I joined food writers Corrine, Jesslyn and our friend Rachel at the just opened Akai Fune Japanese Restaurant which is located just outside Hall 3 at Singapore Expo.
Akai Fune Japanese Restaurant is a new "baby" of owner, chef David and his wife Caroline who is expecting their second child. David and Caroline have a 18 month old son.
As a new start up, David personally does the cooking and Caroline works at the front.
Though young, David is no newbie to the industry. David has been in F & B all his life. His family ran the famous Block 924 zhi char 煮炒 in Yishun town until the HDB block was demolished.
David studied culinary art at SHATEC (Singapore Hotel and Tourism Education Centre). He worked in the restaurants of Raffles Hotel, then Ritz Carlton Hotel before starting his own catering business four years ago.
Akai Fune Japanese Restaurant is David's newest venture.
(Note: Akai Fune has changed ownership and David is not longer with the restaurant.)
Akai Fune Restaurant is spacious and simply laid out. Very clean and neat. At the moment, David focuses on serving good ramen and shabu shabu, before adding more to the menu.
Kyushu Nankotsu Ramen $12.90
David first let us try his Kyushu Nankotsu Ramen.
The broth made by boiling stock bone and pork for at least 15 hours (without any MSG or synthetic taste enhancers) was among the best that I have tasted. The broth has good body, smooth texture and a robust umami flavour. I happily finished up all the broth in the large bowl, plus some from the ladies' bowls as well :P
The ramen noodles were tender yet el dente, and springy. It has a nice, subtle wheat flavour. David imports his fresh ramen noodles from Japan.
Kyushu Nankotsu Ramen come with large chunks of this lovely braised pork with soft bone.
Made with chilled Australian pork, the savoury meat was very tender and had a slight lovely savoury, smokey flavour. I liked this a lot.
Hokkaido Seafood Butter Miso Ramen $15.90
David next let us try his Hokkaido Seafood Butter Miso Ramen. This ramen uses the same broth but made even richer by adding a block of butter and miso 味噌. The sweet corn added a sweet note to the savoury broth.
Hokkaido Seafood Butter Miso is ideal for people who like heavy broth with smooth buttery, and pronounced savoury flavours.
Same beautifully el dente ramen noodles.
The Hokkaido Seafood Butter Miso came with a large scallop.
I liked the taste and texture of the hard boiled eggs with the slightly runny yolk. I ate mine plus pinched a couple from the ladies.
David uses large live tiger prawns for his ramen and shabu shabu.
The freshly cooked reddish tiger prawn - juicy, sweet, bouncy, crunchy, and firm.
I felt I had one of the best ramen ever for me at the simple Akai Fune. The pricing is reasonable too for such high quality food.
Seriously, when you are at or near Singapore Expo, do yourself a big favour - get yourself a bowl of ramen at Akai Fune :D
(Note: Akai Fune has changed ownership and David is not longer with the restaurant.)
Restaurant name: Akai Fune Japanese Resturant
Address: #01-31, 1 Expo Drive (outside Hall 3), Singapore
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/C71tU
GPS: 1.336048,103.960785
Hours: 11:00am to 2:00pm and 6:00pm to 11:00pm (11:00am to 11:00pm on Sat, Sun and Public Holidays)
Non Halal
Date visited: 23 Jan 2014
Return to Johor Kaki home page.
tried today. groupon offer . ramen is salty. my dessert come before my appesiters, main course before dessert.
ReplyDeleteservice very disorganized. I rated the food a 3 at most
Thank you for your comment. Akai Fune has recently changed ownership. I have not been to Akai Fune since David left.
DeleteI just went there this afternoon, and all I can say that the food served there is absolutely atrocious! The teriyaki salmon don was anything but even decent offering (picture it as similar to those pre-packed box sold in supermarket). Another dished ordered, the vegetarian curry don, was simply a big plate of white non-sticky rice coupled with a misery portion of curry vegetables. I am not someone who is super-duper stringent on food, but to be served such poor quality and to be charged restaurant price was simply not acceptable. The story did not end here. I posted my comments and the picture of the pre-packed box of salmon don on their FB page. Instead of accepting the criticism with an open-heart and improving on their food quality, the administrator deleted my post and blocked me from further postings. What one can see in their FB page is just good comments posted in 2014! To me, this is plain dishonesty on the part of the restaurant to honest diners. Readers to this site, I hope you would pay particular attention to this restaurant
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment. Akai Fune has changed ownership. I have not been to Akai Fune since David left.
Delete