Hakata Ikkousha opened their first standalone shop at void deck of Tanjong Pagar HDB. Perhaps they chose the area which is packed with high density of ramen places to prove a point – they are here to challenge the rest? Afterall they were two time ramen champion winner.
Tried their Tonkotsu Standard ramen and Tonkotsu Black ramen, the black being version with the addition of fried garlic paste; and a Hakata specialty Hitokuchi Gyoza. Other than the free flow of hard boiled eggs, they also provided a special condiment – spicy takana (spicy leaf mustard) to add to the soup based on one’s preference.
On first taste, the black ramen soup (first one on left) was richer and tastier than the standard one. But towards the end of the meal, I found the black ramen soup had a tinge of bitterness to it cos of the fried garlic, not sure if its because I didn’t stirred the soup well enough. The flavoured egg that I top-up for wasn’t really worthy cos the yolk was slightly too well-cooked, not runny enough and not much taste to it. The gyozas were unremarkable.
Read that the winning dish was the Spicy Takana Ramen which can be customised to varying level of spiciness. I guess I should have tried that instead.
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