Tonkotsu Kazen Ramen: claim to be the best?

A very interesting ramen style, supposedly originating in Osaka, but the shop only has physical stores in Singapore, Bangkok and Jakarta. Kazen in Japanese means volcano, and the concept of the cooking is based on a funnel like chimney, which is put over a stone bowl heated to 300C. The chimney's funnel releases copious amounts of steam as the soup boils, and creates what looks like a volcano.

Stepping in the shop, I felt I had stepped into a shop in Japan...Shouts of welcome from the staff, the decor all were reminiscent of a small shop in Osaka.

We ordered the spicy tonkotsu ramen in kazen style. It came  with a set of instructions on how to eat the dish.

The hot stone bowl was delivered on our table. They have a version meant to be shared by two diners. The waiter poured about a quarter of the broth into the stone bowl, covered it with the funnel. We had to wait for a minute for the bowl to cook, and the dish was ready to eat. We dished out small portions on our bowls. 

The broth was thick, rich, and unlike many ramen broth, was not salty at all. We loved the mouthfeel and taste of the broth, which is made fresh daily from boiling pork bones. The chasiu was flavourful, rather tender, and quite nice indeed. And within the bowl was a lot of vegetables, mainly cabbage and thick home made ramen. The ramen was made thick, like the fat noodles used in the KL Fried Black Hokkien Mee so that it does not get soggy when soaked in the boiling broth. More broth can be added as the bowl boiled away. The soup does keep hot and remained quite warm throughout. When the ramen was finished, we added a bowl of rice, which, to me was a rather delicious way to end the meal. We loved it.

We also added some fried prawns as a starter...it did arrive before the main course..

The prawns were rather large, and fresh. Not greasy, crispy batter. And the prawns was very sweet and firm to the bite. The egg and potato salad on the side was also quite excellent.

Edward had the fried rice, also served in a hot stone bowl

We found it rather bland, but by adding some seasoning on the table...soy sauce and a tad of chilli, it was rather nice, and the heat formed the rice into a beautiful crispy crust at the end of the meal. 

Very interesting. We will be back to taste the kazen with curry and seafood soon. But based on our first experience, we know we will love it.

Tonkotsu Kazen Ramen

http://tonkotsukazan.com/index.html

Liang Court Singapore

177 River Valley Road, #01-10,
Singapore 179030

tel :(06)6336-8698