Ajisen might not serve the best ramen in Singapore, but it has carved out a household name for itself that I'll naturally think of going to Ajisen whenever I want a bowl of ramen. What's more, the meal looks attractive with an add-on side dish and drink. 

Everytime I'm there I'll order Cha Shu Ramen. I especially love the soup base. The noodles are springy and the cha shu - cut into proportionate slices, have the right amount of fat and meat. In short, the ingredients used are fresh and there hasn't been much compromise on quality so far. 

The fried breaded prawns (not tempura) has also been well done consistently. Well fried and always served hot. Crisp outside and succulent inside. I also like that their cold green tea is still the genuine green tea and not canned green tea like in some other eateries. 

Nothing to shout about the service or ambience. Ajisen is, in essence to me, a place to have a quick casual meal of ramen and some other light Japanese dishes 

This is only my second time at Ajisen. The first was a horrible experience at the Changi Airport branch a couple of years back, which explains why I never felt the urge to try it again. But friends who are into ramen have reassured me that Ajisen is really not that bad. So here I am.

Ordered the Volcano Ramen ($11), which according to the friendly waitress, is the Char Siew Ramen topped with Volcano Sauce. The spice level indicated on the menu was three, the maximum. I requested for the sauce to be separated and she gladly acceded. This way, I get the best of both worlds.

The Char Siew Ramen had a nice broth, albeit a little mellow. The salt-garlic-pork flavours were well harmonised. It is pretty good actually. But I will not use words like "robust" and "bold" to describe it. Noodles were the straight kind, served firm. Cabbage, kelp and bean sprouts were generous but did not overwhelm. Nice balance overall. 7/10

Volcano sauce is basically a spicy pork sauce. Tastes like "dou ban jiang" (bean paste sauce) used frequently in SzeChuan dishes. This sauce added colour to the ramen, both literally and figuratively. The soup is now more salty and spicy.

I think what distinguishes Ajisen from the other more "authentic" ramen places is the char siew and egg. Three pieces of lean cut char siew were not tasty and did not melt-in-the-mouth like other fatty versions. The egg was like ordinary hard boil egg.

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a usual place that i would visit for ajisen ramen. the ambience in this place is quite nice though the seats are way too close and small for too much comfort. but their service is not bad, there was once my friend was sweating like mad while eating the volcano ramen, and the staff immediately brought more serviettes for us. so sweet.