisis, based on the food and decoration. It is trying to be Japanese (ramen dishes, sesame dressing), Chinese (mala pepper corns in dishes and bao, decoration in a chinese way), Korean (Makgeolli and Shochu), French (Framboise for dessert), Fusion (the Carrot Cake and the Tuna Sashimi with pepper corns) and western modern (salad bar & cold pressed fruit juice and dark modern look decoration) at the same timing which is quite confusing. Maybe it is still new and it takes time to make sure everything works out smoothly. 繼續閱讀

For more pictures,videos and full review, visit http://www.umakemehungry.com/2014/12/ramen-isshi.htmlLocated at 4th Floor of one raffles place, Ramen Isshi is a place where Japanese-chinese fusioned food is found. This food tasting session would not be perfect without the invitation from Openrice and Ramen Isshi's amicable host, Nick Yen.Nick is a born Taiwanese-American and had started Orgo, a chillout cocktail bar cum restaurant at the roof terrace of Esplanade and Ramen Isshi is part of his projects, named "Tang Tang Project".The bespectacled Nick was dressed in fully black from top to toe. The medium built and lean frame Nick has made us very comfortable throughout the session as he shared his expertise on the menu creations.Spotted an auspicious sign / character on the payment counter. the "Zhao Cai Mao" aka the fortune cat seems like a "must have" for every business. It is believed that by placing fortune cat on the cashier counter will bring good luck and business will prosper.Environment was contemporary designed with soothing eye colors especially with colorful bags and lunch boxes on the racks contrasting its backgrounds.Initially I thought these meal boxes were simply part of their design and nothing else. But later on we realized that the boxes are for sale too.Being particular about its quality and freshness, no take away ramen is sold without the use of lunchboxes. These 2 tiers thermal isolated lunch boxes came with a designer bag and cost $20 including the ramen.Every dining table comes with a drawer and a special color just like the lunch boxes. These drawers are good for diners to keep their stuff away from the table while dining. Not only that, menu can be found in the drawer.As we entered into the restaurant, we saw this industrial machine kept in a glass room, separated from the dining environment. It looked cool though. A further understanding from Nick aka "the craziest one" brought up his craziness on the freshness and quality of food in which he explained that Ramen Isshi's Ramen as well as gyoza, pao skin were all homemade.Special thanks to Nick for arranging a live demonstration on how their ramen are made from the scratch with this state of the art machine.While the flour and other ingredients were mixing in the mid stream of the machine, the butt of the machine was throwing out freshly made noodles. Person in charge had to estimate the correct proportion and had them put into the blue tray.Let's take a look at the videos on how this ramen were being handled!For those who are interested in getting hands on, Ramen Isshi does offer Ramen Making courses. Check with them for the schedules.Besides being open about the process of making their ramen, Ramen Isshi do also have a open concept kitchen whereby diners can get to see the happenings going on in the kitchen.Take a look at the ceilling and you will find this interesting decor hanging up there.A sweet concoction of soup sop and pineapple with soy, a refreshing welcome drink served in shot glass by the host.Followed by Yellow, a concoction of Passion fruit, mango and soy. With Ramen Isshi belief in the freshness of food, every order of soy was prepared to order, not compromising its quality.Our meal starts with a soft touch on the wobbly cold tofu. These plain yet nutritious tofu had an elevation in taste with the use of Japanese Soya Sauce and Chinese sesame oil.A reassembly of the original carrot cake with ingredients individually standing on its own rather than mixing them all up. Mochi rice was made up in this dish, giving softer and stickier texture and XO meat sauce was placed as the base. Presentation was attractive and dish seemed delicate.Delicious deep fried wing was fried to golden brown perfection and paired with a little ball of homemade shichimi (七味) . These finger sized wings were tasty and sweet with white sesame seeds clinging onto them.As an Asian, I would say that Tuna Sashimi and Avocado Salad was specially created with creamy sauce lending a close touch to us. Not only that it gets the diners hands on.Smashed avocado jam was beautifully done up in a pancake size with cubes of fresh red tuna sashimi laid on top of them and in the middle a hard boiled egg yolk. These colors combination together with garnishing like sesame seeds, shredded scallions and english parsley aids levelling up its presentation.Our dish was shared among 4 of us and it took us quite a bit of time to properly divided them up.And finally, scoop a portion of the yolk, avocados, tuna and salad dressing onto the flat sheet of seaweed.Next in the menu with its Homemade Kua Pao served in Plain flavours. Other flavours like matcha, turmeric, beets, sesame and prune are available too. Mentioned earlier on, the pao skin was homemade too.What's the verdict? They are tender and soft with a slice of lean char siew tucked into its pocket with shredded cucumber and scallions. It won't go wrong if you scrapped some yummy brown sauce from the place to go with it.These dumpings were filled with meat and vegetables wrapped in their thin dough and pan fried to