Kusabi, The Central

This (6 Eu Tong Sen Street, #01-68/69 The Central @ Clarke Quay,tel : +65 6225 9415) place is a relatively new outlet of yet, another ramen-ya, which are springing up all over town. Kusabi as I read hails from the Fukushima prefecture and apparently, what makes their ramen special is the use of bonito powder for their broth base and the flour for their noodles are apparently also infused with bonito and sardines.

I couldn't say that their uobushi tonkotsu broth bowl of ramen was anything impressive by any standards. The moderated smoky aroma from the bonito turned out to be the dominant flavor and while was actually pretty tasty, took out any traces of the tonkotsu base in the broth. The noodles were thicker than the regular Sapporo variety and much as I tried, couldn't detect any real differences in terms of taste from normal noodles apart from texture. The porky charshu was dismally stiff and the egg was far from what I was hoping for in terms of doneness. Both of which were also lacking in the flavors of shoyu that I was expecting. That was something that Marutama does noticeably much better.

Despite being so, I wouldn't discount this place as of yet since they do have tsukemen on menu and those Nikumaki rice balls that they have look pretty good.