The Ikkousha brand name gained attention in Singapore when it beats out other ramen purveyors to emerge as Singapore’s Ultimate Ramen Champion in 2011. It even defended its title successfully for the 2012 championship.

Since its victory, Ikkousha decided to make the bold move to set up its own stand-alone eatery just half a year ago at Tanjong Pagar. It has enjoyed a brisk business and now looks forward to conquer greater territory across the island.

Just a few weeks back, Hakata Ikkousha opened its second outlet in CHIJMES, offering a cosy dining experience. Offering the authentic taste of Fukuoka in Japan which is known for its thin, springy ramen noodles, the menu has been augmented with five signature ramen dishes.

“Ikkousha” means “one happy place”, which reflects the simple heartfelt motto of Chef Kousuke Yoshimura – that is to bring happiness to everyone. Chef Yoshimura’s father was a sushi chef and his mother run a gyoza store. Culinary is in his blood as he helped in his mother’s shop as a cook and also learnt the art of gyoza making. He developed his own ramen recipe and opened his first eatery in Daimyo, Fukuoka.

Chef Yoshimura puts his heart and soul in making a good bowl of ramen. During the media tasting, we were invited to take a tour around the kitchen with many pots of broth cooked at different time. Ikkousha’s broth is made from various types of pork bones and simmered over low heat for over 12 hours to create the creamy texture. This slow cooking method draws rich collagen into the delicious broth. Their broth is made individually in its store by the master chef who is trained by Chef Yoshimura.

After the broth is simmered for 12 hours, a blend of 3 types of soy sauce, 20 kinds of seasoning and 5 kinds of rare seafood is then added into the soup to make it rich and unique.

As for the noodles, they bought their own machine to make the perfect noodles for its broth. We really love its colour, thinnes and natural taste of the noodles. They are blanched for just 15 seconds before serving. Chewy to the bite, it is a good combination with the soup.

The menu and condiments on the table. Their menu comes in English, Chinese, Korean and Japanese! Do pair it with takana, a condiment made from Japanese mustard leaves.

We had the Special Tonkotsu Ramen ($16) which is served with 4 pieces of pork chashu, flavoured egg, seaweed, fungus and spring onion in its original full bodies pork broth. The pork chashu is more lean (I prefer fatty ones) but it complemented the soup well.

I enjoyed the Black Tonkotsu ($13.50) Ramen very much because of its smoky flavour with special fried garlic and sesame added into the broth.

Oh yeah, you can choose your noodle texture from soft to very hard. Strangely, the guys love the noodles to be hard. I just prefer the normal ones.

To suit Singaporean’s love for spice, they also offer the Spicy Tonkotsu. Personally, I still prefer the original Tonkotsu ramen with the pork broth.

We ended the meal with a side of delicately crisp Hitokuchi Gyoza ($5).The gyozas maintain a crispy base without losing the moisture, love its juiciness. Pair it with one pint of beer at only $11.

Hakata Ikkousha

Address: 30 Victoria Street, CHIJMES #01-07
Opening hours: Mondays to Saturdays 11.30am to 10pm; Sundays 11.30am to 9pm.

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