Review of Shin-Sapporo Ramen (Century Square)

To be honest, I didn't have a very good experience with Shin-Sapporo Ramen when it first opened. It put me off so much that I swore not to step in there again. I think what happened then had a lot to do with teething problems which most new restaurants would encounter e.g. slow serving speeds, getting orders wrong or a less-than-efficient workflow but what I didn't like was the taste rather than these "non-food" issues. It had been more than a year since that fateful encounter and this second visit happened rather unexpectedly because I needed a very late lunch on a weekend afternoon and had to look for a place which wasn't crowded and was not on afternoon break at 4 plus in the afternoon. Coincidentally, I had a craving for ramen but couldn't think of any nice choices in Tampines so I decided to give this place a second chance.

Although the name of the shop says "Shin-Sapporo Ramen", there are different types of ramen from various locations in Japan on offer here. There's the Hokkaido style, the Tokyo-style, the Hakata (Fukuoka) style and Wakayama style (just to name a few) so if you are dining with a group which has different preferences, this place should have something for everyone. One unique point here is that they use different types of ramen noodles for each locality's version so it's not a one-size-fits-all style of ramen that you get here. Depending on the soup base, different types of noodles are used and the rationale for the choice is clearly explained on the menu.

Personally, I like the Hakata-style tonkotsu soup and the Hokkaido-style noodles but I don't think you can mix the two here so I decided on the tonkotsu ramen. In terms of the soup, it has a nice aroma which is not too overpowering and definitely not as rich as Keisuke's and Santouka's version. However, it doesn't mean that it's not tasty and should suit people who usually find tonkotsu soup a bit too meaty or salty and would prefer a lighter version. As for the noodles, it was OK save for the fact that the noodles got entangled halfway through the meal (which is the first time for me). I wonder if I stirred the noodles too much till they got entangled or the way they were placed into the bowl wasn't the usual style in most ramen joints. I found the noodles a bit too thin and couldn't taste the soup's flavour in them so a slightly thicker type of noodle would have been better. Surprisingly, Ikkousha's noodles were also thin but I thought their version was able to blend better with their tonkotsu soup. As for the char siew, it was a bit of the fatty side but taste-wise, I liked the fact that it was well-seasoned and the texture of the meat wasn't tough at all.

Next up was the kushiyaki. I had wanted to order other types of kushiyaki (chicken with leek and chicken balls) but many of the options were not available so I settled on the pork and chicken wing versions. Perhaps it was due to the fact that the Saturday lunch crowd had finished all the stock for the day? Anyway, there are quite a number of choices for kushiyaki on the menu so I suppose you should be able to find what you fancy. The pork kushiyaki was very well-seasoned and had a nice blend of meat with fats which didn't feel too oily or overpowering. It was well-grilled too so you don't get the feeling that one part is nicely done and another may be so dry that you can't taste anything. However, the chicken wing version was a bit disappointing, considering that you could taste the flavour from the skin but when you get to the meat, it was a tad dry and bland so I think more efforts need to be put in for this version. Maybe marinating the meat a little longer may help?

Last but not least, here's the gyoza which I would always try to order when I am having ramen.. The version here is not bad but I think the quality is fairly inconsistent even in the same place of just 5 pieces of gyoza. As you can see from the photo, the first one looked a bit burnt and that resulted in the meat filling becoming rather dry and tasteless. I gather it must have been due to the fact that the meat juices must have dried up during the cooking process. However, when I got to the third one onwards, it didn't taste as bad so my conclusion is that if the gyoza's skin wasn't burnt but rather lightly pan-fried to have a light golden brown on one side, your gyoza should turn out to be alright. There is also a shrimp version which I haven't tried so for people who don't like too much meat, that should be something you can try.

On the whole, I would say that this 2nd visit has successfully changed my opinion of  Shin-Sapporo Ramen to a certain extent but there are still some areas which it needs improving e.g. the kushiyaki and gyoza taking ages to be served even though I was the only customer at that time. Nonetheless, it has proved to be a pretty decent place for some ramen so I will know where to go the next time I'm craving for ramen but am too lazy to travel to town for my all-time favourites.