Singapore Food Log: Special Tonkotsu Pink Ramen at Tonkotsu Ikkyu, Bugis
When you hear about pink colored broth ramen, the first thing that usually appears in your mind is definitely “Oh, is that available in Japan?”. What follows then is either the excitement to book a trip to Japan or the despair from realising that you currently don’t have the budget nor the necessary annual leave balance to go to Japan. If you are in the latter category, don’t be sad. Pink ramen is available in Singapore too at Tonkotsu Ikkyu.
Tonkotsu Ikkyu is one of the restaurants located at Ramen Champion, a group of Japanese restaurants located together at one location, at the level 4 of Bugis+. There are many restaurants at Ramen Champion selling a variety of Japanese food from tonkatsu, gyoza, unagi, gyu-don and of course, ramen. You will be given a tag upon entrance and you will need to give this tag to the cashier of any food stall that you buy food from inside Ramen Champion area.
One thing that gained my interest from Tonkotsu Ikkyu is the Special Tonkotsu Pink Ramen (SGD 15.80) displayed on their pamphlet on the ordering counter. The pink-colored broth comes from beetroot so I suppose we don’t have to worry so much that they are using coloring. But how does beetroot flavor taste in the ramen broth? With so much curiosity, I decided to try it out. My dining buddy saw that I ordered the pink ramen, he became curious of Tonkotsu Ikkyu too. However, he decided to try out Tonkotsu Black Ramen (SGD 15.80) instead. I’m not sure the name is black ramen but it’s those garlic-based ramen like the one sold by Menya Musashi I suppose.
The beetroot-infused broth of Special Tonkotsu Pink Ramen taste normal just like any other tonkotsu ramen. I guess the flavor of the beetroot is not strong enough to overthrown the whole balance of the ramen base. Which is a good thing. The special tonkotsu pink ramen comes with 4 pieces of char siew and an onsen egg. I prefer this base compared to my dining buddy’s garlic based ramen because the soup can be a bit oily.
Overall, it was a good and comforting meal. I would probably come back to Ramen Champion to try out other things here. Yumz!