There has been quite a rave about ramen in Singapore recently which led me to try the other famous ramen like Ippudo. One discovery that I have made is that pork cheeks are not available in every ramen store! So, Santouka is ranked one of the first in my list because of it's pork cheeks!

Must try the Pork Cheek!

Delicious hokkaido ramen! Highly recommended if you are craving for a hot bowl of japanese noodle soup.

The Noodles were not bad, The Soup was good and flavorful, the main thing was the Pork Cheek, it was really delicious, very rich in flavor and very tender.

Hokkaido Ramen at its best - SANTOUKA! Yums!

Ramen not bad. Pork cheeks very good, must-try!

noodles - chewy, firm, texture is just right soup - flavourful, perfectly balanced with a tinge of sweet and salty char shu -tender and moist char shu is thickly cut and very tasty eggs - cooked just right with yolk still runny.. location: convenient service staff - friendly ambience - japanese decor this is so far my favourite place for authentic japanese ramen! Spending: Approximately SGD 20(Dinner)

Having heard so many people rave about Santouka\'s ramen, and seeing frequent long queues during dinner time at its Central outlet, made me wonder what is so good about the ramen this restaurant serves. Since I could meet my friend for an early dinner, I suggested to check out this ramen joint as the dinner queue would not start so early. On the menu, the chef recommendation is the Tokusen Toroniku (Pork Cheek) Shio Ramen, however I didn\'t feel like spending too much that day and hence decided to give it a miss, but try out the Mixed Soup Ramen ($14++) instead.Why is it called Mixed Soup Ramen? This is because they mix 3 types of soup base into 1 bowl: Salt-based, Soy-based and Miso-based. There were bamboo shoots and char siu as well as a tamago in the ramen. Furthermore, as seen from the picture, a bowl of rice was also given, which is meant for one to pour into the broth after finishing the ramen. I thought it sounded interesting when I was deciding which to order. The char siu slices were quite fatty. They tasted more like lap cheong (chinese sausages) and my friend didn\'t like the taste, but I am ok with it, just thought was a bit funny to have such taste in Japanese ramen! There was nothing to rave about the tamago, I like the yolk runny like this, but the ones they serve here weren\'t marvellous. We couldn\'t really figure out the 3 types of soup base in our broth, just knew that it was salty. Haha There was a lot of ramen and by the time I finished it, I was already full (although I started my meal with a hungry stomach) and did not pour the whole bowl of rice into my broth. Instead I only scooped 2 spoonfuls into the broth to try out how it would taste. Not sure if it was because I was already full, I did not find anything special by adding the rice into my broth. After this meal, I am not sure why Santouka is so popular as I think I definitely have tasted better Japanese ramen in Singapore. Don\'t think I will queue for it to satisfy my ramen cravings in the future too.

Its my first time together with my friend to this restaurant. And my friend said it was nice so i came along and order this : tokusen toroniku ramen. Before we were being served, you can see their service to the other consumers are very polite and sincere. The environment inside is nice and cozy.I think that the soup base is not oily and is tasty with the ingredients put inside! And when you drink the soup, you wouldn\'t think of the msg or what that is inside, because it is simply delicious together with the ramen and the meat inside. Hence i finished all up!! (: It\'s worth the money!

Big bowls of ramen available from 11.00am – 9.30pm daily. Price ranges from $10 – $30. Value for money!

Salt flavour (Shio) Ramen is the signature soup noodle of santouka. More pic at http://monsoontravel.blogspot.com/2010/09/santouka-hokkaido-ramen.html The tonkotsu soup is rich and strong in flavour. Besides the pork taste, you can actually taste the salt after slurping in the soup. We ordered the signature pork cheeks salt flavour ramen. They serve the pork cheeks in slices, its tender, smooth and the fats on the cheeks are yummy.Only realised those fats when we flipped over the meat slices

The third stop of our tour - Ramen Santouka or らーめん 山頭火. As mentioned in my previous writeup just a couple of weeks back, Santouka is known for its shio(salted) ramen which has been consistently ranked #1 by Japan\'s media and magazines. The place was rather quiet as it was after the busy lunch period, a far cry from my last visit when I had to queue up for about 25mins before I could get a table. The view itself is worth a mention if you happen to get window seats. It overlooks Clarke Quay and the river in between, which definitely beats staring at blank walls. Shoyu Ramen - We ordered all 4 different soup base ramen to try, with the first being the Shoyu (soya sauce) ramen. I personally found the shoyu base a little unsettling because it was rich and milky yet had a very distinctive soya sauce aftertaste. Not exactly my cup of tea. The noodles were springy and looked uncannily like instant noodles though. The toro niku didn\'t seem as salty as my previous visit, which was a welcome relief of course, especially for someone who was already stuffed to the brim from Wakashachiya and Ma Maison. I was too full to try the salmon rice but I understand from one of my dining partners that it was quite good, but then again it might be biased because he likes salmon. Miso Ramen - This soup base tasted like a slightly watered down version of miso soup. And not being an ardent fan of miso soup meant that I had problems stomaching too much of this as well. It certainly didn\'t help that I was bloated by then. 2 mouthfuls of this and I raised the white flag. Shio Ramen - The shio (salted) broth suited me best. Rich and milky with a very distinctive pork taste. And since I only ate 2 mouthfuls, there was no chance of it making me nauseous like the previous episode.

