Tampopo Restaurant (Liang Court)

I visited Tampopo for both lunch and dinner on the same day because it so coincidentally happened that both my lunch/dinner partners decided to go there on a whim. 

Lunch:
For my first time there, I would say the experience was slightly unpleasant as I was one of the first of my 15-20 colleagues to arrive - they came in sporadically, one by one from work nearby) - yet, the very last to have my food served. All in all, it took about an hour for my food to arrive. By the time my Pork Katsu Curry Rice came, my head was reeling from hunger and most of my colleagues had already finished their meal and were leaving.

I wasn't sure if the food was worth the 1-hour wait as I wolfed it down within about 10 mins (I was extremely hungry and my lunch break was already over so I was in a hurry to get back to the office)... but from what I remember, it was pretty alright. The katsu was extremely crispy without being too dry, with copious amounts of curry to go along with it, and the rice of was just the right moist, sticky and grainy texture. Although I probably would've had about the same standard of katsu/curry rice at the foodcourts downstairs at Liang Court. Heard Tampopo is more famous for their ramen though; perhaps I would've had more luck with that.

A hungry woman is an angry woman. By nature, I would've been furious for having to have waited for so long. But the staff seemed sincerely sorry and even served a small bowl of edamame in attempt to express their apologies.. not that it made up for anything as I don't really fancy soybeans. At least they tried. Which is why I'm giving the service a pass rating (5).  

Dinner:
It was a little embarassing to see the looks of surprise upon the staff's faces as I walked in again for dinner. But this time they made sure not to let me down.

Our orders arrived swiftly within 20 minutes max. I was feeling a little guilty from eating the fried katsu earlier in the day, so this time I decided to have and the Cha Soba. Often, the cha soba dishes I have come with ice under the soba, but Tampopo's didn't - so I had to rush a little to consume the dish while it was cold. Generally, the soba was light and refreshing and the tsuyu that came along with it was lip-smackingly tasty. It was pretty worth $7 (from what I remember) too for the generous portion it came in, making the dish overall quite filling, at least according to the average woman's standards.

The Ikura Temaki didn't do too badly either. The nori was not extremely crunchy, but still better than the lower-end places that come with sad, soggy temakis. The ikura tasted deliciously savory without being overly salty, but I just wish there was more inside.

Now for the best part - the three of us each had the Matcha Chiffon Cake as it was highly recommended by a friend who had it here the last time. Delectably moist and fluffy; the matcha flavour was strong without being too overbearing; complemented by bits of red bean and strawberry; the cake went absolutely perfectly with the smooth white cream spread over it in abundance. Recall White Rabbit candy from your childhood and you'll find that the taste is similar, yet not as sweet. After devouring dessert within minutes, my friends and I found ourselves fighting over leftover cream on the tin foil. Definitely worth every cent of its (approximately) $5 price tag.

As I was leaving,  I noticed that certain cakes at the dessert counter had "reserved" tags on them, which just comes to show how popular their desserts are. Overall, my experience at Tampopo was relatively pleasant as the food was above average, and I was extremely impressed and pleased with the dessert which made my evening.

It being Christmas, we ordered their Christmas set meal which had 6 courses and a drink. That is a seriously crazy amount of food by the way.

The whole dinner consisted of a vegetable appetizer, oyster croquettes, fresh sashima, ginger pork steak, pork ramen, strawberry and cream puff thingum and a mocktail. There was so much food i didnt even touch my ramen (which eventually went into my bf's tummy) and i had an orgasmic time eating the sashimi. Tampopo's desserts are also top-notch and the strawberry and cream puff did not disappoint. Light and a lovely treat to end off the meal.

The entire set cost $38 which i think is fantastic given that it was a Christmas day and restaurants were out to fleece any willing diner. On any given, normal day, the ramen would have already set you back $11 and the sashimi, $20. Tampopo created this Christmas set, to truly offer a value meal. Props to them! Service was excellent as well. We had extremely attentive staff refilling our tea and clearing the table. They also recommended us this set.

