Read about Baikohken in Plush magazine, so decided to try it based on the rosy review. I usually go to Ken's Noodle House for my ramen & gyoza fix, but have been looking for a place nearer my office in town. Mentei (which is nearby) I consider as mediocre, approaching Ajisen quality, plus long queue at lunchtime.

Baikohken is quite easy to find along North Canal Road, 30m after Molly Malone's Pub. Oh, nice and airy place with modern Japanese kitchen, a big picture of the old original shop in Japan (it's a ramen chain, and this is the Singapore branch). The waitresses are local, but one of the chefs is Japanese.

Seeing the other reviews on hungrygowhere.com, I got there early at 11.50am. The inside seats 12 on tables and another 6 on the counter. There are seats for 8 more outside. It was half full inside when I got there, and by the time I left at 12.20pm, there was a short queue outside. You are given a cup of cold tea on sitting down, with unlimited refill (self-service). Good for a hot day and after a steaming hot bowl of ramen!

On to the food! This is an authentic ramen joint with the usual suspects. There's Shoyu, Shio and Miso ramen. The cholesterolly-ignorant can gun for the butter in their soup. There's also vegetable ramen for the vegans (albeit the soup is definitely non-vegetarian). There's also Chashu rice, and extra toppings. I went with Chashu Shoyu Ramen ($15) (with additional egg topping $1) and a plate of gyoza ($5). GST is charged separately. This is comparable to Ken's prices, but higher than Ajisen pricing (but then, where got fight!?).

Gyoza arrived first after about 5 mins, followed shortly by the ramen. The gyoza looks smaller than Ken's, and is less juicy. But the flavour is great, full of onion and leeks. The skin is crispy on the bottom, and nice and soft on top.

But the star of the show is definitely the ramen. Fantastic yummy stock, not too oily or salty, chock-a-block with flavour with nice hint of fresh pork smell. The noodles are curly and chewy, al-dente and not soggy. Very slurpable! Go ahead and slurp it up along with the expat Japanese clientele (who make up about half the customers).

The chashu is soft, but thick (~3-4mm), and well-flavoured! I counted 5 pieces of chashu (you get 2 in the normal ramen). Melts in your mouth quality, especially the fatty bits. Ken's chashu is firmer, so it's a matter of personal taste as to which is better. But this beats Tampopo, Yu Sai Shoku and Mentei hands-down. Ajisen and Beppu need not apply.

On top of all that, there is a heap of negi (chopped leeks) on top, and three thick chunks of stewed bamboo shoots. This is way better than Ken's rather thin and limp bamboo shoots, and somewhat inconsistent amount of negi. Ajitama (soft-boiled stewed egg) also great, soft and sticky yolk, with wobbly white and firm exterior. Marvellous.

So good, I nearly started drinking the soup from the bowl when I finished everything, but decided to use the spoon instead. *shy* lah. The ramen portions were large, so those with smaller appetites may want to try the half-size bowl instead.

Baikohken opens for lunch and dinner (till 9.30pm) everyday. I'll definitely be back (perhaps the next time I have to work OT)!

With colleagues recommending this place, I decided to try it out during the busy lunch hour. Been here twice already so I felt it was time for a decent review of this rather authentic Ramen restaurant.

Foodwise, I tried the Shio and Miso based Ramen. Both were equally good for me , but depending on your taste you may prefer either the more lighter Shio-based Ramen or the stronger flavoured Miso one. The pieces of 'char siew' were tender and tasty though i especially liked the corn+butter combination which brought out an even stronger flavour to the ramen.

The place being small in size, has limited seats so it is wise to come early if you do not want to wait long. Service-wise, the food didnt take long to be served, but they seemed to be abit short-handed on manpower as it took quite a while before the cashier attended to us.

Overall, a different ramen experience compared to the usual jap outlets like Ajisen and such. Oh and remember to try the burnt tea here, which tastes suspiciously similar to coffee.....

