Menya Musashi ramen

One of the Japan’s highly rated Ramen store (Menya Musashi) is in Singapore. Now there is no need to fly to Tokyo to try this famous ramen. It was officially opened 2 months ago in May 2012. On its first day of opening, I remembered they advertised on first page of mypaper. I decided to give this ramen a try on the first day. However, the ramen was sold out by 1pm. I was quite shocked by it. Look likes it will be a big hit in Singapore from its success in Tokyo soon.

The lunch crowd queue can be really long sometimes. Furthermore, the restaurant is not really big. You need to wait for at least 15mins before you can get a seat here. I reached here @ 1130am before the peak hour starts.

One of its signature dishes is the Tsukemen Noodles aka dipping noodles @ $14.90, where the soup broth and cold ramen are separated. One has to dip the noodles into the thick broth in order for the noodles to absorb the essence of the broth before consuming it. For the promotional period, if you order this, you can actually request for free ramen upgrade 5x of the normal serving with no extra costs!

There are several other ramen to choose from: White, Red or Black Shabu Ramen @ $14.90 each. I ordered the Black Shabu Ramen. Since this is the lunch menu, it comes with additional bowl of white rice for free.

Normally, for me, I would try the soup broth first before the noodles. The taste of the broth would give me an indication if this ramen is good or not. The broth is accompanied by garlic, fried onion, bamboo shoots, black fungus, seaweed and lava egg.

After dipping the spoon into the broth and bring it back to my taste bud, I was surprised. The broth was full-bodied: very juicy and thick. Though, it is slightly salty, I can feel the collagen goodness and essence of the broth (a mixture of pork bones and chicken). I even finish the entire broth alone.

The noodles are thin and smooth. You can easily bite off the noodles.

Next, to my slight disappointment, the sliced Cha Shu (braised pork) is small and thin. But the texture of the Cha Shu is firm and juicy. As for the lava eggs, it is not that fantastically done. The eggs are cold. I wish it can be more runny and warm. Ikkousha ramen did a good job on their lava eggs.

To conclude, the soup broth here is very nice. It is probably one of best you can find in Singapore. It is comparable to the Ikkousha ramen @ Bugis+ (formally known as Illuma). One word of caution: Please be early to avoid the long queue.

Location
Menya Musashi麺屋武蔵(next to Taxi Stand)
Raffles City
252 North Bridge Road #01-16 S (179103)
Contact no: +65 6336 6500

Opening hours
Daily: 1130hrs – 2200hrs