Popular Sanpoutei Ramen opens third outlet at Paragon with tasty new exclusive tsukemen
If you’d walked past the basement of Orchard’s Shaw House during dinner-time, you’d probably have noticed a very long line forming up outside a ramen shop.
We’re talking about Sanpoutei Ramen, a brand known for its shoyu broth ramen and tsukemen (dipping ramen).
While Singaporeans are more familiar with the robust tonkotsu broth ramen, Sanpoutei Ramen actually traces its history back to Niigata in 1967, where shoyu ramen is equally as popular, if not even more so.
It opened its first outlet in Singapore in 2014 and will be finally opening its third outlet, with the other two being at the Holland Village and the aforementioned Shaw House.
Where? Sanpoutei Ramen’s third outlet will be located at Paragon Shopping Centre!
Perhaps ramen fans should try heading over there to escape the queues at Shaw House?
New Paragon-exclusive tsukemen
As long-time fans of Sanpoutei Ramen’s shoyu ramen (from S$16), we thought the broth at the Paragon outlet was on par with its Shaw Centre sibling.
What makes the brand’s broth so good are its ingredients — instead of the usual dried sardines, it uses ago (dried flying fish) and Rishiri kelp from Hokkaido.
The broth is clean, crisp, robust, and sports a mild earthiness, while avoiding being too salty or overwhelming. More importantly, it coats wonderfully on the silky ramen!
On top of the super slurpbable broth and noodles, the chashu was also sublimely textured — it’s tender and scored with a good amount of fats that genuinely melt in the mouth.
Of course, Sanpoutei Ramen also has many tsukemen fans and good news for them: There will be an exclusive at Paragon!
The kombu-infused tsukemen (S$18) will only be available at Paragon and features noodles steeped in a special kelp infusion, for a delicate kiss of brine.
While Sanpoutei Ramen’s popular rich dried sardine tsukemen (S$17) comes with a soup made with dried sardine and bonito, this exclusive comes with a kombu and bonito broth, instead.
This was our favourite dish here. The kelp infusion not only adds that gentle brininess, it also gives a velvety, gelatinous mouthfeel when you dip the noodles into the broth.
On top of that, the noodles were immaculately bouncy and the intense flavours of the kombu and bonito broth — you can take a small sip to test, but it’s crazy salty by itself — really shine when they cling onto the noodles.
As fans of Sanpoutei Ramen, we are happy the Paragon outlet means the queues might be less crazy at Shaw Centre.
Maybe this is our chance to finally indulge in the ramen, without getting besieged by the queue!
This was a hosted tasting.
For more ideas on what to eat, read our stories on the unique new American malt shop in Katong selling frozen custard and the new Yunnan-style hotpot restaurant, Broth & Beyond.
- Orchard
- Somerset
Evan started off writing about food on Instagram, before joining outlets such as Buro and Confirm Good to pursue his passion. His best work usually comes after his first whisky shot in the morning.
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