Hakata Ikkousha

One of Japan's most popular ramen chain has set shores on our island. Hakata Ikkousha, who has since been part of Ramen Champion, has opened their new stand-alone store at Tanjong Pajar. The 36 seater restaurant is small and squeezy, just like it is in Japan. But that isn't stopping Singaporeans from forming queues outside.

This ramen restaurant's concept is slightly different from most standard operations. You can choose additional toppings ranging from the basic chashu, flavored eggs, to more unique black fungus or bamboo shoots at reasonable prices for your bowl of ramen. Moreover, your noodle texture and other condiments can be adjusted as well. Talk about a customized bowl of ramen!

The Shio Tonkotsu has a very light soup with bamboo shoots in it. Nothing special about this ramen, it was a comfortable bowl but lacked depth.

The Tonkotsu Ramen on the other hand, had a more flavorful soup (as i am a bigger fan for thicker soup base) and the chashu here was slightly tastier.

I love the Black Tonkotsu. A new addition of ramen exclusively here (not available at Ramen Champion), the soup was divine. The black sesame and garlic makes a good combination. However, due to personal preference, some may find the soup lacking in saltiness. The restaurant provides ramen sauce for one to adjust the soup's saltiness to their liking.

For spicy lovers, God Fire is a perfect choice - there are 4 levels of spiciness to choose from. Even at Level 1, my partner and i were struggling with the soup. A good choice for the daredevils to challenge themselves.

To conclude, i find that the ramen at Hakata Ikkousha lacked consistency - each bowl of ramen noodles had a different texture, even though we opted for normal for all the bowls. I suspect this to be a fault with this new restaurant, as they are still adjusting to market preferences. With fairly reasonable portion and friendly prices, i reckon that Hakata Ikkousha will be the next "it" place to hang out for ramen lovers.



Hakata Ikkousha
Block 7, Tanjong Pajar Plaza, #01-104
Singapore 081007
+65 6538 1880


This was an invited media tasting.