Ramen @ Santouka

I was craving for ramen the other day. Our option was either go back to Marutama or check out Santouka. We ended up at Santouka. I was totally unprepared (read: forgot to bring camera) so please pardon the bad quality pictures.

Presenting Shio Ramen otherwise known as the Salt Ramen!



This was what I had and I love it! The soup stock was heavenly! Not too salty or msg-ridden. It was full of flavour yet, very light at the same time. Two pieces of not so tender but thick meat, some shredded jew's ears, some very nice menma (my favourite!!!), a piece of naruto, and a very nice red preserved ume which was UTTERLY UTTERLY salty! I expect I should have taken bites of the ume on off while I was having my ramen instead of leaving it to the last.

The ramen could have been "bouncier" but I'm not complaining yet. On the overall it was so light I wasn't downing glasses of ice water like I did at Marutama. I couldn't finish my ramen though I finished every last drop of the soup! *slurpz*

Priced at $13.50, it is slightly more expensive than Marutama's $12.

Mervyn had the tori ramen.



It came with an egg too. The tori ramen promised no pork. Even the soup base was good quality chicken stock. Indeed I was quite impressed with the quality of the soup! And the tori ramen is only $12!

And because I have been craving for gyoza, we shared one.



At $5.50, it tasted so much better than the ones we had at Bishamon! Though it was pan-fried, the skin wasn't rubbery or hard. In fact, it was quite soft and the meat inside was fresh! This will definitely be one of my must-have when I go Santouka.

Plus at Santouka, their menu has more to offer than Marutama's. There's even small bowls of rice, or you can order a set, where there's a small bowl of rice, a bowl of ramen, and some salad! Quite cool! I noticed most of the Jap guys who went there for their lunch usually had the rice and ramen!

And because there were so much to offer, we went back Santouka a second time within a week!

This time, I ordered the special Tsuke-men.



It's actually cold noodles with hot soup. You get to dip your noodles in the soup before eating it. The soup was made extra flavourful and was quite saltish so that when you dip your noodles in, the soup flavour surrounds the ramen totally. Also, the ramen used is slightly thicker than the usual ramen used at Santouka.

You might have spotted a teapot. It was actually jasmine tea. If you find your soup too saltish, all you have to do is to add the tea into your soup! Nice!

All of this at only $14!

Mervyn ordered the spicy miso ramen.



Yes, it tasted as good as it looked! The miso was fragrant, and the spicyness was just right. At $13.50 this is one of the standard ramen you can find on the menu. Other standard ramen include the Shio Ramen which I had earlier, the Shoyu Ramen (I'm gonna try this next!!), and the Miso Ramen.

For sides, we ordered some very fatty meat.



It is one of their signature dish @ $9. The meat was served with no gravy but with some leeks on top. The refreshing taste of leeks enhances the fatty meat really well and you can just keep eating them without feeling too fatty or greasy! I love it!

Santouka is @ The Central #02-76, one floor below Marutama. As the place is pretty small, do expect queues during peak hours. I'm definitely going back there again!