Tonkotsu

🥢 Paired with tender Toroniku slices, Narutomaki, Menma, Negi and Nori

🧾 SGD$22.00

✍🏻 ★★★★★★★☆☆☆〘7/10〙

💬 Let's be honest, no one comes to santouka just for the ramen. The star of this place is their tokusen toroniku. Just look at it glisten oh my porky god. Each slice has slivers of fat intricately woven in between each strand of meat, making it extremely tender. Best way to savour these iberico pork cheeks would be to dip them into your broth and let the heat melt the fats a little more- unlocking even more flavour. The noodles here are thin and always cooked al dente. The broth is a mixture of tonkotsu and shoyu which I found rather light and easy to drink but flavour-wise nothing out of the ordinary. Come here to get your toroniku fix!

🥢 Lavished with flame-seared Tiger Prawns, Pork Belly Chashu, Bamboo Shoots, Wood Ear Mushrooms, Beansprouts, Pickled Vegetables, half a molten Egg, Spring Onions, Shrimp Tenkasu, crispy Shallots and slivers of Red Chilli garnish

🧾 SGD$16.80

✍🏻 ★★★★★★★★☆☆〘8/10〙

💬 So many things to talk about, but first, oh man the broth was just something else. Imagine the very essence of prawns getting imbued into the body of a rich tonkotsu, crafting the intense umami creamy goodness that they call the broth. Each slurp had layers of sweetness, savouriness and just the right amount of spiciness to leave you wanting more. The ramen noodles were thin, bright yellow and super springy. They were cooked perfectly al dente and I felt it paired really well with the soup. Pork belly slices were incredibly tender with melt-in-your-mouth fats. There were also pickled vegetables and beansprouts; providing a nice crunch for some textural contrast. The prawns were very fresh, but my only gripe was that although there were beautiful chars on the prawns' outer shells, the prawns themselves did not taste smoky at all. But honestly who cares because we are all here for the broth!

🥢 Served with thinly sliced Chashu, Green Scallions, Wood Ear Mushrooms, Silver Sprouts and a molten Egg

🧾 SGD$8.40

✍🏻 ★★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆〘4/10〙*

💬 The best thing about Takagi Ramen to me is that they are open 24/7! That means you can still slurp up some piping hot ramen in the dead of night. Unfortunately for my visit, the broth served was barely lukewarm, and had this thick starchy consistency to it (which turned me off). I felt that it was also slightly bland as well. Noodles were good though; firm and carried a good bite. Chashu pork slices were thin and relatively tender. I do hope they fix the issue with the broth as I have seen similar feedbacks on that as well. But ultimately just keep in mind that this is a budget ramen.

🥢 Decorated with huge Chashu slices, Black Fungus, Green Onions and a molten Egg

🧾 SGD$16.50

✍🏻 ★★★★★★★★☆☆〘8/10〙

💬 I am back! It has become a birthday tradition for me to spend it at Ikkousha. They offer a birthday promotion: feeding you as many gyozas as your age for free (please don't count the gyozas I got haha). For more information, be sure to check them out for the T&Cs. Now, I always get the tonkotsu on my birthday. I love their crazy rich broth, so lusciously creamy and thick. Their Hakata noodles are always on point al dente, thin and chewy; perfect for slurping. The chashu slices were also incredibly tender as well. Nothing better than having this on your birthday!

🥢 Topped with Cha Shu, Green Onions, Black Fungus and half an Egg

🧾 SGD$12.90

✍🏻 ★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆〘2/10〙

💬 I am sorry but this bowl just did not cut it for me. I felt that the tonkotsu was light and bland, and the garlic flavour was disappointingly subtle. The salt taste was actually more prominent than the other flavours in the broth. Noodles were cooked alright. The chashu pieces were not tender and also on the saltier side. In my opinion, I felt that this bowl was rather overpriced for its "fast food quality" standards. Needless to say, I left unsatisfied. I do hope their parent: Menya Musashi, serves better ramen though. Thinking of visiting them soon!

🥢 Served in a frothy broth with slices of Pork Bellies, Black Fungus strips, Green Onions and red pickled Ginger

🧾 SGD$13.90

✍🏻 ★★★★★★★★☆☆〘8/10〙

💬 This is my first time seeing a ramen broth whisked to foamy bubbly goodness. The soup itself was rich, sweet and already light, but because it got whisked, the tonkotsu broth got even lighter and airier. Tiny foam bubbles were popping by my lips as I gave it a good slurp. The slices of pork bellies were reasonably tender, and the noodles were cooked perfectly al dente, slightly firm and springy. The pickled ginger however, felt misplaced as I did not feel like it went well with the bowl. Its acidity would have been handier in a heavier bowl of tonkotsu. With the Chef being actually Japanese, this has got to be one of the most authentic bowls of ramen that I have had in Singapore!

