Ramen Dining Keisuke Tokyo and Gyoza King

It was way past lunch time but my dining companion and I had not eaten. Since it was a weekend, we were surprised to find an almost empty Ramen Dining Keisuke Tokyo on the 2nd floor of Suntec City. This is by chef-owner Keisuke Takeda who, with 100% of sales generated at Ramen Keisuke Tonkotsu King last Friday, purchased and donated community notice boards to Tanjong Pagar housing estates as he found some of them too small or damaged. As part of its 3rd anniversary celebration, 350 bowls of ramen were sold at a thank you price of $5 each and bottles of water were distributed to customers queuing in the hot weather. Having tried the pork bone broth at Orchid Hotel's Tonkotsu King as well as the chicken-based soup at 100AM's Ramen Keisuke Tori King, I decided to order the crab stock ramen with egg at Keisuke Tokyo. Relocated from Millenia Walk, this 75-seater restaurant has a private dining room and is the largest in Singapore.

With the same simple order chit to customise according to one's preferences, I chose the "authentic Japan taste" for soup and noodle texture with less oil. My dining companion had spicy miso tonkotsu ramen with egg and we shared six pieces of pork gyoza, which was not on the order chit. Niboshi, a fish-based stock, is also offered here. Different from the other two branches I have been to, customers could pay for additional noodles, chashu, egg and spicy minced pork or bamboo shoot, cheese, seaweed and soup. And there were more than ramen on the menu – sides, rice and ice-cream. The soup was bold in taste (a tad heavy and thick) and too oily for my liking while I could not fault the noodles done just right, perfectly soft-boiled egg and tender chashu. On the other hand, gyoza or dumplings came with burn parts and were nothing to rave about. While this branch with comfortable seats attempts to cater more to the masses, its menu is still not diverse enough for that.

Other than the newly-opened Ramen Keisuke Tonkotsu King – Matsuri at Parkway Parade, there are also Ramen Keisuke Tonkotsu King Four Seasons at Bugis and Gyoza King. Also at Orchid Hotel, the latter stood out from the rest as it does not serve ramen. Instead, customers can have the gyoza as à la carte or set meal with Koshihikari rice (small, regular, large or extra-large size), miso or oily vegetables soup and two out of eight sides. Chose prawn over pork and chicken gyoza but could not discern any prawn in the filling. Probably minced and camouflaged among the sweet and juicy minced pork, I thought. Oh well, at least the thin skin here was crisp and not as charred. Loved the complimentary pickles reminiscent of acar, and how my steaming bowl of rice was accentuated by the sprinkle of Japanese dry seasoning. Deep-fried chicken with spicy sauce and mixed sesame was sweet, tender and a tad spicy while deep-fried white fish in tempura sauce was succulent but had a smoky taste.