Ippudo, which still counts as one of my favourite ramen shops in Singapore, has opened a quick-service, takeaway concept store Kuro-Obi at Marina Bay Sands.
Kuro-Obi was first launched in New York, and this Singapore MBS outlet is its first overseas foray.
Interesting to know: this is the first concept by Ippudo with a chicken-based Tori Paitan ramen.
The signature is the Kuro Obi Original ($12) which comes in a takeaway bowl, with a creamy chicken broth base served with chicken chashu, diced onion, spinach, seaweed and egg.
Other variants include Aka-Obi ($10) mixed in with spicy miso pasta, Cha Obi ($9) which has a vegetable shoyu broth, and Shiro-Obi ($8) – the original with no egg and seaweed.
The bowl of noodles can be customized by choosing from texture of the noodles to soup concentration, stock richness to condiment add-on such as garlic and onion.
I picked “Normal” for all choices.
First feedback (which is similar to what several of my friends had commented) was that the broth was too salty, and somewhat oily.
I can understand why. The soup was oilier than usual as this is a takeaway concept, and the oil would help keep the soup warm enough.
With that said, I did feel that the saltiness masked the delicate creaminess of the chicken broth.
For fans of Ippudo’s Hakata style straight, long and thin noodles, you may be disappointed to know that the noodles here are the yellowish, thicker, shorter type – as it supposedly keeps better and does not turn soggy so easily.
At least the chicken chashu was tender and tasty.
Side dishes of Chicken Rice, Tori Chashu Meshi, Tori Karaage, Takoyaki are available.
Ordered the Tori Karaage and was thankful I had 3 instead of 5 – the pieces were just too oily and not crisp enough.
Thankfully, Kuro-Obi is considered wallet-friendly in high-end Marina Bay Sands, with ramen starting from $8.
If not, Ippudo fans can still choose to dine-in at the 90-seater restaurant next door.
Kuro-Obi Marina Bay Sands
Bayfront Avenue #B2-54/55 Marina Bay Sands Singapore 018972 (beside Skating Rink and Rasapura)
Opening Hours: 10:30am – 11:00pm (Sun – Thurs, PH), 10:30am – 11:30pm (Fri, Sat, Eve of PH)
Other Related Entries
10 New Ramen Places In Singapore
Kanshoku Ramen Bar (ION Orchard)
Takumen (Circular Road)
Nantsuttei Ramen (Orchard Central)
Tsuta Singapore (Pacific Plaza)
* Daniel’s Food Diary pays for food reviewed unless otherwise stated.
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