Ippudo Ramen Malaysia @ Pavilion KL

Ippudo MY, Pavilion Kuala Lumpur

I'm totally fall in love with the Ippudo ramen that I had tried at Singapore and so far it was the best ramen that I ever had(although I don't have any chance to try the ramen at Japan yet).

It is absolutely a great news to me and some others Malaysian who love ramen when Ippudo is going to land in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. After a month of long wait, it is finally opens its door by today, and I was there since 3.30pm because I expect there will be a long queue before their soft launch opening. Fact there has no long queue, before the opening but soon the restaurant is full of crowd.

Bar Counter Seating

A design that care for customer but I doubt how many people will notice this for the first time visit.

Menu

The menu is almost similar with the Ippudo SG. I have been struggled awhile to make the decision- what ramen shall I try. Shiromaru Motoaji? Akamaru Shinaji? or Karaka-Men? I had tried the Shiromaru at Ippudo SG, so I wonder if I shall try the same ramen for direct comparison or try the other flavour ramens.

Shiromaru Motoaji @ Ippudo SG

Finally, Shiromaru Motoaji won the vote.

I can't wait to taste the broth when it is arrives, take photo later :D

Shiromaru Motoaji (Special - with Nitamago, Pork belly and Seaweed)

I still remember the bowl of ramen that I had at Ippudo SG, it leave me a very deep impression - the color of the broth look so bland for the first sight. But here you get a more "colorful" broth, the first impression.

The broth is tad salty for the first sip, rich and flavorful aftertaste. The ramen price range from RM26-28(RM28-36 for add-on), infer they are using local pork instead of imported pork as the pork fat/collagen is spotted on top of the ramen broth. They also don't have the Kakuni(simmered tender pork cube) in the menu which I really love it.

Nitamago

However, the noodle and nitamago are good. The thin-straight noodle texture like the "wantan-mee" which go well with the broth. The nitamago is cooked to almost perfect, runny egg yolk(for my liking, the Ippudo SG has the perfect nitamago which is half-boiled egg white inside and egg yolk). The reason they serve the nitamago without cutting into half like the other ramen shops because the egg yolk will simply mix up with the broth before eating.

The Ippudo MY definitely offer one of the best ramen in town so far. Personally, I still prefer the Ippudo SG for a better ramen experience. But to be fair, what you pay for, what you get, you get to save the money for enjoying Ippudo ramen in Malaysia compare to Ippudo SG(roughly RM38 for a bowl, up to roughly RM60 for add-on).

Ippudo SG @ Mandarin Gallery, Singapore

After half day of non-stop walking around the city, finally start feeling hungry and hunger. I first thought of the ramen which I actually plan to try since I have no booking for any restaurant for my first day. Ippudo ramen, the only ramen shop that I know and have a bit of research, the location.

 

 Ippudo SG

 

Before go to the Ippudo SG,of course I have shopping around the Orchard Road which has too much yummy foods, especially Takashimaya's basement food department store. When I arrived at Ippudo SG, it was around 8.30pm and I was totally forgot the long queue that others mentioned about it. The entrance has 3groups of around 7peoples queuing, and soon I found out that actually inside the entrance has another bunch of peoples queuing and reading the menu while waiting for the table, roughly 10-15peoples. I guess they have to wait for at least half an hour to get a seat.

 

Menu

 

Bar Counter Seating

Fortunately,  I get a seat at the bar counter seating after wait for 15minutes. Due to the hungriness, I didn't read through the menu, simply ordered the Shiromaru  Motoaji which has the description of "classic Hakata-style ramen". So I guess that most probably the signature ramen and I chose to top up the ramen with Shiromaru Special- flavored egg(nitamago), tender pork cube(kakuni), and bamboo shoots(menma).

Shiromaru Motoaji

Within 5minutes, the ramen had arrived. The first impression for the ramen is simple and look so plain. Then I scoop the soup to mix all the ingredient, the soup is not as thick as I expect which made me feel like the soup won't be so flavourful. I took a sip of the soup, instantly, I knew it was my Big mistake to judge a book by its cover. The milky tonkotsu base soup is so rich and flavourful, and I can say the soup is better than any ramen outlet at Malaysia. The difference is the pork bone that they use for the soup base.

They will ask you how you would like the noodle to be cook, soft to hard, I guess medium is the best. The noodle for the Hakata-style ramen is straight and thin which is quite easy for the soup to cling on it. It just feel great to slurp it while still hot, even made some noise of slurping. That's how to eat ramen.

Shiromaru Special

For $8 to opt for additional topping, it is totally worth it. I was curious why the nitamgo didn't cut into half for easier to eat. I took a big bite and I know why. Not only the egg yolk is runny, the egg white seem also semi-cooked. The nitamago is so delicious and optimize by taking a big bite on it, well, Syok!

While the pork cube is really tempting as it looks like. The fats and the meat are separate while bite on it, the fats melts, gorgeously awesome. The meat is moist, tender, juicy, and delicious.

 

 The Love Towards a Good Bowl of Ramen

 

Roughly 70RM for such a bowl of ramen, I wonder how many Malaysian willing to pay for it. But, I definately will pay for such Japanese ramen. Now, can I define the Malaysia ramen outlet as "local ramen"? Soup is the soul of a bowl ramen, now I start to learn what is a good bowl of ramen.