Recently Santouka has this 1 for 1 ramen coupon promotion at Cuppage Terrace (ends on 31 dec), so I have visited the place twice this month to enjoy the promo and incidentally, I ordered the same set which is most bang (calorie count) for your buck.For $14+, you can get the mixed soup ramen, Awase Aji Set. It comes with a piping hot bowl of ramen soup with egg and cha su, a bowl of rice, Japanese pickles and hot cup of genmaicha (japanese brown rice tea). What is the bowl of rice for After slurping up your ramen noodles, the remaining pork broth soup can be mixed with the Japanese rice provided and it really tastes sooo good. The creamy pork soup broth really complements the chewy japanese rice! The soup broth is not overly salty too, their miso ramen has the saltiest soup broth. The ramen is also divine. The springy ramen noodles also went well with the soup and thick, tender slices of cha su were also provided. The soup broth for some reason seems rather oily, there was a layer of oil over the soup and the health conscious might be alarmed by the sight of it. But I didn’t really bother about it too much, just went ahead to slurp up the creamy, fragrant soup broth. One inconsistency I noticed was the eggs provided. The first time I went, the egg yolk was not runny enough, it was probably overcooked. There was an improvement in my second visit, the egg yolk was more runny and was oozing out all it’s yolk goodness. Hungry people will definitely enjoy this meal. It was really satisfying and filling, especially if you manage to finish the noodles, rice and soup. Wash the jerlerk-ness of the meal away with the genmaicha provided =) Service is perfunctory, the bowls of ramen are usually served out fairly quickly. Do note their lunch hours end at 3pm and they literally close at 3pm. In my first visit, I entered the shop at around 2.45 and we had to finish our ramen by 3. The staff dropped hints like turning off some of the lights and air conditioning, leaving us with a rather negative, unenjoyable experience. I was literally perspiring from trying to finish my ramen. =( For more pics and details, visit http://eugeniegene.tumblr.com/post/15029966865/santouka-ramen-cuppage-terrace Spending: Approximately SGD 16(Lunch)

I have came across the great reviews of this place from magazines, and finally got to taste it on my own.When you come to Santouka, the one thing you have to order is tokusen toroniku ! The all-time favourite & best selling ramen of the shop!The soup base tasted awesome! So rich and of good flavour! Nevertheless, the highlight of this ramen has to be the pork! The simmered pork cheek meat are so tender and juicy.Surprisingly, that layer of fat won\'t leave you an oily sicky feeling! The meat is so well-marinated that you will keep asking for more!And while you are there, don\'t forget to order the onsen eggs.. it\'s definitely an awesome side dish to add on to your already yummy ramen!

the set meal at santouka is indeed filling. my friend recommended me and my girlfriend here for some delicious japanese food. in the set meal, there was rice, soup and salad. the rice is really good, very sticky. the soup is a little oily though, but the ingredient is quite a lot. the meat is very tender and juicy. the salad is very light and refreshing, sort of remove the oiliness from the soup.

Had Santouka Miso Ramen for dinner. Went together with a group of friends at Clarke Quay Central , second floor. Long queue and we waited for around 30 mins before getting a seat. Probably because its a friday and it dinner crowd. But all wait was worth it. The soup base for miso ramen was good and the best part of it was the pork. You can taste the layer of fats and tender meat melts on your mouth and it is sliced to thin pieces nicely presented and cooked. My friends had the shio ramen and spicy shio ramen, had a try of the soup base, really good. On next visit i will eat the shio ramen because its to my liking and if i were to choose betweenshio and miso, definitely shio. Down thing about clarke quay santouka is that the restaurant is really small, and for the 5 of us on a full crowd day, we had the table of four and an additional chair. other than that its really awesome.

