[review] Menya Takeichi vs Keisuke

It's been a while since I have done up a food review, so here's one on Japanese ramen :D 

There was a ramen craze about a month ago because the famous chef Keisuke Takeda opened not one but TWO separate ramen stores serving lobster-based and crab-based broth respectively. Despite his many stores, I have only tried Tori King, his chicken-based ramen - you can read the review here.

He is famous for other types of ramen and food, but I never really liked pork-based ramen so... 

Anyway! 

Then came along another competitor who claimed that their ramen is no. 1 in Tokyo. What got me excited was that.. IT IS CHICKEN-BASED ramen. *throw confetti* 

Menya Takeichi sits at a fairly isolated corner in Suntec City, so when bf and I walked past it one day we didn't think much about it. Little did we know it became one of the most talked about on Facebook shortly after. 

My friends who went there during dinner time had to queue for about an hour before they managed to get a seat. As a result of the long Q, reviews of the place was not that fantastic 

(see here: https://www.facebook.com/menyatakeichii/). Then again, they were based on poor time management and not really about the food. 

Thankfully for us, the they have either a) gotten smarter or b) there were no reservations and we were seated almost immediately. 

They only have chicken-based ramen, with varying degrees of thickness (in terms of the broth). They also have one that contains collagen (the scientist in me is rolling my eyes right now) and of course the spicy version. 

I picked the spicy version - which proved to be a little too spicy for me,but nonetheless delicious. 

It did not have the big drumstick that Tori King has, but was equally filling. Instead of drumstick, they gave chicken slices instead. I swear this must be another species of chicken. The slices look pink but not to the extent that you would think is not cooked properly and yet it still retained the chewiness and sweetness of the meat. What magic!

When I last visited Tori King in Jan'16, I was fairly disappointed by the drop in standard. It no longer tasted as nice as before, broth was too thick and salty. Hmm.. or maybe I am old already omg. Anyhow, bf took the non-spicy version and the soup was very addictive. (Honestly, I don't really know how to describe taste with superb vocab...) I kind of like how it gives me the feeling that it is like instant noodle? This probably sounds really unhealthy haha, but it really isn't.  The only thing that disappointed me was the chicken meatballs - tastes nothing special. 

BF said he would pick Tori King still because of the drumstick provided (that cheapo) but I am sticking with this one.. until a new chicken-based ramen comes along! 

As mentioned just now the Keisuke chain added the lobster-broth ramen to its name and there was quite a big hooha about it because several fairly prominent bloggers were invited for food-tasting. Since yours truly is not one of them, I paid for the bowl you see below. This was the thick broth version. 

The Q initially was really crazy. I had a friend who started queuing at 7 and only got a place at about 8+ and by then some of the add-ons were sold out. Once again, because I went after the hype period, I went in almost immediately after my friends arrived. (note: everyone needs to be there before they will seat you unlike the shop above). 

So this is the thick broth version and there is no other way to describe it...

It is just a very big bowl of lobster bisque with noodles and chasiew, chicken slices, eggs, prawn balls and prawn wanton. The thick broth tasted really heavenly initially and particularly on that day I went because it was raining just minutes before. 

Unfortunately the AC was too cold, and the broth soon got cold. Cold and thick - not a good idea at all. It felt really tiring eating this after a while. I could not see why people Q for so long for this. My friends who chose the clear broth version (taste nothing like this by the way) also thought it was nothing special and would rather go for the chicken-based one above. 

The bloggers who went for the food tasting for the lobster and crab ramen mostly used common terms like "lobster ramen is more masculine and crab ramen is more feminine because more veggies were added blah blah" when I read that, I was like.. er what was that? Maybe my food vocab sucks so I cannot appreciate what they were asked to write, so I am just going to leave you with one short comment : This is a tiring bowl of ramen. Try once for the hype if you must, but there is no point returning after that. 

Ok ending off abruptly with the ramen eggs that my bf tried to make!