Located alongside other Japanese eateries serving tendon, ramen and unagi dons in Suntec, Menya Kokoro was expectedly filled on a Friday night. Thankfully, we didn’t have to wait very long to get our seats.

Despite being famed for their mazesoba, they offer way more than just their famous dry ramen, including soup based ramen, bento sets and katsu dons. It’s nice that they cater to smaller eaters who can request for less soba or rice, as well as big eater who can get large sized portions for the mains.

Their soft shell crab mazesoba is a summer special item, with a thick and spicy chili crab sauce coating their chewy thick noodles. Other than a nicely battered and fried soft shell crab on the side, one also gets an onsen egg (topped with fish roe), crab meat, seaweed and tempura bits to go with their noodles. Was attracted to this dish as one could top up a dollar for two pieces of deep-fried mantou that can be dipped with the rich chili crab sauce in this bowl.

If you’re famished, ordering the large portion for their mains will be sure to leave you satisfied (although food coma might hit you shortly after too). Their gyozas were nice as well. The partner ordered a karaage don, which was delicious too as the chicken pieces were fried really well.

Also as my mask snapped, one of the waitresses was really kind to offer me a new mask and service was great in general too. A highly recommended place if you’re in the Suntec area!