“Dried Bonito and Tonkotsu Broth Ramen”
Ranked the third most popular ramen chain in Japan, I was quite exciting to try Ramen Kagetsu Arashi after a thoroughly enjoyable bowl at Ramen Keisuke Tonkotsu King.
Newly opened at The Cathay basement, there was a big turn out of lifestyle and food bloggers to try this ramen.
Ramen Kagetsu Arashi introduced 2 new dishes today, more to appease the local palate: The Ginjiro Ramen and the Itameshi dry Curry Rice.
Usually there’s an array of condiments you can add at any ramen stall like shoyu, fried garlic andchili oil. Kagetsu Arashi brings it to the next level with freshly pressed garlic and all-japan imported sauces and spices.
Customize it any way you like, but I prefer to just take it in it’s original form.
Itameshi Dry Curry Rice ($12.90). Coming in a sizzling pan like the kind at pepper lunch, the server drizzles the concentrate curry sauce over the rice, then starts mixing it all up while the hot pan sears away.
The thin sliced sausages were not very impressive as a meat, but boy did the dry curry flavoured rice taste good. Tastes like fried rice with a nice crunchy base from the sizzling pan to add texture. Not overly sweet as well like the usual Japanese curry, and has more distinct curry spices. This was pretty impressive.
Ginjiro Ramen ($13.90). Ah, the star of the show. A very unique dried bonito and tonkotsu broth with bouncy hakata-style ramen noodles; distinct bonito flavouring in the soup. There’s some added sweetness from the chopped onions that cuts away the heavy taste as well.
The charsiew was pretty tender with some fats, going well with the ramen.
Apparently they serve the ramen here default with hard-boiled eggs, as the soft-boiled egg changes the taste of the ramen broth. Personally I don’t think it matters that much. The ‘Ajitsuke Tamago’ is pretty much what every other decent ramen stall on Earth serves with ramen, and I enjoy the marinated soft-boiled eggs about 28319 times more than the plain hard-boiled one.
You can still order the soft-boiled egg on the side though, but they were very adamant about me not adding it into my soup. But you know, I enjoy my anarchy wherever I can.
Gyoza ($6). Mix shoyu, white vinegar and chili oil together first, then dip the gyoza in. Bliss. The first batch of gyozas served were honestly a little lackluster, with filing that wasn’t very meaty.
The second batch of gyozas however had more flavourful filling of chives, a very crisp side of skin and just overall good balance with the chili oil, shoyu, vinegar mix. Consistency might be something Ramen Kagetsu Arashi needs to watch out on.
Being curious, I also tried the original number 1 favorite seller in Japan’s Ramen Kagetsu Arashi, the Arashi Genkotsu Ramen. It’s number 1 in Japan, how to pass up the opportunity? But honestly, I can see why they introduced 2 new localized dishes.
The Genkotsu Ramen soup had a certain charred garlic aftertaste, and didn’t really have much tonkotsu pork base flavor. Overly sweetened with onion and just generally a flat soup. The entire table agrees; this particular soup won’t sell well to Singaporeans.
So while I recommend the Itameshi Dry Curry rice and the bonito pork-based Ginjiro Ramen, I’d have to suggest passing on the original Genkotsu Ramen. Still a pretty casual, clean ramen place to check out if you’re in the area.
Expected Damage: $15-$20