Search no further my fellow ramen hunters! Yes your journey has ended for u have found one of the best ramen in Singapore!!! no joke!!

Located a stone throw away from offices n well pubs hehe... It's no surprise that this little ramen eatery is packed with office professionals trying to chomp down ramen during e lunch hour or drinkers trying to warm their tummies before downing a pint of kilkenny!!

With a very authentic ramen joint setting and real japanese chefs tossing n turning e noodles with much gusto.. u feel like u r transported to a real ramen house in japan!

There's e standard choice of miso shio n shoyu ramen but i alwaz go for my fave.. e shoyu ramen!!! their wonderful broth takes 8 hours to boil n i love more soya sauce soup base so this is for u if u love salty salty! yum!... i can go on n on abt e milky dark shoyu soup base here coz it's so flavourful!! esp with e garlics (honestly u die die also muz add some!!!) alwaz drink up to e very last drop!

i also liked e noodles.. very "maggi mee" like.. ie very curly n springy..very good to slurp! n best of all? u wun get sick of it coz it's not those starchy starchy type! e char siews here r very "melt in ur mouth" type n i personally dun really like char siew but this is really great! very melt melt!! i likey! with bits of fats in between.. it really juz meltssssssss...yum! e other ramen house with melty char siews? menya's! u can also add an egg ($1) which is quite runny .. lovely!

I normally order the half size bowl ($8) where e portion is juz rite for a gal esp for a lunch... however my recent visit had me realised that e portion had shrunk!!! notti notti!!

however kudos to e lovely free flow of delicious tea ... a very nice gesture!... sadly e gyozas here r pretty forgettable...(oni menya's gyozas can rock my world now!)

will i return to this place ? DEFINITELY!!! N SO MUZ U!! Baikohken is defintely e current leading king in my "ramen quest"! n oh for goodess sake.. forget abt e half bowl crap (i forgive u baikohken..hehe) n go get a real bowl for real goodness! u wun regret it! OISHI!

Visit this place so many times haha...
just a stone throw from office mah.. keke

soup base is flavourful and Ramen absorbs the flavour totally. Thats what I luv about it. each mouth of Ramen is bursting with flavour. And they are very generous with the soup.

U must try it !! Then u will see the difference. Miharu, ichibantei.. both no fight.

Read about this shop on several blogs. Was a little hesitant about trying it as I am not a ramen fan. Despite so, we gave it a shot.

The shop was hardly occupied when we arrived. Probably due to the public holiday the next day.

Service level was good on the whole. One of the wait staff hanged around patiently while we make up our mind. Another staff is a Jap and he happily posed for my pictures. He also offered to take a picture for me and my boyfriend.

We ordered the following:

1. Cha Siew Don ($4)
2. Sio (salt base soup) Cha Siew Ramen with Egg ($16)
3. Gyoza ($5)


The cha siew don was my favourite. The cha siew serving was generous! The meat was tender and went well with the mayonnaise. The rice has a little sesame oil taste and was soft. However, it got abit jer-lat towards the end.

I have previously tried ramen at Marutama Ra-men (central). It's suppose to be good given that there is always a long queue. In my opinion, ramen at Baikohken is way better. The amount of cha siew is generous. Over at Marutama, you will only be given one miserable pathetic slice of meat. At Baikohken, the amount of meat is uncountable (ok, may sound a little exaggerating). I felt that the noodles was a little hard. However, my boyfriend likes it. The egg was a little disappointing. It was cold and there wasn't much taste. There are better ones around. The soup base was plain. Nothing to rave about.

Do note that the ramen serving can be rather large. You can choose to reduce the amount of noodles and pay $3 less. Alternatively, you could also order the normal portion which cost $11.

Gyoza was better than the one at oshio. It was crispy on the outside and juicy on the nice. However, I find that it's abit expensive. Each gyoza cost $1.

Will definitely return for more Cha Siew don.