Japanese Ramen (日本拉面) @ Daikokuya (大黒屋) - Paragon Shopping Centre

A good bowl of ramen is really only dependent on two factors;

the soup and the noodles.

That is what i learnt after patronising three different ramen restaurants (the other two being Ippudo and Men-ichi) within two weeks! The experience has not made me a connoisseur, but i guess it has impressed on me certain standard when it comes to ramen.

Based on a reliable source (a friend who is really into Japanese culture and food), today's highlight will be on Daikokuya Ramen.

Serving four different styles of ramen, we were one person short to have the full series! A mini sampling version was available, but hunger had set in and visually (and psychologically), a mini bowl was not just filling!

The Styles

Kyushu Style Tonkotsu Ramen

A broth supposedly made by boiling pork bones over 12 hours, the soup was light without being too salty. The bamboo shoots were surprisingly edible since my perception of them has always been kinda smelly.

The noodles were thin, springy; a perfect complement to the ramen.

Two to three pieces of pork belly accompanied my ramen. They were juicy with fats.... literally more than 50% fats!!! So tasty, so sinful yet so disgusting! I can imagine the fats swirling in my stomach!

UGH!

That said, the whole bowl of ramen was cleaned out pretty fast, exception being the two big chunks of pure fatty tissues!!

Sapporo Style Cha Shu Ramen

After my prior initiation to Cha Shu at Ippudo, the ones in Daikokuya seriously lacked the flavour and taste.

I was actually puzzled because the fermented soybean soup base (typical for sapporo style) was thick and creamy rich but the Cha Shu seemed to have absorb little or none of the savouriness.

Tokyo Style Spicy Miso Ramen

My comment about this ramen will not be a fair judgment.

Ms Hannah Lim (the order-er) is a chilli padi person. Spicy based ramen should be good enough for most of us. She took the extra step by asking for extra chilli!!

THE POINT IS:
I don't take a lot of chilli!!

To be a bit fairer, the Cha Shu were a lot better than the ones submerged in the Sapporo style ramen! Despite the intense chilli sensation, the Cha Shu were more fragrant with more taste in them!

Sides

Gyozas

Lavishly titled as salted cod roe pan-fried dumplings with spring onion & mayonnaise, this common Japanese dish was disappointing no different from the normal gyozas!

Maybe i should try the normal ones next time.

Sashimi

Thick, fresh salmon! Look at the perfect cut.

I am craving for this right now!!

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Location

Basement B1, Unit 47 (#B1-47)

Paragon Shopping Centre at Orchard Road (Opposite Takashimaya).

Price

Kyushu Style Tonkotsu Ramen - S$13.90

Sapporo Style Cha Shu Ramen - S$16.90

Tokyo Style Spicy Miso Ramen - S$13.80

Gyozas (Fancifully Named) - S$6.80

Salmon Sashimi - Forgot the price.

Cannot remember if 10% Service Charge or 7% GST is added. Knowing restaurants in Orchard, the chance of including them should be very high.

Additional Information

Just some information sharing. The waitress/waiter will usually recommend you to get the flavoured egg at S$2 each, provided it is not part of your ramen.

Essentially a hard boiled egg with a half runny egg yolk, this may enhance the palatibility of your ramen but at S$2 each, it's a rip off! Compared to my mom's hard boiled eggs in braised pork, it's really a no fight.

My mom's version wins, hands down!

Softies (Jelly Beans)

I don't like gummies and jelly beans.

To put it bluntly, i hate them!!

Why would anyone like love desire to eat those usually sourish, soft things that stick to your teeth at every possible opportunity?!?!?!?!

Hence, when Hannah offered me a tub of jelly beans that has possibly the most colorings i have ever seen, i was hesitant. 

As the latest addition to the department (or NUS in general), i risked being termed as unfriendly, proud, picky, arrogant... you get my picture. 

My mind was telling me to swallow the beans without biting, and pray to god that someone in the office knows Heimlich Maneuver.

My action said otherwise though. 

I gave a gentle bite to one pinkish bean.

Immediately, the sweet fragrance of strawberry smoothie enveloped my mouth! Nice nice nice!! 

A total of 36 flavours, each with its distinctive splash of color, i cannot wait to see how good the others will be.

Most of them were fabulous!! To name a few, my personal favourites include Butterscotch, Granny Smith Apple, Vanilla and Marshmallow!

Since that fortunate day, i continue to hate gummies but for jelly beans, i only go for NOBODY BUT The Jelly Bean Factory.