have cripsy exterior. The delicate Gyoza skin is commendable and more fillings may make it perfect for me. Enjoy them by dabbing them on the vinegar or chilli oil.Shiro (White) Tonkotsu Ramen is the basic version with the standard base. Broth was prepared with blaching the bones and it can with chewy cloud ears mushrooms, onsen egg and 2 slices of pork meat.Curious about the texture of homemade ramen? Have a try here!Kuro Ramen whereby "Kuro" literally describes "black" in the ramen. The process of creating such a dish involved shallots and garlic fried in sauce at 4 different level in order to achieve the fragrance. The bowl has a soup base layered with Sesame oil (mayu) with 2 slices of char siew and a half boiled egg.Anything that relates to soy will reduce the spiciness of the food and Nick had us well prepared for the next dish by serving us the Pineapple Makegeolli, an alcoholic beverage in milky off-white color with 6-8% alcohol content. Its my first try on the foamy beverage and it tasted good with pineapple."Aka" when translated from Japanese means "red" thus, its name had somehow or rather hinted its spiciness in the broth. And exactly, the preparation of the stock comes from the combination of seafood and spicy szechuan pepper , XO sauce with scallops. The bowl of ramen is different from the other two we had tried as it did not have an egg nor "char siew" (pork meat) in there.We were so lucky that our friendly host Nick gave us another round of demonstration on their take away Ramen. The take away Ramen Noodles was kept in these vibrant colored boxes with ramen kept in the top layer and the soup in the second.Air vent was required to be release to prevent excess moisture from turning the ramen soggy.Nick also explained that a different recipe is used for take away. The noodles used are slightly harder than those used for the dine in ones. Again the reason for that is, they do not wish the quality of the noodles being compromised by the heat.Almond Jelly with Framboise is served in an elegant glass. A close look onto the dessert and you will find that it is made up of 3 distinctive layers with the top white as almond, followed by raspberry and passionfruit .Using a dessert spoon and cut into the wobbly top layer was real exciting to the table as the savoury rasberry flavours flowed out immediately. Taste was a combination of sour-sweet and relates close to the taste of the italian classic dessert, panna cotta.Having addicted with Makgeolli, we requested for another shot with a different flavour. Nick was generous to offer us another toast!The strawberry flavour makegeolli was as good as the pineapple. Just wish I can have a try on all flavours. Haha!With the last shot of drink, our tasting came to an end. Hospitality by the host was simply too great to put them down in words. Fusion food from Japanese-Chinese always stir up the curiosity in me and I always find them an indulgence.On the weekdays, Salad Bar is also available. The salad bar strikes a good balance to go with the ramens, catered especially for the health conscious healthy patrons out there. 繼續閱讀

Thank you Openrice for the invite. Had a great food tasting session on Saturday! Strawberry Makgeolli. Sweet alcoholic cocktail Yellow - mango and passionfruit soy Tofu with Century Egg($8)Refreshing dishes to start the meal. The tofu is so soft and smooth, but I find the century egg too little and small.Carrot Cake with Saffron $8.The colour and appearance of it look so cute! This taste like mochi, but quite bland, with the little xo sauce. Perhaps it would be better if they fried it together with the xo sauce.  Chicken Wings Fritto $6This is one of my favorite dishes of the day! Crispy and taste sweet! This remind of thai chicken wing. Just hope that this can be bigger, as it taste great! I want more please! Homemade Pan-fried Goyza $5Crispy skin and juicy tasty meat in it! It taste so good! Tuna Sashimi & Avocado Salad Asian Style ($12)Fresh tuna, with 80% cooked egg yolk, avocado, and crispy seaweed. We have to put all ingredients together and roll it into a sushi. Love these combination, strongly recommended you to order when you are there!Homemade Kua Pao $8Love their homemade pao, it is soft and fluffy. I like the bbq sauce in it, and asked for more, taste great with the cha siew, vegetable and of course the fluffy pao!Tonkotsu Shiro Ramen (White Ramen) $12 This is my favorite ramen for the day! I dislike ramen that is too salty hence this fare well. Love the creamy and concentrated tonkotsu soup base. The cha siew taste great but would be better if it is softer ( those melting in mouth effect). The runny egg is perfectly done, that I always wanted to have for ramen! The noodles is springy, made in store by their chef! Tonkotsu Kuro Ramen ( Black Ramen) $13Not really black actually, with fragrant black sesame oil that enhance the taste of this ramen. I find this slightly more salty than the white ramen (Tonkotsu Shiro Ramen). I prefer lighter taste ramen, hence I prefer the white ramen more. Tonkotsu Aka Ramen (Red Ramen) $13Great for spicy lover like me, actually the soup base taste abit like Spicy Maggi Mee. There is only some minced dried scallop in it. Would be good to have more seafood in it. 繼續閱讀

