Ramen Champion at Iluma

Hey, the annual Ultimate Ramen Championship has made it to our local shores down at Iluma (201 Victoria Street, ILUMA @ BUGIS, #04 – 08/09/10). Seems that six stalls located in a "stadium" will be around until this time next year vying for our votes so that the winner is able to set up their ramen shop. 

The above was a bowl of Bario ramen from the stall of the same name. This stall from Tokyo featured semi squiggly noodles made from bread flour. What's visible from the above picture was but the proverbial tip of the iceberg for the amount of bean sprouts that went into the bowl of noodles. There's more of them sprouts in this bowl than a single serving in some chicken rice stalls!

I sampled more than a few spoonfuls of the garlicky broth before mixing in the grated garlic that one could help themselves to from the stall. The original broth tasted much like a hearty minced pork soup. 

What I liked about this particular bowl was the play of textures from both the thick chewy noodles and the crunchy bean sprouts. The former when put in a local context, was akin to lor mee noodles - albeit with more bite and none of that yellow noodle taste. I'm thinking this was very much like a Japanese lor mee. Guardian UK apparently put it as "50 best things to eat in the world" list. While I don't know if I would agree to that statement, I also do not think I would mind at all giving this a another go. With much less garlic the next time. On the side, Bario does have some crispy skinned and meaty gyozas which I found to be pretty good.

By a stroke of chance, Ikkousha that does my favourite Hakata styled tonkotsu ramen was just next door to Bario. Didn't have to navigate too far away through the lengthy queues/crowd. What stood out for me in their bowl of creamy broth was a depth of porcine smokiness that created a pretty unique flavour I've not encountered. Their thin noodles were sadly overcooked and weren't as firm and chewy as I liked.

I would like to give this stall my vote since I feel that they're definitely on a toe to toe with Nantsuttei, but I'm also keen on giving some of the others in the competition a go before I decide on it.

What was universal for both ramen stalls were the aromatic charshu that were so tender that they fell apart easily in the mouth. What's sad was that the ajitama from both stalls did not have the molten yolk and the shoyu flavour that I was expecting to be infused into the egg.

A seafood dinner at Greenwood

This seafood platter was a deviation from an old favorite we hadn't had for a while and it all came about from a sudden craving for seafood. It was also quite a long while back since I had last visited Greenwood (34 Greenwood Avenue, Hillcrest Park, tel : +65 6467 4950) and I did not even realize that they had an extended unit for seats in their restaurant.


As things would have it, we started off with a mekajiki toro. Also known as swordfish belly.


And then, there was a lobster bisque which was really not too bad if I had to make the call. The crustacean flavors were apparent and while I wasn't close to being blown away by it, I couldn't slam the soup neither.


There was honestly mixed feelings for me on this. While I did enjoy the sweet and spicy dressing of their octopus salad on the aside and the deep fried calamari wasn't as dreadfully boring a grease bomb I was thinking, I felt far from being impressed. The lobster was a little tough and the fish skewers were in need of a little salt. We left the place thinking to ourselves that it was all just okay. Is this one of the better seafood platter offerings to be had on this island?

Saizeriya Ristorante E Caffe, City Square Mall

I liked this Japanese place (180 Kitchener Road, #B2-55/56 City Square Mall, tel : +65 6834 4878) a lot better than I had expected. Perhaps it was the fact that I had came by expecting very little since I believe that one gets what one pays for. The prices at this place were very affordable for what they served and at their price point, I couldn't complain at all. There were no frills and presentation was..... well, perfunctory. But one doesn't come here for prettied up plates.

As you can see, squid ink pasta was generously inked, so to speak. I was really pleased that they did not scrimp on the squid ink and their flavour came through with every forkful of the al dente noodles. There wasn't much but pieces of squid in the pasta, but they were quite generously portioned and I'll probably want to order a plate of these again the next time I come.

The spinach with bacon was pretty much what it was. A bunch of soft wilted spinach flavoured with bits of bacon. I actually enjoyed how straightforward it all was in terms of how it was served and how it tasted.

This was probably the cheapest mushroom soup I've had for as long as I could remember and it was also a lot better than most that would cost twice of it. It's not close to the better ones I've had, but hey, those cost a lot more too.

I could imagine this order of smoked salmon to be something I took off the cold food section at Ikea. In fact, it arrived so quickly that it might have probably been prepared in a similar fashion. There was nothing fancy nor exciting about it. Just a mildly smoked salmon.

Their mushroom pasta was also satisfactory costing probably half of what Pasta Mania charges, but tasting more than twice as good. The flavours of the mushrooms were definitely not found wanting. These guys here didn't use excessive cream sauce and that was definitely a one up there.

Dessert was a panna cotta. It's probably a pre-packed dessert that was imported in bulk, but it was served chilled in a chilled glass bowl and it didn't taste half bad.

Yonehachi, Takashimaya basement

I had been intending to try this place for a while, my curiosity piqued by the attractive looking sticky steamed rice that they have on display at the front of their counter. Apparently, the rice that the stall is famed from are a little different from the regular short grained rice that is used for most Japanese cooking. These ones are used to make mochi.

The sansai okowa and salmon okowa rice from the shokado okowa set from Yonehachi (391 Orchard Road, #B204-1/2 Takashimaya Food Hall, Ngee Ann City, tel : +65 6333 8227) tasted a lot lighter and healthier than I had expected. The only thing that was fried from the bento were the oysters and to my pleasant surprise, they weren't shabby. The rest of the dishes on the side had been stewed or simmered vegetables and a miso soup. Not forgetting also the little dish on the side with Japanese tartar sauce that had onions and chopped eggs. That was good, especially with the oysters.

Kam Boat House, Singapore Swimming Club

Here's a spread of dim sum and an order of roasted goose from Kam Boat House (45 Tanjong Rhu Road, tel : +65 6342 3659). From the menu, variety here was generally limited but the food was generally wasn't too shabby.

I'm sure I would like enjoyed a fluffier skin for the char siew bao, a creamier textured pan fried radish cake, more tender steamed pork ribs, a more distinctively defined siew mai flavors or even a lighter pastry for the char siew sou. Even the roasted goose could have been more tender. But that's just me picking on little things that I would have preferred. The food here was not bad. I could have gotten used to the more refined quality down at Imperial Treasure, which has to me been consistently one of the better and affordable dim sum places.

Was there anything that might have stood out from the food which we ordered at Kam Boat House? I guess I had enjoyed the nice flavourful aroma from the fat underneath the roasted light and crispy skin of the goose and their siew mai was actually competently done in spite of my rambling.

Milk fish and crispy pata from 7107 Flavours

Curiosity was what got the better of us when the unsuspecting order of milk fish was served down at 7107 Flavours. What we couldn't quite figure out here, was how did all the minced fish stuffings with raisins and green peas got filled out into the unbroken skin of the fish again entirely intact! There weren't any bones in there for that matter and even the head was entirely filled with the marinated minced fish. 

The crispy pata was just as the name implied, full of crispy skin from the pork. The meat was dry and was pretty much saved by the garlic and chilli vinegar on the side there. I didn't think it was impressive enough to ever come back for that again. Their sinigang however, was still as enjoyable as I remember them.