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Available at the Candy Empire with outlets in Vivocity, Millenia Walk, TripleOne Somerset and Changi Airport.

Mini Squadron for iPhone

Since my upgrade from ipod touch to iphone 3Gs, i have immensed myself with the massive amount of applications that can be downloaded anywhere, anytime with my data pack.

One of the applications (recommended by techno-adopter, the Great Kon) is this game called Mini-Squadron.

Coupled with catchy music and a cute, colorful interface, it was extremely addictive! Quite a few days were wasted in completing the levels and unlocking most of the planes (i am left with just the last one)!

As you can see from the above, this game took place in Europe with 8 areas.

The beginner plane has only one cannon.

With the advancement of the levels, you will unlock planes that have double cannon, triple cannon, homing missle, cluster bomb, drop bomb or laser (which is personally my favourite)!! 

Besides the weaponry, each plane differs on its speed, size, turning rate, armour and reload time.

From the picture, you can see two translucent knots (red box); the one on the left is the directional key and the right one is for you to shoot those bastards down!!

Enjoy killing those cute flying sheep and octopus, just to name a few.

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Free for the lite version.

US$2.99 for the full version~!

Night's Out @ Kent Ridge Park

This was so impromptu after our heavy meal at Ju Shin Jung.

Korny informed us of a very famous braised duck rice stall along Buona Vista Road. The intention was only to purchase one packet to be shared between us. 

A place was needed (to eat of course) and we agreed on Kent Ridge Park for its close proximity! The gang does this kind of things quite frequently.

Struggling to drive up the quiet, eerie road in the drizzling weather, we saw at a far distance, a ball of fire illuminating the dark sky. This generated some interest as we were just looking for a place with some chairs and light to eat the duck rice.

Here's a closer look. The fire originated from the Bukom island and should be the waste product for some heavy industry machineries (or maybe incinerator?).

Before we could even start on the food, cam whore Alex needed his artistic fix.

A tank was also situated in the park for more camwhore sessions!! We realised there was quite a number of such "weapons" in the park.

But tiredness had seeped in (for me) and soon, we were on our way....... to IKEA and Anchorpoint! That's how impromptu we are!!  

In my mental note though, i told myself to take one saturday or sunday morning to explore this Kent Ridge Park and see what gems i can uncover in this supposedly boring island (i disagree btw).

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Forgot about the duck rice. It was delicious with a thick, heavily herbalised gravy! Next time, i must try it at the shop itself!

Ju Shin Jung Korean Charcoal BBQ - Fulfillment (AGAIN)

Once again, the gang of four was at Ju Shin Jung BBQ restaurant (my fourth time in year 2010) yesterday for the rat's (Alex) birthday.

Like me, he relishes the food, the good mixture of both unhealthy (BBQ) & healthy (loads of vegetables) chow and the fabulous service.

Since i blogged about this before (HERE), i am not going to write too much this time. However, i am going to bombard you with loads of pictures (consolidation of two visits)!

The table full of makan!! And not all the dishes were on it!

Seriously, just eating the side dishes was enough to fill my stomach!

The highly acclaimed Korean Seafood Pancake! Remember it as a very nice seafood okonomiyaki in its natural form (without the sauces).

Kimchi Pancake! Though the seafood pancake is more popular, i prefer this for its authentic Korean flavour.

A closer look of the kimchi pancake. Extremely appetising!!

Seafood and Soya Bean Paste Soup. The soup was so deliciously light and the prawn i ate was full of freshness and sweetness! Vannie didn't like it though.

Weirdo!

Kids having fun in the restaurant's kiddie area. I wanted to join them but the adult me deterred me from removing my shoes!! 

Sad....

There are quite a few seating arrangements. Besides the normal type, here's a more traditional type.

This is one of the private rooms in the restaurant. If you are wearing shoes and you know that your feet smell, please be considerate okay!! hahaha.

Heart the rice tea!!! A finale that concluded a fabulous meal!

Service in Ju Shin Jung has always been good (except for once) but this round (as in yesterday), it was impeccable! The manager, Donald, realised we adored the rice tea so much, he gave each of us a FULL CUP OF goodness!

Look at the difference!!

We eventually decided to have two cups to be shared amongst the four of us.

The Process (for the well marinated meat)

Mouth Watering!!

Now some MAGIC!

What do you think this is? Pills? Sweets?

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Due to Van's magical powers, the mysterious item transformed!

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