Nantsuttei Ramen

Char Siu Ramen

Dragon Ramen

BH had a day off and decided to have a leisurely day in town. I had meetings till 630pm and would be in town so I suggested that we eat out and try the Thai Food at Kaima which I had read a lot about. However, after making those plans, I realised that Kaima is closed on Mondays! DOH!

So I had to consult my black book (moleskine journal of places I would like to eat at and recipes) and we decided to have ramen at Nantsuttei Ramen. BH being the porkstar, of course had the Char Siu Ramen and me the Spice Star, had the Dragon Ramen.

The Dragon Ramen was really good. It had a spicy pork mince, a slice of char siu, bean sprouts, ramen and that rich umami-tasting stock. It must have been made by slowly boiling collagen rich pork bones and cartilage because every mouthful of that rich stock just swirled and coated every taste bud in my mouth. It was milky and hearty, and in my opinion better than any chicken soup. If you had a cold and had a bowlful of that stock - you would be all better by the time you slurped the last bit of soup. The Char Siu was soft and well braised but my only beef (pork) with it was that it was a little lacking in flavour.

Many a time, a dish is let down by a single detail and other times, a dish is made extraordinary because attention has been paid to that detail. In the case of Nantsuttei Ramen, it was the Bean Sprouts that made it sublime. They were small juicy and crunchy. Cooked to perfection, they provided a nice textural contrast to the soft meat and creamy soup, but weren't too raw. In fact they were a little sweet and you could find me trawling the bottom of my bowl for those little sprouty gems. I would like to know where they get their bean sprouts from because they would be perfect for my tau gay salad!

As both BH and I are greedy guzzlers......we also ordered the Gyoza. And at the risk of sounding like a raving sycophant - OMG, they were good!!!!! The gyoza skins were thin and light, the pork mince was juicy, the gyoza were lightly fried. Perfect!

Nantsuttei Ramen embodies all that is right about a good restaurant. They do Ramen well, VERY WELL, and they keep their selection tight. 5 kinds of Ramen and 1 side dish which is Gyoza. They don't sell tonkatsu, sushi and any other kinds of Japanese Food. So if you have a yen (sorry I couldn't resist) for excellent ramen, then trot on down to Nantsuttei Ramen. Best to get there early because the small unpretentious place filled up very quickly after 630pm.

I would rate it a 9/10.

Nantsuttei Ramen
Address: 9 Raffles Boulevard #P3-06 Parco Marina Bay, Millenia Walk Singapore

Tel: +65 6337 7166

PS. I paid for my meal.