Ramen Champion at Iluma: Tetsu

Last week, I sampled the offering by Iroha and concluded it to be too salty for total enjoyment. Today, I went back to Ramen Champion, and tried the ramen from Tetsu. Tetsu serves the ramen tsukumen style...meaning, the noodles are served separately from the broth. The method of eating is to dip the noodles into the sauce and savour.

The stall offers a fairly wide selection of ramens and side dishes. I opted for the Very Rich Paitan Ramen in its original stock of pork, chicken and seafood. They created a special version for Singapore without the seafood...but I wanted to sample the original.

I added a flavoured boiled egg. Rather expensive at S$2 methot.

The noodles were thick, dense, very nice springy consistency...a little chewy, though not quite. Perhaps just a nice bite. The dipping sauce was really super rich...almost viscous. And superb flavours of pork, chicken and bonito. And the best part is it is not too salty. This comes as a small surprise, pleasant though, as I had expected it to be laden with salt. But the balance was perfect.

The egg was nice too...though just a bit over...just a tad over, mind you...I would have preferred a slightly more runny yolk.

The egg was very tasty. The chasu was a bit fat, and dark...suggesting that it had been marinaded for a while.

It was rather tender...and as it was sliced thinly.

Dip the noodle into the sauce, and slurp it up. The noodles seemed able to pick up the sauce well. And the combination is very good. Oishi! When you have finished the noodles, and there is some sauce still left, go back to the store, and add hot dashi. And drink it all up. Delicious. Btw, if half way through the noodles, the sauce gets cool...as the noodle is cold...you can bring the bowl back, and the staff will put in a hot stone to reheat the sauce/soup. I didn't try that though.

This is my favourite Ramen Champion so far. I did sample Bario's offering on two separate occassion...my lunch friend: Dr Mycroft and Lionel both had ordered the Bario ramen. And I had a little sample. Interestingly, the Bario broth was thicker and more salty last week with Mycroft than today's.

I will be back to sample the 4 other ramens, but somehow, I think Tetsu's offering will draw me to it many more times. Excellent.
Tetsu Ramen Champion 201 Victoria Street 4F Iluma