From Keisuke and Ippudo to Sanpoutei and Marutama, Singaporeans know their ramen brands like the back of their hand. And whenever a famous ramen chain arrives on our shores, you bet we’ll one of the first ones there to try it and assess if its worth the hype. So when we heard that Mensho Tokyo – the acclaimed ramen chain from Tokyo with 17 worldwide locations – was coming to Singapore, we were beyond excited. The brand has won numerous awards after all, including Tokyo Ramen of the Year and Ramen Walker Grand Prix. Its San Francisco outlet is also listed in the prestigious Michelin Guide. On top of that, its Singapore branch is the first to offer a line of cocktails, desserts, and an exclusive chilli crab ramen.
Stepping into Mensho Tokyo’s new Raffles City store, you’ll get a sense that this isn’t your typical hole-in-a-wall ramen joint. It has sleek stone and wood furnishings, and not to mention, an eye-watering menu where the bowls average in the high-twenties range.
We had our eyes set on the Signature Toripaitan ($28), the bowl that bagged Mensho all its awards and catapulted it into ramen fame. The base is a creamy chicken broth with a dollop of truffle paste on the side. Have the soup on its own before you mix in the truffle paste – it’s rich with a slight, pleasant sweetness, and despite its viscosity, it’s not overly cloying. And as expected, the noodles are faultless. Mensho’s ramen noodles are made exclusively with whole wheat flour and pulled fresh daily every two to three hours at the restaurant’s in-house facility.
This signature bowl comes with a hefty meat combo of A5 wagyu chashu, smoked pork chashu, duck chashu and chicken chashu. But frankly, the premium cuts didn’t do much for us, and the chicken chashu was surprisingly the best of the bunch. The fried burdock roots added a nice touch though, providing some crunch and texture to the dish. If you can do without all that protein, we reckon getting the classic toripaitan ($19) will do.
Here’s another interesting one on the menu – the much-anticipated duck matcha ramen ($28). While the bright green complexion of the broth might throw some off, the soup itself isn’t half bad. You can definitely taste the distinct, lightly-roasted flavour of matcha which lends a slight grassiness to the dish. The duck however, was a tad gamey for our liking, so unfortunately this iconic bowl is skippable in our books.
Other misses on the menu include the A5 wagyu abura soba ($41) which actually came highly recommended. While the noodles, again, were flawless with a perfectly springy texture, we felt it didn’t quite soak up the barrel-aged shoyu sauce enough. The minced meat in the dish definitely errs on the beefier side, and despite the top-notch quality of the A5 wagyu slices, we’re not sure if that alone warrants the hefty price tag of this bowl.
Fans of yuzu ramen, however, might want to give the yuzu series a shot. The vegan yuzu shio ramen ($17) comes with thinner noodles swimming in a clear broth, so you’ll want to slurp this up quickly before the noodles become plump. While the diced shallot and garlic toppings lent a very local taste to the dish, we would have preferred the soup to be zestier and the yuzu flavour less subdued.
Unfortunately, despite our excitement for the new cocktail menu, the drinks were a let-down, with several of them being unbalanced – either overly sweet, spicy, or a tad too spirit-forward. But since it’s the brand’s first time offering cocktails, there’s still potential for tweaks and revisions to be made, seeing that the drinks themselves do sound promising. Thankfully, the sides selection saved the day, with very snackable options like deep-fried enoki chips ($8.80), corn wings, and the breaded aji fry (Japanese horse mackerel) ($12.80) making for great pairings with the ramen. And while the desserts weren’t mind-blowing, there are still some special items worth trying, such as the tiramisu with hojicha ($8.80), as well as the pandan cake with Japanese sweet potato cream and gula melaka sauce ($9.80).