The World's First Michelin-starred Ramen, Tsuta has made inroads into Singapore in Pacific Plaza, 18 Tai Seng and the latest trendy mall, Jewel at Changi Terminal 1 Airport. Founded by Chef Yuki Onishi, who came from a family of ramen chefs, expect your Tsuta Ramen is engineered with much efforts at the Ramen restaurant. Each bowl has Chef Yuki Onishi's unique Dashi (soup broth), combining broth of chicken, clams and Japanese fish into one, along with delicate Ramen noodles, perfect Ajitama, unique Menma (bamboo shoots), without any artificial components or MSG.
During our trip to Singapore, we purposely drop by the 18-seaters Tsuta in Pacific Plaza to have a taste of this Michelin-starred Ramen. Although the restaurant full name is Japanese Soba Noodles Tsuta, the word "soba" actually refers to Ramen noodles as the word "soba" are typical of Japanese food culture and held at a higher standard fro mthe common ramen, according to Chef Onishi.
Queue is always there, so expect to wait for 10-30 minutes to place your order (our waiting time was 30 minutes). Tsuta practices a different way of ordering - you will place your order electronically at the entrance, get your seat, pass the order chit to the crew and wait for your ramen to be served.
Ajitama Shio Soba ($16.8) |
Ajitama Shoyu Soba ($16.8) |
So did this Michelin-starred Ramen managed to wow us? The answer is a mixture of feeling but overall it did taste different.
The noodles texture are significantly different. It is al-dente, has firm bite and perfect texture to get along with the ramen broth. Tsuta even take a step higher by pairing different noodles to complement each flavour. For instance, Shoyu noodles are thinner whereas Miso noodles are thicker to pair with a heavier soup base.
Meanwhile, the soup is on the lighter side. Addition of truffle oil did introduce an odd taste which we cannot comprehend. Perhaps our palate still not well trained to accept truffle oil taste.
On top of that, the Ajitama (seasoned Ramen egg) is real Michelin-starred class. It is well marinated with the essence soak into the slightly firm egg white, while the yolk is slightly runny and custard- alike. Biting into it and you can see the yolks oozes gently. For those geeks enjoying Ajitama, you ought to put an extra order of the egg during initial ordering.
Never once we had such a perfect Ajitama. Perhaps got to wait till our trip to Japan.
Overall, every tiny details of the ingredients did make a difference to this bowl of Ramen, and this made it unique. The soup taste might be very personal, as we were used to stronger appealing Ramen broth instead of a lighter ones.
Matcha Bavaro ($2.8) |
Meanwhile, the side dish - Matcha Bavaro is a heaven to indulge. The concoction of matcha pudding, Azuki beans and fresh creams made a perfect spoonful of dessert. We would not mind to have a second, third or even fourth of it.
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