Apparently they only sell 20 sets of this everyday, so if you havent had a proper xmas dinner yet, this is one place i would recommend.

More pictures and my personal account can be found at my blog
http://dancingupastorm.blogspot.com/2009/12/christmas-at-tampopo.html

Is it me or have they taken several items off the menu? i recall they had more varities of sushi and sashimi some time back? For example, I used to order the aburi hotate sushi here and now it's no longer on the menu.

Anyway, on to the food.

The speciality here is their "black pig". I don't eat pork (the smell) but my dining companions always rave about it. It's apparently sweeter, juicier and less oily than regular pork.

I really love the ramen here. The noodles is chewy and springy plus they soak up the soup very well making every bite flavourful and satisfying. Totally beats the ramen from other Jap restaurants. Even so called ramen specialists like ajisen/bishamon don't do ramen like this. The soup is really, really salty but it was okay-salty after adding in a full cup of hot green tea. (A trick my friend taught me to reduce saltiness) Saltiness aside, the broth was thick and fragrant, it must have been stewed for a long time using pork bones, it's different from those thin, watered down soups you get at other mass market jap restaurants.

Sushi here is a must try. The fish covers the rice, like it should. The unagi sushi is a heavenly! The unagi is of a generous serving. It is soft and nicely marinated in a sweet and savoury sauce. Of all the Japanese restaurants I've been to, I like Tampopo's sushi the best.

The sashimi here is very fresh. It has that natural sweetness to it and no fishy taste. I find that the prices of their sashimi are a little expensive. Otoro is $55, Chutoro is $45. I normally have the mejajiki, hotate or maguro sashimi here. They don't have tako sashimi, which I really like on the menu.

Service is okay. Right now, they're haven a ramen promotion, and some of the ramen on their regular menu is not avaliable for ordering at the moment. The staff don't inform you of this until you are ready to order. Had to scan thru the menu another time as a result.

Food comes quickly. They have not missed out on any of the orders.

The place is decorated like a regular Japanese restaurant, dim lighting, simple furnishings, minimilastic decor with some elements of Japanese culture. The surroundings are a little noisy. Lots of Japanese expats with young kids in tow. You get the idea.

I've been here several times. Overall, a nice Japanese restaurant. Much better than sushi tei but prices are also higher.

Will visit again.

Had a meal at Tampopo the day before with my friend.

The place is kind of dark for its interior but still decent. Darkwood Japanese style windows and furniture with dark-coloured walls with Japanese decorations.

The soba is not bad. Sashimi could be better.

I had the Grilled Beef Curry Rice for $16.80. Its rather delicious but too cheesy for me. The curry is quite okay not too spicy and rather fragrant.

The service is satisfactory, there is one waitress that tries to help us as much as possible even though she is not a fluent English speaker, luckily we understand Mandarin.

Overall, I find the prices of the dishes here quite steep.

Saturday's Dinner to Tampopo was suggested to right the wrong of Friday's dinner. It was the Takashimaya annual sale that brought us to Ngee Ann Shopping Mall last Friday. Of course the priority was to shop at Takashimaya before adjourning to dinner for tonkatsu. The tonkatsu we got were fried to yellowish brown rather than their usual golden brown. The taste wasnt right.

This Saturday's dinner at Tampopo did relief the pent up dissatisfaction from the food experience the night before. Tampopo has been around for a while and has definitely kept their food standards.

For more photos and details see : http://4-the-love-of-food.blogspot.com/2009/10/tampopo-japanese-family-restaurant.html

They have a ton of sashimi variety here. With things like 12 kinds sashimi kaisen don. etc.

The fish is really fresh, and comes in generous portions. Must try.
Rice is heavier tasting than most other Japanese restaurants (vinegar issues) but quite liked that taste. Vinegar used was fairly good quality.


Their specialty lies also in their pork katsu (kurobuta or the normal ones). I highly recommended the kurobutas.

