A new Buta Ramen shop opens at Far East Square. I would call this Singapore-style ramen, even though some reviews referred to the bowl as “Hakata style Tonkotsu ramen”.
The ramen, already quite popular with the office crowd, is developed by 3 local guy friends – Chris Tan, John Ng and Sandy Yeo. Their specialty is pork rib ramen, created as they are fans of our local bak kut teh. Their creative juices flowed and experimented to pair our local delight with noodles and soup.
I tried the Spicy Boss Rib Ramen ($13.90, no GST or service charges), where the ribs are sous vide and cha shu cooked over 24 hours so that they become certainly tender.
Traditional Japanese ramen lovers may frown at this, though the glazed ribs are indeed their selling point – slightly sweet and salty on the outside, with lick-worthy meat. At times it reminds me of what my grandma would serve beside plain porridge, that a simple rib would be good enough to keep one satisfied.
My initial reservation however, was with their broth. While the in-house made soup is said to be cooked for 8 hours, it did not feel intense or rich enough to my liking.
As the shop was still new, I felt they needed any chance and went back again for their Original Chashu Ramen ($11.90). This time, the broth was much tastier and I learnt that the chefs made slight tweaks to the recipe. Kudos to their spirit of determination.
Almost there, and I understand they are still in the stage of fine-tuning to reach that perfect bowl. My suggestions: The ajimata egg could be more flavoured, and noodles cooked springier.
While the owners have some ‘fear’ that customers may view the ramen as ‘authentically’ Japanese, they are confident of their product and aspire to be the next Momofuku, and to add one more variant into the mix.
Buta Ramen
Far East Square, 137 Amoy Street, #01-04 (Raffles Place MRT)
Opening Hours: 11am to 8pm (Mon-Fri), Closed Sat, Sun, PH
Other Ramen Entries
Ramen Matsuri (Boat Quay)
Ramen Bar Suzuki (Boat Quay)
Bari Uma Ramen (Tanglin Shopping Centre)
Menya Sanji (Orchid Hotel, Tanjong Pagar)
Ramen Keisuke Tori King (Amara Hotel)
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