Food Review: Tsuta at Pacific Plaza Singapore | First Michelin-starred Ramen from Japan arrives in Singapore

Posted on November 3, 2016 by theRantingPanda in Food

The Place When I visited Tokyo earlier this year, I wanted to check out Tsuta, the first Michelin Star ever bestowed on a ramen. It’s Japanese outlet is so popular that people typically start queuing at 6am, even though the restaurant only opens at 11am, where only about 150 bowls of ramen are sold daily. I didn’t expect Tsuta to make its way to Singapore so soon, located at Pacific Plaza in Orchard Road, which is kept at a small and cosy 18-seater capacity.

The Food My main concern with overseas brand is that if it is able to maintain the same standards and quality? Think Tim Ho Wan from Hong Kong which also opened to a frenzy few years ago. For Tsuta, I have not tried the Tokyo version unfortunately. The quality control is assured by its founder, Chef Yuki Onishi, where the chefs here will be using the same special soy sauce and high-quality ingredients that its Japanese counterpart uses. Tsuta’s noodles are handmade, where Chef Onishi has also specially curated four types of whole wheat flour as well as whole grains to create the noodles.

The menu in Singapore mirrors that in Japan – choose from three types of soup bases: Shoyu, Shio Soba and Miso (only available at a later phase). Shoyu Soba features the piquant black truffle sauce; Shio Soba comprises a chicken-seafood blend; while the Miso soup base will only be introduced at a later phase. Each bowl of ramen comes with char siew slices.

We tried both the Shoyu and Shio, and our votes go to the Shoyu base for its much richer flavour. The Shoyu option is coincidentally also Tsuta’s signature, so go for it if you can only try one. The tender pork collar Char Siew is air-flown from Canada once a week, while the hints of truffle added is from Italy.

Rants Staying true to the Japanese style ramen dining is the small capacity of 18 seats. We can pretty much expect a considerable queue during the first few months of its operations.

Will I Return Again? Almost a resounding yes. The ramen at Tsuta ain’t the same as the many other ramen houses here in Singapore. The clear broth, with the clean finishing of the soba, makes this ramen a less cloying option than usual.