A visit to Ramen Champion

Ramen Champion is a 'mini village' (in a mall) in Singapore, which has exclusively ramen restaurants in it. It's quite famous among local ramen-fans (there are a lot!) and I made my first visit there last weekend.

In fact Ramen Champion is a competition, which I think was conceived in either Singapore or Hong Kong. A cluster of top ramen outfits from Japan were invited to set up a stall at the Ramen Champion site, and each vendor competes on sales (and I believe social media voting). The winner gets to keep the stand in Singapore. The rest get sent home. The competition started in 2011 apparently, and is still going. With new vendors being continually invited in to 'ramen-off'. I'm not sure how long each competition period lasts for, but presumably previous winners are still there. The outcome either way, is some very nice ramen!

What is ramen?
Ramen is a type of Japanese noodle, which is usually served in a soup along with other ingredients (often char-siu pork; bamboo shoots; fungus; some nori seaweed; often a delicious kind of preserved egg - but there are many variations). Anyone from the UK: ramen is not that watery soup you find in Wagamama and other outlets! Nor is that just-add-hot-water packet stuff you can buy for 50p in Chinatown ;) I have never found proper ramen in London, and was surprised / delighted by what I tasted in Japan! Ramen is acually a delicious, flavoursome broth packed with goodies, and the whole deal feels like a very fulfilling meal. There are many regional variations of ramen across Japan, with different broth recipes, different add-in ingredients. There are red versions, black versions, white versions, spicy versions, fishy versions... You can usually choose your type of ramen noodle as well (thin, thicker, 'al-dente' whatever). Yum! So in E Asia, you get many ramen-buffs, who savour and compare the different types. In Asia, most good ramen outlets serve only ramen. 

Anyway, I went with two ramen-buffs to Ramen Champion, and was recommended a shio ramen option from the Shodai Koji stall (shio ramen is one of my favourite types). I kept it simple, and I must say it was pretty good. But I will be going back again to try more and more unusual options! (The Pork God sounds interesting ;) )