Ramen and Tonkatsu Fair at Tampopo

Hear ye, I'm back at Tampopo. They seem to be holding up some sort of Ramen and Tonkatsu Fair with a bunch of new items on the menu probably for a limited period. This visit actually came about through tip off from a little bird about a certain foie gras tonkatsu that they had.

For a start, we ordered a serving of their steamed black pig dumplings which tasted very much like the Chinese renditions (hong you chao shou) with the moderated splashes of black vinegar and chilli oil. The smooth skinned dumplings were a little smaller than I had expected but they were pretty juicy and flavourful from the fatty pork fillings that we were rather tempted to go for seconds.

The kani ramen was the only ramen item from this fair that looked interesting. Basically a bowl of squiggly yellow noodles soaked in a starchy crab flavoured broth that was filled with a pretty generous amount of shredded Japanese crab meat and shimeiji mushrooms. The extra portions of added vinegar and La Yu on the side made it tastier and easier to go down. That in effect turned it to something akin to Taiwanese mee sua.

The foie gras from their tonkatsu was subjected to enough of the heat that the fat from the livers had seeped into the pork creating an almost subtle heady aroma into the fatty pork from the first mouthful. I was initially hoping for the flavour of the fatty liver to be more prominent, but it turned out to be a balanced equilibrium between the savoury deep fried crust and the foie.

If such a thing could be described by the word 'equilibrium'.

We wrapped up with their innocuous looking chocolate chiffon cake which tasted more strongly of chocolate than the milky hue of the cream suggested. If I had to describe, it was both light and not excessively sweet.