Baikohken

Barely 3 years old, Baikohken has already established itself as one of the best Ramen-Yas in town. The StanChart Top 10 Ramen Polls held recently perked my interest in Ramen that had laid dormant of late. Hence when HY mentioned about this good Ramen-Ya he had heard about in the Raffles Place vicinity, I had a clue it might be Baikohken so I was roaring to go!

I’m a failure at Ramen theory 101. Ok, at least I can tell apart the Shio(Salt), Shoyu(Soy) from the Miso broth but whenever I hear Hakata-style, Kyushu-style or Hokkaido-style, I don’t have a freaking clue what the difference is. I’m superficial, there are only 2 ramens types to me, nice and not nice…with Baikohken’s being part of the latter.

Every time I visit a Ramen-Ya, I will always order the Gyoza($5.50++) to satiate my itchy mouth before the main attraction. The Gyoza here was really something else, possibly the best pan-fried dumplings I have eaten from a ramen shop. The skin is fried to a nice crisp and a quick swath of vinegar makes for the ideal palate teaser.

Shio Ramen($12++)’s broth was rich but a tad salty(though less salty than Sapporo Miharu). The texture of the ramen reminds me of instant mee! But hey, instant mee can be nice too, especially after soaking up all the rich tonkotsu broth! The Ramens here unfortunately doesn’t come with Egg($1++) but I strongly recommend insist that you add it on because it’s one of the best ramen eggs I have come across with the egg white consistently soft and bouncy with a just barely cooked yolk.  

 I preferred the Shoyu Ramen($12++) though. The broth was less salty than the shio one and caught my fancy. The chashu here was pretty lean yet tender and tore apart easily.

Oh yeah, instead of the generic green tea, Baikohken serves Wheat Tea which tastes somewhat like a watered down ocha and I liked it!

The ramen and gyoza here were awesome and if not for Santouka’s Kurobuta Pork Cheeks, Baikohken would be in the running as my favourite Ramen-Ya.

Bon Appetit!

For more reviews/pics, do visit http://yumyumformytumtum.wordpress.com/2010/05/06/baikohken/

I just got back from lunch at Baikohken where I had the shoyu charsiew ramen (the egg is an additional order) oand the gyoza.

Found the broth a tad too salty for my liking (Hokkaido-style), and the noodles could have been a little more al dente.  I could not find the stomach to finish the thick-cut charsiew either which was rather uninspiring.  Overall the ramen just doesn't quite do it for me. 

The gyoza was only so-so - could have been a bit more crispy or pan-fried for a little longer. 

Just not for me - depsite the raving reviews.

I tried this place when it first opened and have visited it occasionally since then. Now that my work place is just a hop and a throw away, I've become a regular there. I love the gyoza there. The ramen noodles itself, I find nothing very special. But the soup gives it an overall taste that brings up the feeling of hot comfort on a cold rainy day. I like the egg as well and their generous proportions. A half size is definitely enough for me and I find sharing a full size and a plate of gyoza between 2 just nice. I usually take the Vegetable Ramen in miso soup base and if you are a vege lover, this is quite a treat. 

The interior airconditioned part is not always cooler than the exterior.. and I find that their upstairs has a strange smell.. sort of stale and unpleasant. The service is decent enough, ntg to rave about but ntg to rant about either.

All in all, a place to visit for a good soupy ramen.

I went to this place on Friday, 9th Apr, after checking out the stellar reviews from all the other foodies. Ordered the miso butter corn ramen. It was HORRENDOUS. Soup was tasteless, noodles was overcooked and soggy and there was way too much noodles. If you're gonna serve such a big portion, at least give a bigger bowl. The egg was a failure with most of the yolk overcooked. Maybe the chef walked out or whatever but the standard shouldn't fall so much. Major disappointment.

I didn't finish my noodles and ended up going to Chinatown to buy sausages from the Austrian guy.

