First Michelin-starred ramen chef in Singapore

It was my first time meeting a Michelin-starred ramen chef! Yasuji Morizumi is the world's FIRST ramen chef to attain a Michelin star. The genius behind Chabuton Singapore, he was in town recently to launch an exclusive ramen dish. Here's a review of a bowl of Michelin-starred ramen as well as some side dishes. Read till the end of the post to win a bowl of Premium Tonkotsu Ramen worth $18.90++!

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Side Dish: Hitokuchi Gyoza — S$5.00/8pcs

The ingredients — pork, garlic chives and cabbage — tasted really fresh. We were advised to dip the dumplings into the soya sauce though I preferred eating them au naturel. They came in pretty uneven shapes, though the general appearance roughly resembled that of small purses. My biggest gripe would be that they were pan-fried quite unevenly (as you can see, some areas were significantly browner than others), making some dumplings crispier than others.


Additionally, the fillings, while fresh, seemed quite meagre in quantity, resulting in some rather flat-looking dumplings. Each bite lacked a satisfying volume. In a blind taste test, I would probably think I was eating thin slices of murtabak!

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Ika Karaage (Fried Squid) — S$5.00

I'm not a fan of squid at all, but this was REALLY great. Crispy on the outside yet squishy inside, the stark contrast of textures was a wonderful experience. What I loved best about this dish is that there was NO SMELL OF SQUID at all! I was also pleasantly surprised at the lack of oily residue on the plate despite it being super crispy.


I guess the only possible improvement to this dish I could wish for is a bigger portion, haha!

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Premium Tonkotsu Ramen: The Kurobuta — S$18.90

The Kurobuta features a blend of Tonkotsu & Chicken Collagen Broth, and there was a pretty obvious and pungent ginger aroma from my bowl. Diners from other tables gave feedback that Singaporeans don't really like ginger and would prefer garlic, but I thought the ginger was quite shiok. Hmm... for this dish, do you wish to hear the good news or bad news first?

Tonkotsu broths tend to be more porky and such flavours are common in most Japanese ramen restaurants. At Chabuton, this star ramen apparently consists of two layers of broth— you first slurp the tonkotsu as the top layer and gradually progress to the chicken collagen below. However, I couldn't really detect the two distinct layers, and furthermore, the dish was too salty for me. The good news? The texture of the ramen is definitely of award-winning calibre. It was really springy and chewy and did not clump together at all. In fact, it is of a thicker-than-usual consistency and this makes it satisfyingly filling.

I absolutely love this highly-prized Kurobuta. The well-marbled meat contains fine streaks of fat that make each slice richly sweet, tender and succulent.

The meat literally melts in your mouth — if pork ice-cream existed, this would definitely cut it!

The ramen egg reminded me of a Kinder Surprise — while most Japanese restaurants serve HALVED eggs, Chabuton throw in an entire egg here. It's really difficult to cook a whole egg — the freshness, temperature and timing all come into play when creating that perfect molten yolk, gooey egg white and firm casing!

So happy to have met with Chef Yasuji Morizumi, Zipeng and Elphin Yeo. Our clothes go well with the logo behind eh? Haha!

Post by Littletinysun.

Chabuton Ramen
313@somerset, #B2-01

313 Orchard Road