A lot of people are going to be upset with this particular post. Those who don't think much of Marutama will wonder why I even feature them. Those who love Marutama will be very upset with my ratings. This is one Ramen-ya which really polarizes our readers to those who love it and those who hate it, very much like what Durians do.
I have been to Marutama on an earlier occasion and decided that I would not blog them because I came away wondering why so many people would line up for what seems to me to be a glorified bowl of chicken flavoured Maggi Mee? But perhaps that just shows that people just have different preferences when it comes to Ramen. For me, when I eat Ramen, it needs to be something that I can't get from the hawker centre or make at home. Why else would I want to pay $12 for something I can buy for $3? That is why I tend to go for the Tonkotsu broth, because having pork bones on a rolling boil for 15 hours is not something you would do at home and no hawkers are doing it. On another occasion, we tried the new Keisuke Tokyo at Parco Marina Bay which serves a prawn based soup. I went away wondering why I should pay so much for a bowl of prawn noodle soup when you can get a much better tasting prawn mee for as low as $3 at Hoe Nam or if you want to spend a bit more, a bowl of Wah Kee prawn noodle is anytime a better way to spend your money and calories.
Hong Kong Style Egg Noodles
At my home, we have a constant supply of chicken broth because it is now our weekly habit to buy two whole chickens (antibiotic free), portion out the thighs, the breast and the wing and use the rest to make stock which we would use for cooking soup and frying veggies. Its actually quite easy to do. Just put the whatever chicken parts you have into a pot, add onions, ginger and some root vegetable like radish or carrots to add sweetness and boil for an hour.When I eat Marutama Ramen, I can imagine heating up some of this stock and throw in a handful of fresh egg noodles which you can buy from the local supermarket. I think that is my problem. Why pay $12 when it isn't much better than what I can easily have at home? And the point is, I don't even make this at home that often because I don't think much of it!
I think a lot of people like Marutama because it is a chicken stock and so it is perceived to be more healthy. Actually, there is not much difference between chicken fat and pork fat. Both are saturated fats. Perhaps it is more popular amongst the ladies who prefer a lighter tasting broth. Whatever the case may be I shall let the supporters of Marutama comment on why they like this bowl of Ramen so much.
Aka-Ramen $15
If there is a bowl of Ramen that I would bother ordering, it would be the Aka-Ramen. This one is a bit more special because it is a style of soup not found anywhere else. The Aka-Ramen is made up of the same chicken stock with 7 kinds of nuts which have been ground up and added to the soup. This gives the soup a bit of a nutty grit and body and the addition of chilli also gives it a bit of kick. Now at least this is something that doesn't taste too ordinary. I would say one thing about Marutama though. My wife once brought back their Charshu rice and it was really very good! So I would order that if I happen to be at Marutama again with friends who like the place.
Marutama Ramen: Noodles: 4/5, Soup: 3/5, Charshu 4/5
Aka Ramen: Noodles: 4/5, Soup: 4/5, Charshu 4/5
Conclusion
If you are a fan of Marutama Ramen, pray tell, why do you like it so much? The five of us kakis who ate it that day felt it was nothing special.
Marutama Ramen
6 Eu Tong Sen Street#03-90/91 The Central@Clarke Quay
Tel: +65 6534 8090
In case you want to learn how to really eat a bowl of ramen, you should watch this clip from the 1985 Japanese Comedy, Tampopo, where a very young Ken Watanabe learns the skill from a Ramen master! Have a good laugh and the start of a very good weekend!
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33 comments:
Yes! That epic scene from Tampopo is what comes to mind whenever I start to eat a bowl of ramen.
You gave a high rating despite the writeup, which sounds like 3/5 to me. :PPPPP
I think it's the Singaporean phenomenon. People are not looking for ramen, they are looking for that similarity to instant noodles, because everyone grew up on it. This is what is happening with Tampopo, in my opinion. I felt exactly like what you described - why in the world is it a bowl of bak chor mee?
Bak chor mee is one of my favourites at coffeeshops. But I want to eat ramen, not bak chor mee.
People are probably rating good because it tastes nice rather than considering if ramen is ramen or not.
I'm a fan of Marutama.
What I like about it is that the soup for the Nama Karashi Ramen (aka spicy chicken broth). This is the soup which I really love as it is unexpectedly spicy with the color of the soup.
Maybe it is as what you say, i prefer the noodles here instead of other places. I've tried Ken and Tampopo before, but I myself still prefer the noodle here. Could be maybe I missed the instant noodles feeling bah.....
How do we know if a chicken is antibiotic free?
Haha I love that Tampopo clip. Ramen is love!
Yes, I also agree. I tried Marutama once and never went back. But their buta kakuni is not too bad.
