Itadakimasu! 🎏

$30++. I was half prepared to be disappointed by some low grade wagyu but NOPE look at the marbling! As you would expect, it simply melted~ in my mouth 😋 This came with a side salad and rice. What an affordable set for the quality of beef!

$18 nett. I love eating here! The don is delicious - besides the very good Japanese rice grains, the ebi is crisp and plump and I love the addition of shredded egg to the don. The teapot on the side contains bonito broth, which you can drink on its own or pour into your rice. I like pouring it into my last few spoonfuls of rice - the broth lightly flavours the rice and really helps to cleanse the palate. Service here is always cheery and the tissue packets have cute hand drawn cartoons on them.

Was really pleased with this yummy plate of Japanese-styled pasta! Generously peppered with clams, mussels, scallops, squid and prawns, the seafood was fresh and cooked nice and tender. The tomato-based sauce tasted different from those at Italian restaurants (I just can't put a finger to it 👆🏼), but was no less flavourful and tasty. This was a giant plate of pasta and I was so stuffed after. We got the Couple Set, which comprised of any 2 pastas + 2 soups + any 2 drinks (the matcha latte is super thick and creamy) + a side of chicken karrage and wedges for $39++.

For my order, I chose light for saltiness of the broth, less oil and hard noodles. I really liked the soup. The sweetness of lobster coupled with the savoury and fragrant blend of 3 different types of miso made for a good, full-bodied broth. I also found this miso to have a more delicate flavour compared to other miso ramen I've had, so it definitely didn't overpower. If you would like a more pronounced flavour of lobster, the clear lobster broth was also tasty and very homely. It also didn't taste like a glorified version of prawn noodles to me, cause it was sweeter and had a purer flavour. I didn't really fancy the toppings here (but I appreciated the variety - dumpling, chicken chashu and pork chashu), which paled in comparison to what's offered at other Keisuke branches.

Super yummy tendon set! I'm not much of a fan of fried food but I wouldn't mind having this again because the tempura batter was light and airy, and it wasn't greasy. I also prefer the tendon sauce here to kohaku's because it was less sweet, and was lighter tasting. I like the fact that the set comes with miso soup and chawanmushi, which made all the fried food less monotonous. OH and this tendon comes with a nice gooey egg that I mixed into my rice. It was soooo good eaten with the tendon sauce. There wasn't much of a queue when we got there at 5.30pm. :)

One of the stalls at Pasar Bella (Suntec) is Grillo, which I've patronised several times for the donburi. My fave is this one - Japanese rice topped with beef slices, an onsen egg and fried garlic chips, and drizzled with a sweet, truffley soy sauce. I thought the garlic and truffle went really well together, and the beef was a tender and juicy medium. Will recommend it!

Mazesoba is dry ramen. This one is topped with plenty of chives, seaweed, minced pork and an onsen egg! There was also soup on the side, which really reminded me of Bak Chor Mee haha. The instructions on the menu said to mix everything together really well, including the egg with the sauce, which is a dark salty soy. I enjoyed the noodles, which were bouncy and had a good bite. Flavour wise, this dish was on the salty side so I wouldn't have this too often.

Tendon seems to be all the rage recently, and the queue at Kohaku was insane. I joined the queue at around 8pm but still had to wait for an hour 😭 At least the tendon I had was quite yummy! It's topped with a mountain of tempura (battered prawns, chicken, asparagus, mushroom and pumpkin) - what a great deal for $15! The sauce drizzled on the tempura is stickier and sweeter than the dipping sauce we usually see. If you can't get enough of fried food, you'll be very happy with this tendon! For me though, it got a little heavy after 3-4 pieces so I would have preferred to share this. I got myself some green tea which is free flow and that helped too.

Sumiya offers some really nice set lunches available till 2.30pm! I ordered the conger eel rice bowl set, which came with chawanmushi, miso soup, a salad, pickles and a really yummy matcha mochi! I loved all the sides! The eel on my rice bowl was also good. Look at that shine! I've had eel where the bones were still hard, but this one's been stewed till the bones were so soft I couldn't even detect them. 👍🏼 Not to mention, the amount of eel just overwhelms my rice hahaha. I think this was quite a steal at $21.80++

This was my first time having mazesoba (dry ramen)! It reminded me of bak chor mee, but that would be an insult to the delightfully chewy noodles in this mazesoba. The proper way to have this is to mix all the toppings including the egg evenly to create a rich tasty sauce that coats the noodles. But I was still a little disappointed when my gooey egg disappeared 😅 this was a bit salty for me but I really loved the noodles! When you are done with the noodles, you can ask for a bit of rice to mop up the sauce. But even without that extra portion of rice, I was stuffed!

After so many bowls of ramen, the experience was beginning to feel and taste repetitive - the same chicken/pork broth, the same melty cha shu, the same flavoured egg... you get the idea. But THIS ramen was quite different. Unlike most miso ramen I've had which were packed full of umami but tended to be a tad too salty, this one had a nice balance of sweetness and saltiness, making the broth more palatable. I also enjoyed the addition of cabbage and capsicum, whose freshness and natural sweetness complemented the rich broth very well. The aburi cha shu was exceptional because it was not only melty, but also had a delicious smoky aroma from being flame-seared. Additionally, this ramen comes with lean minced pork, which I thought was really generous hahaha. The only weakness of this dish was the egg, which was flavourful but not really runny. But I like the flavours in this ramen a lot, so I'm gonna let that slide. 😋 (I had the most basic combination without any add-ons, and it was more than enough to fill me up. $17++)

I would never have thought to put sake in ramen 🍶 or to set my ramen on fire 🔥, but the chefs at Shin Sapporo did and these creative ramen turned out pretty well! My fave was the fire ramen ($15.80++), which is set ablaze with real fire so as to release the aroma and flavours in the oil that is poured over the ramen. This gave the creamy tonkotsu broth a really nice nutty aroma. As the fire ramen must be prepared by a professional chef (just look at the height of that fire 👀), remember to call up in advance to reserve it if you're keen. The sake ramen (also $15.80++) comes in dry and soup versions, and has been toned down to cater to non-sake drinkers. The soup version has a flavourful tonkotsu base and boasts a much stronger sake flavour than the dry version, which comprises of ramen noodles tossed in vinegar and sake and has a sweeter profile. We also tried several starters, including buttery scallops ($8.80++), which were everyone's favourite, and very yummy pumpkin croquettes ($4.80++). Thank you Shin Sapporo Ramen for your hospitality and the delicious spread, and Burpple for this opportunity! 😋😋😋