Lunched today at Ramen Taisho at Maxwell Road Food Centre. I was a little early, so I was treated to a glimpse of the partially raised shutter. So cute, right? Ramen Taisho stall is located diagonally across from Tian Tian chicken rice (which always has a long queue of tourists, so you can't miss it).
Maxwell Road Food Centre is not a big hawker centre but it is centrally located and has a good collection of popular stalls, so it is always crowded during lunch. If you can, try to avoid lunch time.
Hock Soon and Kalene had been running Ramen Taisho since Feb 2016 (when they were located in Clementi Mall). They were in the personal care business and got into ramen on impulse after watching inspiring ramen shows on TV 😂 They soon jumped into the deep end by investing in a noodle making machine, only to find out that the pool of ramen knowledge is deep and wide 😱 (I am also inspired by the ramen shows but never dared jump in 😝 )
It's either swim or sink, so Hock Soon and Kalene immersed themselves in the fountainhead of ramen wisdom. For over three years, they travelled to Japan several times, tasting, attending courses on making ramen and how to run a ramen business. They opened for business in Feb 2016 in Clementi Mall before moving to Maxwell Road a year later.
Hock Soon and Kalene used to make their own ramen noodles. Now, they outsourced that to a noodle maker to make noodles according to Ramen Taisho specifications. Hock Soon still experiments with his own noodle making machine to create new noodles for his brand.
Hock Soon makes his ramen broth with a giant pressure cooker (which will make the eyes of ramen purists roll to the roof of their skulls 😂 ). Ramen Taisho's broth is made with a combination of pork and chicken.
Ramen Taisho's menu is posted at the stall front. Prices range from $6.80 for Standard Ramen to $9.80 for Shoyu Tonkotsu Deluxe (2018 prices). This is likely the best prices for this quality of ramen in Singapore now.
I had a Black Garlic Ramen for $7.80.
Ramen Taisho's tonkotsu broth has a smooth, medium body. It has a mild savoury flavour with many subtle layers from the blend of pork and chicken, fish based tare stock and salts. The black garlic oil added a more robust layer to the tonkotsu broth. The broth was not overly greasy and I drank it to the last drop.
The noodles were done soft al dente. I could feel the firm core even though the outside was tender. I enjoyed these noodles but would love it more, if it was stiffer. (We can specify the noodles' doneness, so next time I shall ask for "hard".)
The medium gauge noodles picked up the savoury broth well. It was slurpy smooth and delicious.
The chashu was tender with bands of lean meat and fat. Flavour was gently savoury. My ideal chashu is uncle style - fatter, softer and sweeter.
The ramen came with a whole lava egg. I bit off part of it to take this picture. The white was tender and the yolk was semi liquid. I could taste the egg's egginess (which is sometimes missing from farm eggs).
The sticks of pickled bamboo shoot were crunchy and had just the right salty flavour for me. I surprised myself in liking the pickled bamboo shoots - I normally do not enjoy pickled stuff.
👉 Ramen Taisho most likely serves the best value ramen in Singapore now. Restaurant quality house noodles in rich bone stock broth with nice chashu. Paying double the price at a restaurant in Singapore does not guarantee a better ramen than at Ramen Taisho at Maxwell Road Food Centre.
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Restaurant name: Ramen Taisho
Address: Maxwell Food Centre, 1 Kadayanallur Street, #01-32, Singapore 069184
GPS: 1°16'48.5"N 103°50'41.9"E | 1.280129, 103.844979
Waze: Maxwell Food Centre
Tel: 9831 1855
Hours: 11:30am - 9:30pm (closes at 11:30pm on Friday) (Sat & Sun off)
Date visited: 22 May 2018
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