Friday, June 06, 2008
Food Blog: Tampopo at Liang Court
Tampopo, which is a Japanese word means dandelion - A kind of flower in English. Ramen is what Tampopo is known for, which explains why I went there. Located within Liang Court, Tampopo portrays itself as a casual Japanese diner and shares the premises with Tomton, its sister restaurant which specialises in Kurobuta pork
Simple wooden table and chair décor which although was not fanciful, it provided a cosy and rustic sort of ambience. Condiments were placed neatly on each table. Posters and pictures of food items were pasted on the walls
They have an extensive menus with wide selections which include sashimi, sushi, grilled items, bento etc. Since my main motive was the ramen, I dun have any headache when ordering. It makes my job easier, if not, I will be at a loss as to what to actually order because it's as if for every dish you almost decide to try, there are another 2 or 3 dishes that look even better
I think their Kurobuta Pork Ramen and Kurobuta Pork Katsu are the main draws. Kurobuta Pork is the most highly prized pork in Japan and comes from the ancient breed of pig known as Black Berkshire. The meat from the pure oriental strains of Black Berkshire, found in Japan, is regarded as the highest quality pork in the world
So we had an order of the Shabu Ramen - the favourite and was even on Straits Times too and the Shoyu Ramen
For the Shoyu Ramen, as quoted from the friend, the broth was quite tasty, just like most shoyu base which is dark and salty. As for the Shabu Ramen, it had a flavourful soup base but the sesame taste was at times, overbearing. And sometimes, overwhelmingly bland in between sips - dun ask me why. According to the menu, the pork bone broth is supposedly slowly cooked over 2 days (smell of pork wasnt too overwhelming) and I have no doubt this is true based on its rich, almost milky taste. This would be the Asian equivalent of chicken soup, I guess, as far as comfort food goes
Both of us agreed that the noodle was al dente, springy with lots of bite while the thinly sliced pork was tender and a tad chewy. However, on the hind sight, the pork slices are were so miserably thin and few in quantity. Probably, to make up for the pathetic quantity of pork, lots of crunchy bamboo shoots were seen floating on the hearty broth. We too noticed that shredded cabbages replaced the seaweeds. The portion was just nice, for girls may be
Shabu Ramen
Shoyu Ramen
SUGOI
I think they have mastered the art of cooking the egg just so that the yolk is still runny. Break it open and enjoy the inexplicable satisfaction of slurping up the springy noodles coated with the egg yolk together with the richness of the spicy pork bone soup. Goooooooodlike
On the contrary, the friend dun really like the tamago as it was too raw for her liking. Would it be feasible to soak the tamago into the piping hot ramen first to cook the egg? =P
An order of the Gyoza which was quite original and is made from black-pig
Save some room for desserts. They have interesting ones like the Chiffon Cakes which I heard the Green Tea ones is a must have and the Cheese ones is the number one in town. heh. I assume that sentence means they are the first to have that in Singapore lah
We had the Mochi, also known as Chines Rice Cake instead because the friend was craving for that. It was coated with Green Tea powder and the mochi was so soft and literally melt in your mouth
On the whole, although the restaurant itself is done up in a 'no-frills' sort of way (homely, cosy and Jap feel with ocassional shouts) and the staff are kept quite busy, they are generally attentive and friendly. Service is good and food is served fast and staffs are efficient with topping up of ocha which was complimentary
They have this computerised system with a touch screen monitor to order small bites like sushi. Then, your order will deliver automatically through a conveyor belt system onto your table which I thought was quite convenient and innovative
Staff explaining on how to use the system
The place can be quite packed during peak hours and have to wait for 15-20 minutes but would definitely go back again to eat more and take more photos. hahahah
Crowds
By the way, Sex And The City is awesome!
And Green Tea McFlurry tastes horrible
Xue'e/Cui'e/Fiona/Germaine. This is for you. Familiar? heheheheh
Labels: Clark Quay, Food - Japanese, Liang Court
11:55 PM
