Ramen & Desserts @ Tampopo Restaurant

Hearing so much about tampopo and doing nothing to try their celebrated ramen is embarrassing for a person who always has ramen craving!

I am still short on cash and it's not helpful that the 13th month bonus is no longer applicable for my current position. Well, i have my means to get food (and it doesn't mean demanding free food from food establishments)!

Tampopo is not a pure-ramen restaurant as it offers a wide variety of Japanese food like any full fledged Japanese restaurants.

Their main selling point seems to be the famous black pig meat but my focus was on ramen and ramen it shall be (plus one side dish and two small desserts to conclude the meal)!

Miso Deluxe Ramen

The star of the day!

Although chef-recommended, i know i should not have expected too much from the chicken+pork soup as it was obviously miso based. It was still tasty (due to the big slab of butter i guess) but scored a notch lower when i compared to pure pork broth (think Ippudo)!

Dislike the imported Hokkaido noodles! They had that taste of flour found typically in thicker noodles. Maybe they were just not soaked long enough!

I was satisfied but not amazed with the much-publicized black pig meat (kuro buta) in my ramen. Each slice had a porkier yet savoury taste that was akin to a normal chashu with slightly salty charred sides.

Not sure if it's the norm because i find that this Hokkaido style ramen had a lot of ingredients!!! Like the generous serving of corn kernels which provided a nice crunch to an otherwise slurpy meal.

Instead of asking you to pay additional for this looked-like-hard-boiled-but-actually-not seasoned egg, my order came with it at no extra charge! All for only S$15.80 a bowl! Comparatively cheaper than most ramen restaurants in Singapore.

Hotate Cheese

Wanting a smaller meal, Alex opted for this tiny plate of scallops with cheese and onions.

The scallops were in fact nothing special! We were more more taken with the extremely cheesy cheese!! And you don't need me to explain further on my favourite onions!

Scoop Cake

When i was looking through the many reviews of Tampopo on the internet, one strong recommendation was the Japanese desserts in Tampopo.

Looking perfect in every possible sense, i was quiet for a few seconds before using the fork to destroy it! The sweet tooth monster cannot resist it!

What struck me initially was how fantastic the cream was! It was not insanely sweet yet exuded an incredible vanilla fragrance that proved to be too irresistible for me!!

It's definitely the main factor for me to patronise Tampopo again!

Custard Pudding

Truthfully, this is the first time i had custard pudding that was so fulfilling!

Not only was the pudding dense and bouncy to the max, no expense was spared on the syrup, which again was full of flavour without creating a sugar overdose!

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Location

177 River Valley Road

#01-23/24 Liang Court Shopping Centre

(besides Clarke Quay)

Price

Miso Deluxe Ramen - S$15.80

Hotate Cheese - S$12.80

Scoop Cake - S$6.00

Custard Pudding - S$5.00

Subject to GST and Service Charge. Plain water served with no additional charge.

Additional Information

Using the chopsticks sleeve to write your feedback is a really innovative, cost-saving method. A box is placed next to the cashier for you to "throw away" your comments.

Tampopo supposedly serves very good pork cutlets!! With most tables surrounding us having at least a serving of the deep fried black pig meat, I guess i have to make another trip in the near future!