Tender, Juicy, flavourful. Very good.
But the normal pork isn't. So beware. Mine was kind of tough, slightly dry.

Had their scoop cake, fresh cream used, portion is so-so for $6.

Overall, the food served here is of great quality but i had bad experience with their normal pork. So go for their kurobuta~!

Dinner @ Tampopo - Liang Court... was recommended by my friend... Slight queue... maybe we had only 2 persons.. so our chances of getting a table was pretty faster. I ordered Black Pig Shabu Ramen and Loin Cutlet...

Frankly... really nothing to rave about their ramen... nothing special or extraordinary... Soup base seem normal... Think any Japanese restaurant can serve the same standard for the ramen...

In fact I didn't manage to finish my bowl.. The chef came out... A Chinese man, seem like he went to Japan to learn his cooking skills before... He was teaching the servers... to layout the table in a proper manner and told them to understand more about the sauce for each dividual food... When he saw my left-over... he came by asked me... is it because I was full that's why I didn't finish my noodles... I gave him a smile and nodded my head slightly...

We shared the Creamy Cold Tofu as our side... Look nice.. taste very normal like our chinese tofu when uncooked...

When we stepped out, still many people waiting outside... Honestly... really don't understand the worth for the wait... Afterall... it is not as fantastic as the review written...

Heard the raves, so my colleague brought my entire department there for her bday lunch. (Our treat of cos)

The ramen tasted really normal. Ramen Marutama still gets my vote for rich soup base and egg. The egg in Tampopo ramen was very normal, just like one u can easily make at home.

The Katsu pork costs us about SGD 25. Just one piece of meat. LOL.

A very commercialised dining place.

it was highly recommeded and the group of 4 of us headed around 5+ 6pm for dinner.we were ushered and soon seated very uncomfortably as we were carrrying gym bags and the table was obvious too small. were given extra chair in the end.
we ordered 4 different ramen. and mine was the tonkatsu ramen.
as my katsu has to be fried, it came later (very late actually) than the rest.
the katsu were place on a metal barbed (very considerate).the soup is just nice, not too spicy, aromatic and noodles were chewy. the tonkatsu were found too salty. but it was nicely fried and very crispy..
we ordered some side dishes, soft shell crab, agedashi tofu, teriyaki ika (grilled squid).
the side dishes, are quite appalling. especially the soft shell crab, its so small and skinny, i have absolute no idea what i am eating.the first bite into it, were just OILY.

the grilled squid, taste more like blanched than grilled.

were deciding to try their in house dessert, was confused over the fruit roll and the scoop cake.
when asked, the server, (Steven) said,
"this one come with strawberry, and kiwi)
"this one come with strawberry and kiwi and orange and a grape on top"

if its only spot the difference i would have know.
in the end, we gave up on desserts.

when we depart, there were a long quene outside,though no idea for what. afterall, its not as fantastic as it should be..

Went here for dinner on a friday night. They had this number calling system whereas they told me to come back half an hour later. Came back and was given a table shortly. A very japanesy atmosphere, like a typical jap eating house. Gave us the Meun, it was weathered, looks pretty dirty and like its been used for ages. Well, time to get a new one. Anyway get down to ordering. Finally decided on a premium black pork loin katsu and the original ramen. Ramen arrived shortly, looks and smell pretty good. Noodles is springy, worksmanship is good. Soup taste like its being brewed for hours, very flavourful, saltyness and sweetness just right. A huge slice of pork, meat is tender and all. They had this egg, it appears to be hard boil but when you bite into it it taste like half boil. 3/4 boiled? hahax. Next up is the pork katsu. Looks really great, the colour is looking really good, breaded crumbs is spreaded out properly, neatly cut into a few pieces for you. Eating it together with the rice is really a joy, one of the best pork cutlet i've eaten. Also would like to comment on the soup, it actually has minced pork in it, i'm not too sure if that is the miso soup as it has a different taste to it. For pictures visit,
www.cherylloyd.blogspot.com