Ramen Champion (Airport T3)

After the success of Ultimate Ramen Champion at Iluma, Ramen Champion has opened in Changi Airport, Terminal 3! This time, Komars Group has currently brought in 4 of the best Ramen restaurants from four major cities to Changi Airport Terminal 3 to compete for the title of Ultimate Ramen Champion.

Read more here

Ikkousha (Hakata)

Very rich creamy pork broth, with fungus and spring onion added. Sweet tender slices of pork belly, runny egg and thin noodles complete the dish.

Gantetsu (Sapporo)

The special Miso Ramen emphasizes on the natural sweetness of the ingredients. It has a mild ginger taste in the dish, which is suitable to cold weather like Hokkaido. I find the char shu abit tough for my liking.

Riki (Tokyo)

A new born brand created in Singapore by Chef Suzuki. If you have tried Ramen Champion @ Iluma, and is a fan of Bario (just like me), then you would love this. The Buta Spicy Ramen has a rich white broth with a strong garlic shoyu. The ramen here uses curly thin noodles made with Japanese plain flour and tapioca starch. 

Gensuke (Fukuoka)

Gensuke Ajitama Ramen is famous for ladies as it is very refreshing and well packed with COLLAGEN! The soup tastes like the typical chicken soup that my mother would cook.

Who is my Ultimate Ramen Champion?

I vote for Riki!

Less than two weeks after our last visit to Ramen Champion at Iluma, we visited Ramen Champion at Changi Airport. In Terminal 3, this is much smaller, with only four ramen stalls here.

RIKI, Tokyo

Ordered “Nitamago Spicy Riki Ramen”. It’s Jiro style ramen, similar to Bario. However, there is an extra kick with the dollop of garlic chilli by the side. The broth was quite porky as well, but less so than either Bario or Ikkousha. The great thing here though is that the garlic used is pre-fried and fried shallots were added too, giving an extra layer of aroma and flavour to the bowl.

The noodles are also quite thick, but less dense than Bario and definitely easier to handle. The cha-shu is thick and chunky, but somehow very porky in flavour (even for me) and isn’t as tender and tasty; the composition is also something like 60% meat 40% fat so not for the faint of heart. Lots of beansprouts and cabbage cover the bowl, but the cabbage is left in thicker slices. Oh the tori kara age (fried chicken) in curry powder is not bad too!

GENSUKE, Fukuoka

This stall serves a chicken based soup. However, compared to Menya Iroha (whose broth is also based on chicken), this is as contrasting as night and day. For starters, the soup is undeniably chicken based; it is as if a thousand chicken bodies were boiled and reduced down to make this extremely flavourful chicken stock. It wasn’t just a plain and simple chicken stock though, it was quite thick and rich, really comparable to the hakata style except that it used chicken instead of pork.

The noodles were a shade thinner than usual and a little bit softer than average. Three chicken slices were provided, which was not bad albeit skimpy, while a smattering of sliced spring onion is scattered about the top.

For photos and full review: http://www.pigpigscorner.com/2012/02/ultimate-ramen-champion-singapore-part_23.html

Who will be the ultimate ramen champion in our little island of Singapore? Taking the concept from Japan where ramen stalls compete nationwide, Ramen Champion in Changi will pit four different ramen players against each other and diners will get to cast their vote on which they enjoyed the most, with the winner announced at the end of this year.

At a recent tasting, I tried all four.

The first was the Riki Buta Spicy Ramen, a very thick and spicy, chilli-oiled flavoured broth which is bound to make your hot day in Singapore even hotter! This is probably great for those who love their ramen spicy.  The one downside is that I feel that the egg is overcooked. Think of it as the Ramen Singapore.

I then tried the Hakata Ajitama Ramen. This is a favourite among Singaporeans. Its broth reminds me of Campbell's mushroom soup, probably caused by the rich salty pork broth. The spring onions add a lighter finish to the otherwise strong broth.

Next is the Gantetsu Special Miso Ramen. Another thick broth to suit the cold weather in Hokkaido, the added ginger paste adds more heatiness to the soup. The one downside about this is that they use large pieces of pork and as it is overcooked, it can be really tough to consume.

Finally, I tried the Gensuke Ajitama Ramen. This is a chicken soup base ramen that comes with chicken meat. Thick with collagen, the lightness of the ramen, compared to the other bowls, makes this an apparent favourite among ladies.

So, after trying all of the above, which one is my favourite? It has to be the Hakata Ajitama Ramen from Ikkousha, also a favourite among most Singaporeans for its rather balanced broth with a soup that we can relate to.

There are 4 ramen stores at Ramen Champion at Changi Airport Terminal 3 : Gantetsu and Ikkousha (also at Iluma); Gensuke and Riki.

This time round, I opted for Ikkousha’s signature ramen and was not disappointed.  Ikkousha’s soup broth was rich; full-bodied and flavourful.  The ramen is of a thin and flat variety and was springy.  The chashu was thinly sliced (would have been great if they were thicker).  Boiled egg had a molten centre.

Riki ramen is served with lots of vegetables – sliced cabbage and bean sprouts, perched atop the ramen.

Totally never expected to have a part 4. But here is part 4 of my review on the 2 new outlets.

For full review and pictures click here 

Riki Ramen - Nitamago Riki Ramen

You like veggies? You like garlic? If you do, you'll enjoy Riki ramen. The noodles are pretty tasty and every mouthful will have a crunch from the abundant cabbage and beansprouts. Crunch Crunch Crunch. 

The egg is done wonderfully here, the yolk is totally soft and gooey, finally an egg that looks like what was illustrated.

It does remind me quite a fair bit of Bario ramen back in Iluma. I'll leave it up to you which you prefer. Thumbs up for the nicely done egg :D

Gensuke - Ajitama Ramen

Dislike pork? Like Chicken? Gensuke specializes in Chicken Ramen. Everything in their menu have is targeted towards the bird lovers (or pork haters). Egg is done very well, so much so that the runny yolk was washed away by the soup.(Or did it run away?)

The noodles are very slippery and looks a little like instant noodles. Of course it is way better than instant noodles. Soup is distinctively different from the pork broth that you'll find in other ramen, the soup is a thick murky whitish color that is smooth and light on the tongue. Worth a try if you are looking for something different than the usual pork based ramen.