Black garlic tonkotsu ($10.80) @ Ramen Taisho, Tampines!
Ramen Taisho at Tampines West: black garlic tonkotsu ramen, $10.80. Creamy pork bone broth with mayu black garlic oil, rare-style chashu, ajitama and kikurage.
Black garlic tonkotsu at Ramen Taisho, $10.80. ππ
What we had ($10.80):
- Black garlic tonkotsu ramen, $10.80
Ramen Taisho began as a hawker stall in Maxwell Food Centre, spent a couple of years at Le Quest in Bukit Batok, and now has its own shop under the HDB blocks at Tampines Ave 4. The owners trained in Japan, and the menu runs through the tonkotsu variations: shio, sambal, salted egg and this black garlic one.
The broth is the draw. Underneath it is a creamy pork bone tonkotsu, thick and opaque, and over the surface floats mayu, the black garlic oil made by slowly charring garlic until it turns almost black. It pools across the top in dark flecks and gives the whole bowl a smoky, roasted, faintly bitter edge that cuts the fattiness of the pork. Stir it through and the broth turns a marbled grey-brown.
The chashu was the rare style, thin pale-pink slices laid around the rim rather than the thick braised blocks, tender and only lightly seasoned so the broth stays the star. In the middle sat a halved ajitama with a bright orange, just-set yolk, and off to one side a tangle of kikurage (black fungus) for a bit of crunch against everything soft. Spring onion over the top.
A small bowl of beansprouts came on the side to tip in yourself, which is a nice touch and keeps the bowl from feeling too heavy.
At $10.80 this is very fair for a specialist bowl, and the black garlic makes it more interesting than a plain tonkotsu.
Overall: 4.2 / 5. πππΌ Smoky black garlic oil over a creamy tonkotsu, lovely jammy egg. Would re-order.