Hi, you should try Baikohken at 7 North Canal Road.
They have really good ramen, char siew and egg.
If the chicken is antibiotic free, they will usually state it on the packaging. It is usually a bit more expensive. The supermarkets do stock one particular brand which is antibiotic free. I would love to buy free range, but they are not readily available yet.
I believe that Dr Tay missed out something exceptional about the ramen at Marutama, which is the egg. They cook the egg till the core is soft and the yoke semi-liquid. the sweetness of the yoke combined with the soft egg white is something worth trying out many times at home to replicate.
Additionally, many customers at Marutama would order the 5 slices of grilled char siew and for good reason. The meat is so tender and flavourful that I thought I had eaten a piece of wagyu beef.
Yes we did order the chashu that day. It was ok. They overdid the chargrilling that day so it wasn't as good as what you described. The egg is good, so is Tampopo's.
find it pretty ok as i seldom see chicken broth ramen around.. was actually alittle taken back when i first saw the menu looking for my tonkotsu soup base.. Agree with ur review.. aka ramen taste better.. just alittle bit salty..
Yaki Charsiew was expensive for their portion but i love the way they melt in my mouth!!
Other marutama support can go to liang court outlet. NO QUEUE!!!
i used to like marutama when it just opened in central.
i think what i enjoyed most was the experience, i.e. the typical feelings of slurping down a hot, savoury bowl of noodles, possibly one of the selling points.
taste used to be ok, but now it just tastes like chicken powder soup, those seasoning that people buy from knorr etc. very salty.. noodle texture is variable..
however the char siew is still good. but its so odd to go there to eat some real expensive yaki charsiew w/o eating other stuff like noodles.. so there..
Personally I like the egg, char siew, and also the total balance of the ramen, that the topping goes well with each other.
I agree that there is a strong element of personal preference in ramen, just like other types of food. Which explains why there is such a variety of types of ramen, from tonkotsu to shoyu, chicken, etc.
I tend to agree with some of the points above that is about the experience. I think Singaporeans in general still focus very much on just taste when we consider the value of food. But taste is just one of our five senses. Especially on presentation, our bak chor mee and prawn mee has not reached that level of sophistication. There is a value to these too (plus the sheer novelty factor) that caused the ramen to be more expansive. Why bak chor mee cannot open in Japan and create a culture there like how ramen is now in Singapore? There has to be a reason. I really hope that one day Singapore's noodle creations can reach that level of sophistication one day and be exportable.
And I think your blog can help to move that needle in Singapore =) Looking forward to more of your food adventures!
ieat, actually, may I know, the Tampopo video, much as it sounds like a big joke, is that really the way to appreciate a bowl of ramen? Super cute, especially the part about saying sorry, I can't eat you yet, then keep your eyes on the pork... hahaha!
I ate at marutaman once and I like the egg too. I later realised it's not difficult to make eggs like this (the recipe featured in ieat too). The broth and chashu were not memorable. I just remember the soup was too oily and saltish. I know authentic ramen is oily and slightly saltier in Japan, but it is much more flavourful that you won't mind the extra salt.
I remember I could only manage to finish half the bowl and felt really jelat and have to down many cups of green tea to wash down the oil.
so yah..totally agreed with ieat.
Funny thing is, although the egg is easy to do, some of them are really lousy! I wouldn't say which yet.
I wish the Chinese would adapt this style of eggs though. Ours tend to go all the way as if the cook forgotten to switch on timer, and the skin starts to rubberized.
Really, not all are equal. The easier to do, the higher the variation is going to be. Just like cheesecake, which is one of the famous easy to make, hard to perfect food.
The problem with most of our local hawkers is that they buy their eggs already hard boiled! So by the time they get them they already have the ugly green rings!
REALLY? Sure? Oh no. I never knew that. I thought our lu dan is self-boiled and lu. Oh no. I really don't like the rubberized skin. It's like chemical change at the molecular level already. (According to my major, it is!) Don't know what people eating. *faint*
I have eaten at least 1 bowl of ramen at most of the joints in the hungrygowhere top 10 except for the m sultan joint.
imo, for the marutama ramen, the most win factor for me, is the egg. it was really flavoured and seasoned and the best compared to the many others I have eaten..
as for soup and ramen itself, i would definitely vote for santuoka instead.
To give credit to the reputation of marutama, I must admit that the egg and the grilled sliced pork is actually not bad...
(but even then the grilled pork reminded me just a little bit of luncheon meat) :P
That said, although I personally do not see much difference between the taste of marutama's ramen and our maggi instant noodles, I think that Marutama's ramen is meant to be a little lighter and easy on the palate, as compared to those heavier tasting ones like Santouka, for example.
