jiehan

Baikohken!

It was the new year, and due to unforeseen circumstances (i.e. to book into camp on the 3rd), I had to “celebrate” my birthday with vanessa on the first. Well, I would lament that my whole year will be filled with work since my birthday happens to be the first working day of the year. That is sad but you kind of understand that being in NS is already saddening. I would not dwell on that. It wasn’t particularly a celebration but more of a casual day when we simply walked around, ate a fair bit and enjoyed each other’s company. It might not be anything much but at the end of the day I was just really contented.

On Ralph’s recommendation, I suggested that we head to baikohken for dinner since we both love ramen. He did briefly mention that the portions were big but I didn’t take note of it. Afterall, my appetite is not that small.

Shoyu Chashu Ramen (Half) - $12.50

Miso Chashu Ramen (Full Bowl) with Egg - $17.50 + $1

It may not seem like it in the picture, but the Miso Chashu Ramen was simply overflowing with ingredients! It was already a really huge bowl and the ingredients piled up above the bowl! Just imagine the normal Ajisen serving of Ramen is the half size of Baikohken. Value and size of serving wise it has already won hands down all ramen outlets that I’ve tried before. I’m drooling looking at the ramen now.

This place is not a highlight of people who expect good ambience. The ground floor is small and could probably contain a little less than 20 people. There is a second floor but I did not get to go up and look. The air conditioner wasn’t really functioning very well. I sat in front of the kitchen, but the heat from cooking wasn’t that significant only because there were fewer customers already. The aircon was directly behind me but I didn’t feel it much at all.

Vanessa always had a liking for salty stuff and shoyu is always her choice of ramen. She enjoyed the soup pretty much. I love the taste of the miso soup, it was thick and milky with a little tangy aftertaste that does delight me =) Noodles were chewy and goes very well with the soup. However, there was a whole load of taugeh and raw onions in my big bowl. Personally, I did not enjoy the greens that much because the fresh and crunchy taugeh and the onion smell that comes out of my nose when I bite into it simply did not complement the chewy noodles. I left them aside and didn’t tackle them until I finished my noodles. Even then I did not finish them. I liked the egg yolk and sweet tasting egg white and it’s one of the components that I find essential in my ramen. The chashu was fabulous! I had like around 7 pieces of huge chashu pieces lined in my bowl, and vanessa had around 4 pieces in hers too. Chashu was light tasting, very soft and tender. The fatty parts melted in my mouth instantly and gave a delighting effect.

One thing I liked about the restaurant was that there was also a fully-filled jug of some iced drink that I wasn’t really able to identify (Courtesy of Ralph, it’s houjicha. Roasted green tea!). It’s like this huge jug just shared between the 2 of us. It was really refreshing and it tasted like grass jelly water with very little sugar added. I cannot confirm what drink it is exactly. Baikohken deserves praise for placing this huge jug of iced drink, unlike the many restaurants that I go to, my iced water happens to be empty 80% of the time. And it is embarrassing to hail the waiter just to fill my glass. (And apparently, this jug will always be there for traditional ramen restaurants! Courtesy of Ralph again)

And my oh my, we were both totally bloated at the end of it. Filling, tasty and worth every cent of it. For those who are asking for “authentic” ramen, I haven’t been to Japan to tell you that this is authentic, the best I can say is that I simply love this ramen!

Location: North Canal Road [Raffles Place Interchange, Opposite OCBC. One of the shophouses on the first row]

Drink Tea - 水研社 on 3rd visit. 9PM

This was a new find in Bedok Central yesterday. To be truthful, I had no idea why I was attracted to it except for the recent indulge in novelty bubble tea including Koi. Since there was a discount (zoom in on the above picture) on a particular Roasted Milk Tea (Original price Large: $3.10, Discounted price till 3rd Jan: $1.80!) and my love with milk tea is simply never ending, I decided to give it a try.

Roasted Milk Tea

Still not used to taking photographs of my beloved food encounters (I want to feast so badly taking out a camera is simply taking up too much time), I managed to control myself and take a half-hearted picture of the Roasted Milk Tea, after drinking quite a fair bit of it. (Picture was my first cup, medium size)

It is more on the whiter colour as compared to those of Red Milk Tea you get from the standard off-the-shelves bubble tea stores. You see pink pearls. This was one reason I wanted to try the bubble tea. The posters claimed that being made of Roselle Plant extract, it is free from any colouring and even has medicinal purposes! Apparently TCM uses it to reduce hypertension, treat urinary tract infection bla bla bla.

Down to the review: Ordering is a tedious process. First you decide your sugar level (similar to the Koi concept, 0%,25%,50%,75%,100%), then you choose Full Ice, Half Ice or No Ice. I don’t see how less ice would be healthier though. Maybe it’s just an option. I like options. Being a new store they do take quite a long time to make this bubble tea, with the owner himself going through the staff to see if they did okay. They even sampled their own final product. But apparently this didn’t happen today. Maybe they think second day they laojiao already :s

First sip made wonders! I have no idea what chinese tea leaves they used, but drinking chinese tea from young, this Roasted Milk Tea definitely uses one of the more common roasted chinese tea leaves that I used to drink when my granddad was still around. It’s like a very light milk tea (I took 50% sugar) but when it goes down your throat, this aroma of the tea leaves engulfs your entire mouth. I find it delectable. Vanessa probably didn’t find it as nice as I did since she’s not a fan of milk tea. My brother could also taste the difference but seem unmoved by it. Well, I guess I’m the only one quite crazy over it for now. As for the Roselle Pearls, pink it is, but it tastes pretty similar to most pearls out there. It’s quite chewy and that seemed to turn my brother off but vanessa enjoyed it. I liked it too. There was a very lightly sweet aftertaste of the pearl that lingers in your mouth. More of a sweet scent taste I suppose.

This bubble tea is usually very pricey and is similar in pricing with Koi. Normally, I wouldn’t recommend anyone to drink it unless you want to indulge in novelty bubble tea just to add some endorphins(not from the tea, just increase production from happy indulgences). But right now with the Roasted Milk Tea going on for another few days, I’ve been going back quite often :s 3 trips in 2 days! And I think I want another one tmr :s For those staying around Bedok or coming by, do give it a try!

Location: In between Bedok Interchange and NTUC (One of the shophouses)