Kageyama Ramen – Toripaitan Ramen at Suntec City (DOUBLE FEATURE)

What’s new in the ramen scene in Singapore?

Sure, there’s the highly anticipated Mensho Tokyo that finally reached Singapore shores on 20th July this year after parading around the world for more than a decade. Not to worry; I’ll review Mensho Tokyo SG another time ^{(Note: That post will have something special in store since I’ve already tried their Sydney branch, wink wink)}.

Before Mensho, there was another store that anchored their ship in Singapore by the name of Kageyama Ramen half a year ago. Like Mensho, they also specialize in toripaitan ramen, meaning that their ramen used chicken bones and chicken parts to produce their broth.

Brief History

Kageyama Ramen is an award-winning franchised brand based in Tokyo and made it to the Tokyo’s Ramen of the Year list between 2021 and 2023. They were also awarded the Gold Medal for all three years¹. In Singapore, it’s a franchise part of Japan Food Holdings (JFH) which also manage other ramen franchises that you might be familiar with such as Ajisen, Menya Musashi, Tokyo Shokudo and more. I expect the taste profile to be similar to some of JFH’s ramen franchises so without further ado, let’s get right into the next section.

Experience

I arrived at around 12.45pm with a huge crowd during lunch hours, but there were a few empty seats available. Shortly afterwards, I was escorted to my seat and took a good look at their menu with a lengthy list of offerings.

I was interested to try their chashu ramen, but then they were having a special menu featuring one of the main stars of today’s show: Crispy Pork Ramen. Like most restaurants in shopping malls these days, ordering your food is done via scanning the QR code, and it didn’t take long for the food to be served.

Taste Test #1: Crispy Pork Ramen, Shoyu Broth ($14.90)

Most of their ramen are also available in shio soup base, but I always prefer shoyu in most cases. Furthermore, their ramen also lets you choose whether to order thick (original) or thin noodles. Being a total sucker for thick noodles, I ordered the former and I have to say, it tasted quite al dente with a firm but smooth bite. If you’re feeling hungrier than usual, they do offer an extra portion of noodles separately if you want.

Moving on their chashu, their crispy pork is basically deep-fry thin pork belly based on their usual pork chashu. Personally, this seems more of a novelty than being part of the ramen since it didn’t really mesh well with the overall dish. Even as I make my way to the bottom of the bowl, the deep-fry pork belly wasn’t too soggy and still retains a certain level of crunchiness. Don’t take too long, though.

A notable thing about Kageyama was their use of saffron, which added a tinge of spiciness to break the monotony. Not the first store to use saffron as garnish, but it’s certainly adding more dimensions into the already busy bowl of ramen.

Taking a departure from most ramen stores when it comes to their choice of vegetables such as bean sprouts or cabbage, Kageyama use a mix of green and red cabbages more commonly found in Western food or salad. Say what you want about Kageyama breaking rules, but props to them attempting to try something new and interesting to stand out from their competitors, both in Japan and Singapore.

By the time I finished the bowl, I don’t think it suits the profile of the crispy pork ramen ramen, but I didn’t have the same perception with their chashu ramen which I’ll be talking about shortly. Points for trying though.

The use of garnishes such as onions and fried shallots provided additional umami finishing to complete the bowl. Like with most modern ramen, there were remnants of yuzu citrus that gave it a fruity aftertaste. That aftertaste grew more apparent upon reaching to the bottom of the bowl to alleviate the heaviness of the dish.

Trying the tamago (egg) for the first time, both egg white and egg yolk are creamy and soft, though I’d recommend dipping into the soup for a minute or two to heat it up and to add more flavor.

Overall, this crispy pork ramen taste test makes me feel less like eating ramen with deep-fry pork chashu, and more like eating a plate of pork cutlet in ramen form. Maybe the green and red cabbage strongly gave that impression. And because it deviates from the norm, I wouldn’t think that I’ll be providing a fair assessment of Kageyama if I were to assess their ramen based on a limited-time promo item rather than an item from their permanent menu.

So before we get into the second taste test, does anyone feel like going for some light dessert?

Taste Test (Dessert): Strawberry Pannacotta ($3.95, after 50% off)

I couldn’t resist not ordering dessert after a satisfying meal. And since it was 50% off, why not? I ended up choosing the Strawberry Pannacotta

Dessert is served later after completing the main course. No complaints there; it was sweet and milky that hit all the right spots. It did all it had to do to properly end a heavy meal.

Taste Test #2: Pork Belly (3-piece) Chashu Ramen, Shoyu ($14.90)

I returned to the store a week later to try an item from their main menu to give it a fairer assessment on what they have to offer. It wasn’t too difficult to choose what I wanted, and their three-piece pork belly chashu ramen in shoyu broth seemed to be a great choice for anyone who can’t decide what to pick, but wants a pleasant bowl of ramen without breaking too many conventions.

The broth tastes strongly of chicken essence closer to the bottom of the bowl. Strangely enough, this was absent when I tried the Crispy Pork Ramen, or not as apparent as it is here.

To sum it up, this is quite similar to the Crispy Pork Ramen in terms of its general profile. The pork belly chashu has an equal fat-to-meat ratio, giving this melt-in-the-mouth sensation. The meat toughness is not too hard, but not overly tender either.

Contrary to my initial impressions, the veggies in this dish fit better here and didn’t taste out of place or obtrusive. I was glad that the vegetables here didn’t overstay their welcome compared to the crispy pork ramen for some weird reason that I can’t pinpoint.

Final Thoughts

If you find Mensho Tokyo’s toripaitan ramen beyond your budget, then Kageyama’s toripaitan ramen might be a more affordable option within the downtown area. Between the crispy pork ramen and the chashu ramen, I’ll say got for the chashu ramen if you like your ramen the normal way.

Japan Food Holdings’ a company where I have very mixed opinions on, but I’ll save that for another time. Can’t believe I’m saying this about a JFH ramen franchise arriving our shores, but bringing Kageyama Ramen here shows some promise that they’re giving other types of ramen such as toripaitan a chance, so ramen fans like myself can rejoice. It’s a signal to Singaporeans that there’s more than just tonkotsu ramen that are worth their time here.

That said, I have a strong hunch that Kageyama in Singapore will adopt the house style of Japan Food Holdings (Ajisen, Afuri, Menya Musashi etc.) sooner or later. Maybe someone may disagree with me on this, but the soup reminds me of Menya Musashi’s even though I haven’t had ramen from Musashi in years.

Speaking of which, I’d like to try Menya Musashi’s OG ramen someday once I find an opportunity to travel to Japan. Online reviews of people who tried both the original and SG Menya Musashi have describe a vast different in standards, so only one way to find out someday.

P.S.: As of the release of this post, I found out a week ago that Konjiki Hototogisu also have a similar item with their Crispy Pork Ramen, except they offer either tonkotsu or shoyu soup bases. Since both Hototogisu and Kageyama are under Japan Foods Holding, no surprises for the overlap but a part of me wished that each store at least have their own specialties to set themselves apart, but I digress.

Address & Opening Hours

Suntec City
3 Temasek Blvd, #02-605, Singapore 038983
Opening Hours:
Mon to Sun, 11.30am to 10pm
Nearest MRT Station: Promenade

1. Japan Food Holdings 2024 Annual Report: https://links.sgx.com/FileOpen/JFH%20Annual%20Report%202024.ashx?App=Announcement&FileID=809229 ↩︎