And of course, to trigger the happy memories of the adults who enjoyed eating maggi mee so much when they were younger, so much so that it keeps them coming back for more.
There are definitely better ones out there.
haha exactly! I find it much like chicken soup maggi mee, too!
this is one stall which the egg really made me go "WOW".. that's the thing that made me like it really that much, plus their charshu melts in the mouth..
Nice blog and nice posting on "Singapore best food"
i love the spicy chicken broth :)
Gosh, ieat, you don't have to figure this out. It's really normal. I think normal is a praise.
I really don't know, if I fail Tampopo, then how do I grade Marutama? U for ungraded???
Seldom there are food so bad that I shake my head in disapproval with every mouth. Sigh. Even the mixed vege downstairs also don't make me shake head.
Noodles thin nevermind (seriously reminds me of coffeeshop wanton mee). Problem is no taste, and doesn't sucks the taste from the broth.
Broth also no taste! And then I realised that the seasoning is all at the bottom, and they didn't mix. (They can always tell me if need to mix...) Seasoning so strong, like a wrong packet of instant noodles again.
Only squeeze the lemon then can eat.
The egg is too salty, and a little bit too cooked. Got a couple of better ones around.
The pork is not bad. The fats melt, and meat rather soft. But too porky.
Is it because this is cheap or what? I don't understand. At the end of the day, the one with the lowest price tag always wins. (learned this theory from my previous part-time job).
PS: That "only $12" sign outside really caught my eye... And the whole Central only this restaurant queue at lunch time. (didn't go and check Santouka).
Reading your post again, I really think this shouldn't be featured. Sigh. Seems like there are so many more ramen squeezing for the last 4 places. =((( So sad.
Just too bad, popularity so high.
Just had Marutama Ramen today. Well, it was more or less as you described. The soup base was very thick, but I kind of thought that it was over-salty, and kind of powdery. The noodles were ok, just that it wasn't as springy as I would have expected it to be. What really did the trick was the Shoyu Egg and the Char Siew. =) Simply melt-in-the-mouth. >:D
Well... It was relatively ok to eat. Kind of liked it actually. XD
I think Marutama serves the best chasu and egg compared to all the others ramen shop. Even the sliced belly is much much better than Ippudo's belly steamed bun.
As for the noodles, I prefer Marutama's noodle to all the other noodles.
I used to like Marutama when it first opened. The noodles had better texture, and the soup was nicer (not so... instant-tasting as it is right now).
However, one thing that I think Marutama really does better than the other places is the egg. It is called ajitsuke tamago(味付け卵, egg with a flavour) for a reason. Not only should the texture be runny on the inside, it has to taste good all on its own, and even better with the soup. Tampopo fails in "attaching" the flavour :(
I can only say that to each of his own. I personally loves MaruTama. To whoever out there who's still unsure, I think it's only fair you give it a try before you decide your stand. (:
i totally love the ramen from Marutama!! it is exactly like the ramen i tasted in Fukuoka early this year..
they serve the very delicious grilled pork belly & egg! do give it a try!! for ppl who love west japan's ramen, u would love this too!!
hmm...do they allow customers to customize how 'well-done' they want the noodles to be? tat would be a bonus.
THE EGG.
try going to any ramen shop out there t try their egg and it's incomparable to marutama's.
try gg home to season the egg and boil it to perfection like theirs and...well, if you succeed, let me knw yr secret.
i go there for 1 reason only and one tht keeps me gg back fr more. "2 eggs pls (:"
it's sheer PERFECTION.
@love singapore food
Yes they do! Bari-kata, katame, futsu, yawarakame. :)
i used to work there so i know everything about the ramen...and the passion of the boss to cook up a sincere and delicious bowl of ramen for all his customers. :)
Marutama makes the noodles themselves daily. It's definitely not maggi mee or wanton mee. They fly the flour they use in their Japanese branches to Singapore to make their noodles!
the soup, besides being brewed daily with fresh chicken, is also added with the boss's signature shiodare, which he created himself.
it's really a very sincere bowl of ramen. Do try the nama-karashi ramen if you like spicy ramen. it's really really good, using a mixture of red and green chilli padi. :)
Aka ramen, although it looks red and everything, is not meant to be a spicy ramen. But it's a richer broth with 7 different kinds of premium nuts, ground up and added into the soup. it's really quite special with the coriander and lemon and sour namuru inside.
If it's going to be your first time, here's my recommendation! Nama Karashi with Ajitsuke Tamago and Aosa.
The aosa seaweed they bring in from Japan is very expensive but very very nutritious and rich in minerals! we couldn't even eat it for lunch because it's very precious! ^^" Taste-wise, it soaks up the broth very well, and brings sweetness to the otherwise savoury broth! ^^
i miss the ramen there!
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