Watching someone eat ramen on travel videos never fails to get me all hungry and craving those hot pipping bowls of authentic Japanese ramen and I usually give in to these cravings the very next day. I am lucky to have at least 3 different restaurants near my house selling authentic ramen
Making its debut in Tokyo in 1996, Menya Musashi offers multiple concepts and tastes that can be adapted to suit the locality of the store. The award-winning restaurant has quite a cult following in Japan with their new ramen concept offering noodles in a variety of different textures and a selection of soup bases
Featuring a soup base that is creamier than others, Menya Musashi’s ramen comes in white, red and black versions and customers can also choose from other broths like the triple soup and Tokyo-Ueno style soup which includes chicken or fish as its soup ingredients. The menu in the Singapore branches offers set meals which are very attractive to the diners here as they get ramen plus sides at an affordable price
The restaurant itself is quite spacious with the capacity to house approximately 60 customers. Synonymous with the brand, named after the legendary samurai, Miyamoto Musashi, the restaurant decor is modern yet has a classical Japanese traditional atmosphere with dark wood furnishings and samurai paintings
I ordered the Shabu Shabu Tsukemen which is the dry version of the ramen noodles. There is a free upgrade of the noodles to 5 times the a la carte version for those who need more noodles to get filled up. Tsukemen noodles are eaten by dipping the noodles into the thicker broth provided on the side. I choose the black garlic version as it is more flavourful and has a nice garlicky aftertaste which helps to cut through the oiliness of the Tonkatsu broth. I like that the noodles were cooked al dente with a nice chewy texture which was great as it is able to pick up the broth well. The pork and onsen eggs were all lightly flavoured and the bamboo shoots were crunchy and delicious. The broth was thick and full of flavours but on the salty side for me. I asked for some light broth at the end of my meal to mix in with my concentrated broth so I could drink it like ramen soup but it was still on the salty side
My nephew got the Aburi Chasu ramen in the black garlic soup which has a nice garlicky punch amidst the creamy tonkatsu flavour. The noodles were softer than my Tsukemen version as it was soaked in the soup longer which cause the noodle to soften. The rest of the ingredients were the same except the soup version had additional black fungus strips which added a nice crunch when eaten with the noodles. Surprisingly, the broth of the soup version was not salty like the Tsukemen
We both ordered set meals so each noodle came with a side dish, we ordered the chicken karage and the crispy fried fish which were both fried perfectly till golden brown. Both were served with mayonnaise and tasted very juicy and succulent with a crispy batter
Overall, I find the ramen at Menya Musashi pretty nice although my Tsukemen broth was on the salty side. While the flavours are different from the usual Japanese ramen as their taste is creamier and thicker with a modern twist, the ramen is still good.
Address: 1 HarbourFront Walk, #01-104, Singapore 098585
Operating hours: 11.30 am to 9.45 pm
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