Menya Itto Bangkok • Famous Tsukemen Ramen 📍 Raysorn Tower Village Chidlom ☎ +66 63 045 0236

Go Bangkok eat ramen 🙄

When I travel, I don't so much count the number of days or nights, than by the limited numbers of meals I can fit into my tummy during the trip.

Then, go Bangkok eat ramen? 🤔

But, Menya Itto came highly recommended by buddy Eddie who lived in Bangkok for 13 years and counting.

Eddie is a geeky foodie. Well informed, well connected. I trust Eddie's taste buds too.

It turned out that Menya Itto was one of the memorable highlights of this Bangkok trip. (I visit Bangkok at least once a year for decades, because the food scene is global, diverse, dynamic, innovative yet remains firmly undergirded by Thai culture and heritage.)

Having tried many ramen places in Japan, I humbly opine that Menya Itto Bangkok compares well with even with the best ramen shops I tried in Japan.

Menya Itto is at Raysorn Village between Erawan Shrine and Big C Supercenter, both among Bangkok's most visited landmarks.

Nicely, and neatly set up like typical mall ramen shops, almost nondescript. So truth be told, I would have walked past this gem without noticing, had it not for Eddie's recommendation.

Menya Itto's signature is their tsukemen style ramen. It's sort of like "dry noodles" of Singapore and Malaysia (though not exactly the same).

The noodles and toppings are served "dry" with a thick soup presented in a separate bowl. To eat, dip the noodles (served chilled) in the hot soup like a sauce and enjoy.

Tsukemen つけ麺 or "dipping noodles" is a recent creation.

It was invented in 1961 by Kazuo Yamagishi dubbed God of Ramen, chef-owner of Taishoken 大滕軒, a ramen shop in Tokyo. Tsukemen quickly caught on, and is today a mainstream style alongside traditional soupy ramen.

Menya Itto has Itto Tsukemen and Chasiu Itto Tsukemen as well as traditional soupy Noko Gyokai Ramen, Shoyu Ramen and Shio Ramen.

The noodles we are going to eat are made in-house in the morning, so they taste, smell and feel discernibly fresh to discerning ramen enthusiasts. They are carefully made to exacting standards and specifications.

The soup is made with real ingredients, I mean fresh hens, fish, shellfish, dried fish, dried seafood, high grade soy sauce, and other such good things.

Not with industrial powdered or gel flavour enhancers. Not factory made soup packed with preservatives shipped from abroad in plastic bags. Everything is made from scratch in Menya Itto's own kitchen in right there in Raysorn Village.

We tasted several ramen from Menya Itto's menu - the soupy ones and tsukemen. They were all very good.

But, I think if you are coming here for the first time and is only going to eat one ramen, go straight for their Lobster Tsukemen.

Menya Itto use the coveted Homard Bleu Breton, wild blue lobster from Brittany, France.

The huge crustacean was simply grilled with butter and sake.

Thanks to advanced freezing techniques coupled with meticulous preparation and expert grilling, the Brittany wild blue lobster flesh was delicate, sweet, and subtly umami.

The grilled lobster was served with a large bowl of rich, ultra umami lobster bisque.

(Comes with two chicken balls which were sweetish savoury, tender with crunch from bits of embedded cartilage. I like.)

Menya Itto make their ramen relatively thick and heavy. You can feel the weight just by looking at this photo 🤭

Dipped, rolled and folded the thick noodles in the indulgently rich lobster bisque.

They are done al dente. The thick strands have a tender chewiness which I enjoyed with every bite.

The robust crustacean umami clinging to the strands made each mouthful an addictive, unforgettable pleasure, I want to return to.

Price Baht 1900++ which is about SG$80 (worth it lah).

Menya Itto's side dishes and even steaks are also of high standard (we tasted them). Shan't go into details here, but definitely worth a try if you have tummy space.

Owner Nicholas Lam is a pastry chef. He still bakes but that's a story for another article here 👈

It is hard to snag a seat at Menya Itto's Tokyo flagship, so the seven million dollar question 👉 Is their Bangkok outpost a good substitute?

I can't answer this question because I haven't been to Menya Itto's Tokyo shop yet. So, I shall pay it a visit on my next Tokyo trip and update this post.

Meanwhile, based on my visit to Menya Itto at Raysorn Village, I highly recommend it to ramen fans who are visiting Bangkok.

One Day Chidlom Tour Itinerary

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