I’ve always enjoyed the ramen at Baikohken ever since Booze Queen first introduced it to me slightly over a year ago.  As I usually eat there during lunch, I never had the chance to eat there with Iceman.  After seeing it being featured on TV a couple of days ago, Iceman and I decided to drop by for dinner and boy did he love the food.

The menu’s limited – only 3 types of ramen being 1) Butter & Corn, 2) Char Siew and 3) Vegetables.  You can also choose from 3 soup base, i.e. shoyu, shio and miso.  The bowls of ramen come in two sizes, “half size” or “full size”.  Additional toppings like a full egg (aka agitama), beansprouts, butter & corn, char siew, etc, can also be added to your ramen.  I know you can order the gyoza as a side dish though I can’t recall if there’s anything else. 

There’s a container of tea at every table so you can help yourself to that.  Alternatively, you can order either Tiger beer, Sapporo beer, Coke or Coke Light.

We started with a free plate of gyoza.  For every $10 you spend, you can get a stamp on their loyalty card.  Collect (I think) 10 stamps and you can change it for a plate of gyoza or a small bottle of beer.  I would definitely recommend the gyoza.  These delicious little dumplings are filled with pork and chopped vegetables.  Although they are deep fried, they’re tasty and juicy – yup.  Be warned.  If you bite the gyoza into half like me, you risk having the soupy gravy inside flow down your chin.  The taste is simply fantastic.  *Slurp*

I went for the Butter & Corn shoyu ramen today and added an egg.  (I usually take the Butter & Corn shio ramen but thought of trying something different today).  Don’t ask me why but the B&C shoyu ramen as well as the B&C shio ramen come with 2 slices of char siew.  The B&C miso ramen doesn’t. 

I used to be quite adverse to eating Japanese char siew because the only ones I tried before Baikohken were the ones from Ajisen, and those are fatty and tasteless.  The char siew from Baikohken, however, totally changed my mind about Japanese char siew.  The meat is lean with very minimal fat (that melts in your mouth) and the best thing is, the meat is so well marinated that it remains very tasty despite being soaked in the soup.  The meat is also not overcooked so the flesh tears apart easily when you bite.

The corn is also not overly sweet and adds a good contrast with the slightly salty shoyu soup (I find the shio soup base less salty).  My favourite ingredient in the ramen?  The egg!  My… no words can describe how good the egg is.  The yolk is semi-cooked so it’s soft, but not runny.  The egg white is well flavoured and braised.  When you first bite into it, the savoury and smooth egg white tastes so good in the mouth and when you swallow the yolk?  Delicious.  Simply delicious.

Iceman ordered the Char Siew miso ramen with an egg added.  He was very pleasantly surprised at the generous serving of char siew – 5 big slices of tasty char siew.  The miso soup base was also very tasty (I have to admit it’s definitely better than the shio and the shoyu).  BTW, we both ordered the half serving so you can imagine how big the full size is!  Like me, Iceman was thoroughly impressed with the char siew and the egg.  He was gladly slurping up his soup and ramen, Japanese style.

The pricing for the ramen is also very very reasonable.  My B&C shoyu ramen cost $11 and I paid an additional $1 for the egg.  Iceman’s Char Siew miso ramen cost $13.50 and likewise, an additional $1 for the egg.

For photos & more details, please visit: http://uptowngal.org/2010/03/26/baikohken-ramen/

The ramen shop is supposedly very authentic and popular around this area.

After eating... I don't have very special feelings about the ramen.

1. My corn shoyu ramen in half size came in what looked like a half packet of instant noodles with hardly any corn. I even wondered if I was served wrongly. My friend's half sized ramen (other flavours) were huge! I was not hungry anymore from eating but I wasn't full either.

2. The noodles were al dente or very springy - just right to the bite. So, it tasted really good and sucking the noodles made an enjoyable moment.

3. The soup was very tasty and flavoursome.

4. It was really quite affordable. My ramen cost only $11.

5. The service was really slow. We had to wait quite long for our noodles.

Other than that, I really don't have any special feelings after eating the ramen.