Located at Central, Level 2, near to the washrooms and side entrance of Billy Bombers and Grains.Ramen is good – not too chewy and does not have an alkaline taste. But the soup base is what that owes me over – full of flavor and does not has a ‘jer lak’ feeling after gulping the entire bowl of soup down. The pork slices, too, are packed with flavor, soft, and very juicy! Too bad, there’s only ONE pork slice. It’ll be even better if there are more pork slices, especially the prices are a bit on the high side ~ I hereby marking it as one of my favorite Japanese Ramen restaurants. Ops, did I mention that the queue for dinner is HORRIBLY LONG ~

I have heard good reviews about this place and decided to try it one afternoon with my friend. We tried the Shoyu ramen. The soup was really tasty but for those who can\'t take really salty stuff may not be able to take the shoyu soup base. We ordered an additional serving of the soft boiled eggs. The eggs were really runny and soft, went very well with the ramen. It was a must-have dish with japanese ramen.We had gyozas too. They were a little bit oily but overall, they tasted very good.

We read about reviews before we stepped in this restaurant.It was a compat Jap restaurant, hence very Jap feel.There were local as well as Japanese families dinning. We tried their limited offer fatty pork ramen with pork bone soup and high in carbohydrate ramen set. Very first thing we did was spoonful of soup to taste, wow, really good and fragrance, you could taste it was boiling for long hours.The soup won our first love! I have a bite of fatty pork, it wasn\'t my type of meat though.It was too soft to my taste.Whereas my set was having the normal char siew and 溫泉蛋, they were good too.The egg was cooked just right, very rich egg yoke taste.Half way of our ramen and soup, we felt full almost, it was tough for me to finish the small bowl of rice at the end.If you need carbo rich food, this set definitely is for you. Probably the soup base was too rich, it could fill you up.Having said that we were very happy and satisfy with the meal. After we foot our bill, they passed us a card with a stamp, tempting us to go back.I would like to if I have a urge of authentic Jap ramen.

Santouka's Japanese egg is very flavourful!The egg yolk itself is very fresh and though the egg yolk is abit salty but tastes just as nice!

The egg white is soft in the inside but tough on the outside. One of the best Japanese egg eaten so far at any Japan restaurants.So delicious that you can even eat it on its own without the ramen.

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The service of this japanese restaurant was quick and prompt.Within few minutes of settling down,the ramen is right in front of us already considering the fact that it was full house on the eve of public holiday.

The ramen is ok and the soup base is not too oily and just nice. The pork is not too fattening too.

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The noodle of miso ramen is not very springy but overall taste of the ramen is three times better than the aoba ramen at ion which is highly over-rated and overpriced.

Wolfed down the ramen within mintues as it was very nice!The waiter and waitress were very prompt in their service.Thumbs up!

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I heard that there is always a long queue at Santouka. And I specially brought my parents there a little later (8.45 pm) for dinner.

The soup base is more "qing dan" (light) compared to Marutama's. I prefer the ramen here because though it's not heavy, the freshness wasn't compromised. I ordered a set and "upsize" the portion and shared it with another person.

You can view more pictures here too. http://rosh-diva.blogspot.com/2010/05/another-ramen-place.html

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At a well-hidden corner of The Central is Santouka, a small restaurant that serves up great kurobuta pork.

THE FOOD:

Unknown to most Singaporeans, Santouka is a pretty famous ramen chain in Japan and around the world. According to the waitress, compared to the Shoyu (meaning soya sauce in Japanese) and miso-based ramen, the Shio (salt)-based ramen is the most popular at Santouka and much raved among Japanese media.

And understandably so – after trying it for ourselves at its Singapore branch, we found the broth milky with a satisfyingly rich pork taste. The staff explained that the restaurant uses kurobuta (black pig) pork bones as the soup base. The tonkotsu (pork bone broth) ramen is served kyushu style with curly, springy yellow noodles, which is often sadly mistaken for instant noodles, in Santouka's signature blue bowl with umeboshi (pickled plum).

Next came the highlight, tokusen toroniku (special pork cheek) ramen! This part of the pig is premium stuff since each pig obviously has only two cheeks and hence there are limited portions. The tender charshu is served separate from the soup and the right way to enjoy this dish is to dip the toroniku into the hot soup to warm it while melting the fats. Now, sit back and enjoy the sweet velvety taste that lingers in your mouth – you would not be able to get this from other parts of a pig.

THE MOOD:

If you are lucky, you might even get the window seats which overlooks Clarke Quay. But as a corner restaurant with no more than 25 seats, Santouka is extremely crowded and perpetually with a queue after 7pm. The service, however, is great – polite staff who offers baskets for your bags and refills water promptly.

Visit www.FreshGrads.Sg for photos and more reviews!

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