My Japanese Noodle Obesssion

It's a chilly, gray evening. Perfect for a nice bowl of hot noodles. I have over the past couple of months discovered that I am not completely over Japanese ramen. So I am going to steer away from moody, broody, angsty posts and focus on Japanese noodles. Pardon the lack of photos - will get around to that. It's just that we hardly plan to go to these makan joints and it's usually on the fly!

(1) Tsuru Tsuru Tei
B1, Liang Court, inside Meidi-Ya Supermarket
This joint has been around for quite sometime I think. Probably when Daimaru was still at Liang Court. Re-discovered it sometime in 2005 when we started going to Meidi-Ya to grab specialty Japanese ingredients.

Never got around to trying the counter as my parents were not very fond of Japanese food. My early recollections of Japanese food was at the Yaohan cafes in Plaza Singapura and Thomson Plaza. Dad didn't quite have the knack for ordering Japanese food and we stuck to safe things like tempura. One bad episode with Nabeyaki udon was enough to send me off Japanese food until Sakae sushi came along. I still don't DIG nabeyaki udon, by the way.Memories of the udon served on Northwest Airlines' Tokyo-Seattle leg also acted as a deterrent.

Until I chanced on Tsuru Tsuru Tei(T3) of course. It's changed my opinion on udon.They serve my favorite seafood or vegetable kakiage udon. Tried a few at chain stores like Sushi Tei but it just doesn't hit the spot the way that T3's does. They may not have a comprehensive menu but they do udon well. There are also seasonal flavors - a personal fave of mine is ume or plum. Can't quite pin down when they have ume udon but the manager (a friendly bespectacled chap called Philip if I remember correctly) whispered that I could try and request for it. If udon isn't your cuppa, they do have some don(rice) dishes. Though I must confess, I have not tried those at all.

Prices are reasonable - nothing more than $11 per bowl. You can also make your own combinations. Most of the stock is bonito based I think or at least that's what the seafood expert Draks tells me.

(2) Menya Shinchan
Somewhere at Robertson Walk, next to a Thai cafe
I stumbled on this little ramen shop when I was based at the Robertson Quay for Singapore Fashion Week 07. Ended up trying it when the ever popular Miharu was closed. Boy were we pleasantly surprised. 3 visits later, we are still being presently surprised by Menya. What I like about the joint is that the noodles are handmade on site, as are the skins for the gyozas. You can even see the proprietor running from the little room where the dough machine and the kitchen when someone calls out for a gyoza order.

They sure have a wide range of soup bases for their noodles - bonito or pork-based. Even these can be broken down further to various flavors, shoyu (soy sauce), shio(salt) or miso (soy bean paste). Their signature is the shinjiro, a super-duper rich pork broth topped with tones of cabbage and beansprouts (that I only eat stir fried with salted fish). A must try!

(3) Baikohken
Stumbled on this little place one evening after being hounded by the touts along Boat Quay. I'd be really cheesed off if I were a tourist. No wonder they rather go to Clarke Quay! BQ is losing its luster.Like Menya, this is a ramen joint.

The 2 cheerful Japanese 'boys' running the store is a unique sight in Singapore. The eatery is a branch of a family run (presumably since I don't read Japanese) Hokkaido noodle shop. Since it was rather full that night, we got to sit at the counter and watch the noodle maestros at work. Free flow water or iced green tea at the counter.

Again, we tried gyoza. Slightly different from Menya's but liked it anyhow. They had this cute contraption which looked like a waffle iron they they used to cook the gyoza. The noodles - I had a cold noodle bowl, which is real refreshing on a warm evening. Draks had the soup and he was relishing every bit of it. We missed the fresh chopped garlic that comes with Menya's shinjiro though. Baikohken serves it with a freeze-dried Masters garlic.

Prices for all three noodle shops are reasonable for the quality. Expect to pay about $10 - $14 per bowl of noodle. My next mission is to hunt down Ken's Noodle House, which many bloggers say is the best.