Signature ramen ($8.90+)!
Yishun Japanese signature tonkotsu ramen: creamy pork-bone broth with chashu belly, nori, wood ear, half a lava egg and scallion. $8.90+.
Lunch at a Yishun Japanese spot: signature ramen, $8.90+. ๐
What was in the bowl:
- Creamy tonkotsu broth: the pale, cloudy pork-bone soup
- Chashu belly: two long slices of rolled pork belly draped over the noodles
- Nori: the seaweed sheet standing up at the side
- Wood ear mushroom (kikurage): the dark crunchy strips
- Lava egg: half an egg with the orange jammy yolk
- Scallion and thin straight noodles underneath
Tonkotsu (่ฑ้ชจ) is the Hakata (Fukuoka) school of ramen: pork bones boiled hard for hours until the collagen and marrow emulsify into the soup, turning it cloudy, creamy and almost milky. This bowl ran the standard tonkotsu playbook, the pale broth, thin straight Hakata-style noodles (which suit the thick soup and cook in seconds), and the classic garnishes of chashu, nori, kikurage and ajitama.
The chashu was the rolled-belly style, soft and fatty rather than the leaner SG roast, warming through in the broth until it goes butter-soft. The lava egg hit the right jammy stage, and the wood ear added the textural crunch that keeps a rich bowl from being one-note.
The honest framing: this is mall-food-court-tier ramen rather than a destination tonkotsu, the broth a touch lighter than the all-day-boiled specialists, the noodles fine but not remarkable. For a neighbourhood Japanese bowl in Yishun, though, it does the job at a fair price.
At $8.90+ for a tonkotsu ramen with chashu and a lava egg in Yishun, this is decent value against the $14-$18 specialist shops.
Overall: 4.1 / 5. ๐๐๐ผ The creamy broth with the jammy egg was the reliable standout. Standard execution, fair value, would re-order in the area.
