WHAT WE ATE
- Takagi Ramen, 25/100 (16 Feb 2025, Anchorvale Village)
- Butashoga Ramen, 50/100 (16 Feb 2025, Anchorvale Village)
Takagi Ramen has built a reputation as a go-to budget-friendly ramen chain in Singapore, serving up hearty and affordable bowls designed for hardworking locals. We previously visited their main outlet in Ang Mo Kio, but this time, we stumbled upon their ‘express’ version.
The express outlet offers a more streamlined experience, featuring a minimalistic menu with their most popular dishes while maintaining the same comforting flavors as their full-fledged locations. It’s a convenient option for a quick ramen fix.
Takagi Ramen: 25/100
Noodle: 10/35
The noodles are medium-thin with a pale yellow hue, noticeably lighter than before. The texture is soft and smooth, with a mildly chewy but weak bite. There’s a flatness in flavor—no earthy or nutty wheat aroma, just a dominant kansui taste. Overall, the noodles are lackluster, a far departure from what we remembered from our last experience.
Soup: 5/35
The soup has a creamy white appearance with a glistening surface from the oil and fats, but the taste doesn’t match the visuals. It starts with a mild sweetness but quickly falls flat, lacking the rich porky savoriness expected. The stall claims not to use concentrates, which may explain the broth’s lack of complexity. However, a good broth relies on a balanced tare, which is clearly missing here. Instead, it tastes more like savory soy milk than the porky goodness advertised.
Despite measuring high at over 16 brix on the Atago, this serves as a reminder that brix level alone does not equate to a flavorful broth. The shop also promotes the broth’s stickiness as a mark of quality, but this is more of a marketing point than a true indicator of depth in taste.
Meat: 10/20
The chashu is paper-thin—while this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, the marination is decent, but the texture leans dry. The thinness causes it to crumble easily while chewing. The flavor is savory, retaining some of the pork’s meatiness, but nothing particularly outstanding.
Topping: 0/10
The toppings are minimal—just some negi and beansprouts. The beansprouts are crunchy and decent, but the negi is tough and fibrous. We added an egg topping as well, but it was underwhelming—the yolk wasn’t runny enough, and the mild marination felt flat.
Butashoga Ramen: 50/100
Noodle: 15/35
The same medium-thin noodles are used here, but the stronger broth helps soak up more flavor, slightly improving the overall experience. However, the texture is still lacking—soft with a mildly chewy but weak bite. There’s no earthy or nutty wheat aroma, just an overpowering kansui taste. Overall, the noodles feel uninspired and are a noticeable step down from past experiences.
Soup: 20/35
The broth is quite different from the signature Takagi ramen’s – slightly thinner in consistency but darker in color, likely due to the braised pork’s marination seeping into it. The flavor starts with a savory-sweet kick, followed by a lingering umami depth. While not particularly mind-blowing, it has more complexity than expected, reinforcing the idea that a well-balanced tare can make a significant difference.
Meat: 15/20
Instead of thin chashu slices, this ramen comes with generous chunks and shredded braised pork. The texture is slightly dry, but the rich marination makes up for it, releasing more flavor with every bite. The taste is reminiscent of Chinese-style stewed pork, with a well-balanced sweet-savory profile. While enjoyable, a juicier texture would have elevated it further.
Topping: 0/10
The toppings are quite basic here as well. The negi is too fibrous and tough. The bamboo shoots are mildly pungent and a bit too firm. Neither component enhances the dish, making the toppings feel like an afterthought.
Overall, Butashoga Ramen has potential, but weak noodles and lackluster toppings hold it back. The braised pork adds depth, and the soup has layers, but the overall execution falls short.
DISCLAIMER
One man’s meat is another man’s poison.
Find out more about our palettes and how we evaluate our ramen here. 😉
