Viral pop-up Yet To Name Ramen is now ODD Ramen & Diner, has permanent CBD home

When Yet To Name Ramen popped up at Orchard Plaza earlier this year, its name read more like a temporary status update. A few months, plenty of queues, and one permanent address later, the fish-broth ramen bar has finally filled in the blank.

Meet ODD Ramen & Diner.

From Orchard Plaza queues to Boat Quay

In a city where tonkotsu (pork-bone broth) still rules the ramen roost, a bowl built entirely on fish is something of a curveball. Chef Hirofumi Imamura created the recipe to give diners something less commonplace, and the pop-up was his way of testing whether Singapore had the appetite for it. 

Judging by the lines, it did.

The pop-up ran for three months until the end of July, with a mere 10 seats and an initial cap of 50 bowls a day (later raised to 90). Its broth rotated weekly between a clear hirame (flounder) shoyu and a thicker engawa (flounder fin) paitan.

Much of the buzz came down to its pedigree: Chef Hirofumi is the former chef-owner of Imamura, the now-defunct kappo restaurant in Sentosa.

He stays on at ODD Ramen & Diner as a consultant, while chef Adriel Lee — former chef de partie at Imamura — helms the kitchen. Adriel trained alongside chef Hirofumi at his restaurant and grew fond of dashi.

As for the name, the letters stand for ocean, dashi, and different. Calling themselves “different” felt a tad bold, the team admits, so “odd” seemed more honest.

The greens come from closer to home. Plauts is a local indoor farm, led by one of ODD Ramen & Diner’s co-owners, and it grows microherbs for high-end hotels and fine-dining restaurants. Every sprout is pesticide-free, raised in soil with carefully prepared organic fertilisers.

For now, ODD Ramen & Diner opens to the public on November 10 and will be in soft-launch mode until the end of the year, serving only weekday lunches from 11.30am to 3pm. The menu is pared down to two bowls, paitan ramen and shoyu ramen (S$16 each).

Both are fully pescatarian and MSG-free, with broths made solely from hirame (flounder) and tobiuo (flying fish). The full menu lineup hasn’t been revealed yet, but we’re told that the kitchen intends to bring in a binchotan for grilling.

Further down the line, the space will also moonlight as a small-format diner by night.

Creamy or clear? Both are delish

With only two ramen options on the menu until the end of 2026, ordering here is a breeze. Bring a dining partner, and you can each take one and swap halfway.

Both bowls share the same toppings — negi (leek), takenoko (bamboo shoots), and izumidai (Nile tilapia) atop Hakata-style noodles — so the difference comes down to the broth. Of the two, the paitan ramen (S$16) is the richer.

This broth gets its creamy body from boiling hirame and tobiuo bones, skin, and cartilage hard enough that the fat, collagen, and marrow emulsify into the liquid.

The izumidai is built rather like a roulade, mixed with fish paste, garlic, ginger, salt, and pepper, before being layered with nori (seaweed) and rolled to be chilled overnight. The izumidai roulades are sous vide right before service.

One bite and it falls apart, which is when the fish’s freshness and tenderness really come through.

The noodles have enough bite to hold their own against the creamy broth. The longer the bowl sits, the richer they get as they soak up the soup. That’s our cue to add a few dashes of the housemade kombu vinegar, which brings a subtle acidity and keeps the richness in check.

For us, it’s the best way to polish off the bowl.

The shoyu ramen (S$16) sits at the other end of the spectrum. Its clear flounder broth, seasoned with a soy sauce base, is lighter, sweeter, and more delicate. With everything else in the bowl identical, which one you gravitate towards will likely depend on the day, and perhaps the weather.

We leaned slightly towards the shoyu ramen, simply because it suited the afternoon’s scorching heat better. On days when you’re craving something heartier and moreish, though, the paitan will fill you up more.

Odd, but in the best way

This new permanent home, frankly, hasn’t made ODD Ramen & Diner any less odd, and that works in its favour.

Fish-based ramen is still a rarity among a tonkotsu-loving crowd, and the two well-made bowls we enjoyed make a strong case for it becoming a hit soon. Come for a quick weekday lunch now, and keep an eye on the night diner.

If the team brings the same care to its Japanese-fusion plates, odd may well become the new normal.

This was a hosted tasting.

For more ideas on what to eat, check out HanBroth, Busan-style pork soup at Beauty World by MasterChef SG winner Derek Cheong, and Casa Osteria, a hawker stall at Chomp Chomp serving bistro-level pasta.