Ramen Isshi is a traditional Japanese Restaurant, opened by the same folks who run Orgo, specialized in healthy approach of Ramen. It has been consistently ranked either 1st or 2nd in Nakasu on " Tabelog", the definitive customer food review site in Japan.The freshness and ingredients including the noodles are freshly made on the premises, witnessed through the displaying of their machine for making noodles, steamed baos and gyoza skin right at the entrance.It is a quite small and peaceful dining area in a modern-concept based. Decorated by the racks for displaying their exclusive bag designed by Japanese illustrator Sayaka Iwashimizu and cute ramen lunch box. On top of it, it welcome guest to sit on the creative table that has its drawer. You can keep your things inside the drawer to have more space on the table. Menu is also available inside the drawer.Oh Yeah !! Take note : It is neither book nor menu. But, it is a pretty artistic menu designed in a scrapbook and notes at the behind for guest to write on their feedback and commentThe exclusive bag and reusable ramen lunch box is available to sell. The lunch box is made from stainless and not plastic so that it is use to wash and able to keep the food warm. Beverage Pure Juice : Soursop + Pineapple ( $4.5 ). First Drink we had for our welcome drink . It is slightly bitterFresh Fruit Juice - MakgeolliFlavour of strawberry and it would taste better when it is still chilled. It is very expensive. They selling at $9.00 and the cup is very small. Once times of drink is finished.Fresh Fruit Beer.The staffs were giving us a try for their alcohol drink with no worries because it is just a small alcohol based - only 6%.Total Soy : Passion Fruit + Mango ( $3.5 )It is definitely taste better than the pure juice of soursop + pineapple. And would be better that if finish it while it is still chill. Side DishTofu with Century Egg ( $8.00 )A small cut pieces of century egg topped on top of the soft tofu. The sauce of soya and mayu makes its side dish taste better and had a great smell.Carrot Cake with Saffron ( $8.00 )It is made up from flour and carrot with the topping of red radish at the top and saffron at the below. It is a bit sticky and more towards like a sticky rise instead of usual carrot cake of chinese food. As we know saffron is a spice hence it is a bit spicy. Chicken Wings Fritto ( $6.00 )Initially, i was surprised that the chicken wings is very small. To clear my curioustiy, Thank you to Zaf for the brief explanation. It is a mid/half chicken wings. Each of the chicken wings was cut into another half. The lovely chicken wings is deep fried using soya sauce and after the deep fried, its also dipped into soya sauce again which totally make the chicken wings delighted. The chicken wings is eat together with the 7mi of spice ingredients at the side ( round shaped ) Homemade Kua Pao in Assorted Flavors ( $8.00 )The home-made bao is freshly made using a machine served with a slice of pork, lettuce and a small cut of cucumber. To have a flavorsome of innovative side dish of bao, i would recommend to add more a sweet - salty sauce at the original flavor bao, otherwise it will be quite plain. But don't overload the sauce because it is a bit salty.The 6 available assorted flavors bao are :- Matcha ( green ), Prune ( yellow ) , Original ( white )- Sesame ( black ) , Tumeric ( yellow ) , Beetroot ( red )Match and Black sesame are the most popular among the baoHomemade Pan-fried Gyoza ( $5.00 )The skin of gyoza is also made from its machine. It is soft and well textured. The gyoza is only fried at 1 side ( right ) and left side is only steamed . You could see that on the right side, there is a fried shape in brown color, and on the left side is remained as the initial step of steam.Tuna Sashimi & Avocado Salad Asian Style ( $12.00 )Fresh avocado and raw tuna sashimi with a 70% egg yolk at the top and decoration of sichuan pepper at the side. The best to eat it is wrap it with the seaweed and the ingredients of mayu sauce is always make the dish mouth watering.Main Course Tonkotsu Kuro Ramen ( $13.00 )The famous Black Ramen and 1 of the newest style of Hakata Ramen topped with savory Mayu ( sesame oil ), frying and re-frying garlic and shallot in Mayu for at least 4 times to obtain 4 layers of taste for the soup base.The home-made noodle is a bit hard and slightly smaller than other type of japanese noodle. The half-boiled egg is really delicious and 2 slices of cha-shu is well cooked.Tonkatsu Aka Ramen ($13.00 )Aka means is Red. Corresponding to its name, the soup base is in red color with spicy szechuan pepper, freshly XO sauce loaded with scallop and seafood stock. A totally different level of umami. Yes !!! the spicy is marvellousTonkutso Shiro Ramen ( $12.00 )White Ramen is their standard Tonkotsu (pork bone) base noodle with lighter flavor made by first blanching the bones before preparing the stock and boiling pork bones, fat and collage over high heat for many hours.Other than served in 2 slices of Cha-Shu and half-boiled egg, it comes with Chinese Mustard, definitely it is spicy for the topping of Ramen. DessertAlmond Jelly with Framboise ($5.00)A very soft jelly like a soft pudding flavored in different 3 layer base. Top is layered with Passion fruit, second is cream base ( raspberries ) and last layer is almond. Even though i just dip the top layer, i can taste the existing of almond flavour was there.------------------------------This is how the Ramen Lunch Box is packed. Simple and easy Ramen to eat if you need to take away. Why Not ?? To DABAO. The top layer is filled with Ramen and the necessary ingredients dishes.While the soup will be putting at the bottom layer. Since the Ramen doesn't mix with the soup together, it taste slightly different compare with the Ramen we eat it at restaurant on the spot.Full Blog review : http://cennds.blogspot.jp/2014/12/ramen-isshi.html ( included video and photos of Ramen is being made ) 繼續閱讀