Thursday, February 26, 2015

Tonkotsu Ikkyu from Ramen Champion

Tonkotsu Ikkyu, spinach tonkotsu

Tonkotsu Ikkyu is the current resident "closest to Hakata styled" pork bone broth ramen at Ramen Champion in Bugis+. I suppose they're the successor to the prior Tokotsu Itto and even before that, the rather well known Ikkousha.

I didn't try their basic bowl but shot straight for the unusually green tinted spinach tonkotsu special bowl. The special part merely refers to an "upsize" in ingredients. Sadly, those pieces of sous vide charshu didn't quite look as big as featured in the menu or their social media photos. The broth was interesting because it tasted like it had a mellow nutty flavour rather than the leafy taste that one would expect out of spinach. And that little dollop of chilli paste really did nothing at all for the broth.

Didn't dislike this - I'm just not quite sure know how I feel about it. That being said, it doesn't taste bad at all. Scout's honour. And the ajisuke tamago was very properly done with the prerequisite golden molten yolk, nicely flavoured with shoyu. I must also admit to finding their black garlic tonkotsu option rather fragrant as well. The only real complain I have was the lack of proper firmness of the noodles. Maybe I should have indicated that specifically.

Tonkotsu Ikkyu, spinach tonkotsu

It's probably not very fair to declare and compare against the above mentioned predecessors at this point since I hadn't had the chance to let their basic bowl sit in, but I'm of the opinion at this point that Tonkotsu Ikkyu may not be in the same leagues as them. 

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