🥢 Topped with Chashu, Bamboo Shoots, Wood Ear Mushrooms, Leek, Seaweed, half an Egg and in-house red Spicy Paste

🧾 SGD$16.80

✍🏻 ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆〘5/10〙

💬 The red paste was slightly spicy but still very much tolerable. I have seen somewhat good reviews about the broth and I was looking forward for the spice to cut through a thick and rich tonkotsu. However when I took a sip, I was kinda disappointed that it was neither. The tonkotsu broth that I had was leaning towards the milder side, which was rather surprising due to its dark colour. Ramen noodles also tasted a little bland, probably because of the aforementioned. The soup and noodles have to go hand in hand together, with each strand getting coated with flavour as you pull it up! The noodles most important role is to taxi the broth essence up into your mouth. But sadly, I felt that this couldn't. Now, the fatty pork bellies on the other hand were game-changing, with each slice being extremely tender and succulent. They had some nice char on them as well. Pretty much saved the bowl for me.

🥢 Topped with Chashu, Wood Ear Mushrooms and Green Onions

🧾 SGD$14.50

✍🏻 ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆〘5/10〙

💬 Let me start off by saying I love ikkousha! I have been celebrating my birthdays there; slurping up their tonkotsu ramen and munching down on free gyozas (they offer a birthday promotion: feeding you as many gyozas as your age for free). However, I felt that this bowl was a lacklustre as I could barely taste the mentaiko, if any. I was expecting a flavour dance between the seafoody mentaiko and their creamy pork bone broth but boy was I disappointed. All I could taste was the tinge of spiciness that was mixed into the soup. Apart from the broth, everything else were great. The hakata style noodles were, as usual, cooked perfectly to my preference- firm. Pork slice was also tender and thin. Honestly, I would have given this an extra star or two if they had just named it spicy tonkotsu instead. Add more mentaiko please!

🥢 Dished up with pork belly Chashu, black fungus mushrooms, half an Egg, green onions and Seaweed

🧾 SGD$8.90

✍🏻 ★★★★★★★★☆☆〘8/10〙*

💬 The broth was on the sweeter side with a rich but not overly strong tonkotsu flavour. I was surprised at how generous the chashu servings were; two long strips of pork belly that were basically touching both ends of the bowl! Although it wasn't the softest break-apart-upon-lifting chashu, but with so much meat on there I'm not complaining. The Hakata style noodles were thin and firm in texture (as it should be), and just the way I like it. Overall a good bowl of tonkotsu ramen at an insane bang for the buck. If this was in my neighbourhood, I would gladly eat it every week!

*ramen priced ≤$10 are awarded with a bonus ★ for affordability

🥢 Served with hand-pulled Pork sautéed with sweet soy sauce and fragrant ginger, green Scallions, Bamboo Shoots and marinated Egg

🧾 SGD$9.90

✍🏻 ★★★★★★★☆☆☆〘7/10〙*

💬 The pork was extremely tender and well seasoned with hints of sweetness. It goes quite well with the light broth as you can pretty much just slurp the shreds of saucy pork. Noodles were fairly decent as well; with the Hakata-style firmer texture. I was pretty impressed at the value I was getting, the standard was great despite the somewhat low price point. This ramen chain is ran by local Singaporeans, so be sure to show them some support!

*ramen priced ≤$10 are awarded with a bonus ★ for affordability

🥢 Bathed in a creamy white collagen broth (black pork bones, trotters, kelp and shiitake mushrooms) and topped with Char Siu, Wood Ear, Scallions and their special Tare sauce

🧾 SGD$12.00

✍🏻 ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆〘6/10〙

💬 I had not been back to Tsuta for a while, so I was surprised to see a tonkotsu bowl on the menu. They are mostly known for their signature shoyu flavour; which is my go-to, but I decided to give their pork bone broth a try. At first glance, the broth looked extremely creamy, so much so you could even say it looked milky. I was prepared for an umami explosion but was quite taken aback when it ended up being rather light. Felt more like a shio-tonkotsu soup as I tasted more salt than porky-ness. The soba noodles on the other hand were perfect as always; springy ramen-like texture that makes you wonder if this is actually soba. And as usual, their char siu was not the highlight, as people are generally there just for their broths and noodles. Although this might not be my favourite tonkotsu bowl but it is still a decent attempt of innovation by the Chef!

🥢 Drizzled with house special spicy Black Oil, sous vide Cha Shu, Black Fungus, White Leeks and Spring Onions

🧾 SGD$13.90

✍🏻 ★★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆〘4/10〙

💬 Oh man I usually do not factor in the customer service into my ramen experience but this particular store was horrible. The staff were rude and simply gave off vibes that they did not want to be there. They were busy chatting out loud while we were eating and the dining experience was just terrible. Okay sorry let us get back to the ramen: The peppery black garlic oil on top was not spicy or garlicky and did not really do anything to elevate the broth. The tonkotsu soup was not hot, felt kinda just lukewarm which was very off-putting. I had doubts if the broth was even brought to a boil before serving. And the cha shu although sous vide-d was not any more succulent or tender than other regular cha shu. The only saving grace were the ramen noodles having a nice and firm texture, cooked al dente. Overall, a rather underwhelming bowl for a Michelin star brand; both taste and service.