ENISHI opened in the International Plaza in Singapore in 2018. Limited to 100 bowls per day, it was difficult to compete for a space with the office crowd. With Covid and the people have all gone to work from home. I managed to get a seat at the ramen counter finally!
ENISHI is a ramen restaurant from Kobe, Japan which has received the “Michelin Bib Gourmand” award. They only have two outlets, this one on the second floor of International Plaza being the only one outside of Japan. It only took me 4 years to get the chance to try their signature dashi broth ramen. The only other item on the menu is the dan dan noodle.
Unlike the thick and rich tonkatsu broth preferred by many Singaporeans, it’s a clearer and lighter dashi broth. The plain version is clean, refreshing, and perfumed with citrus notes from the orange peel. But I added their special chilli oil and asked for a heavier tasting dashi, both requiring additional charges. These additions totally covered the clean, clear dashi broth with a soupy dan dan noodle feel.
The noodles used were thicker than normal ramen noodles, but it was said that thicker noodles are good with stronger tasting broth. The noodles were al dente, so you may want to ask for softer noodles. A small sprinkling of chopped white onions and negi added some contrast. Not to mention the side of aburi pork belly chashu was genuinely melt-in-mouth good. There were two slices of smoked duck breast which I would exchange with the pork belly anytime. The usual bamboo shoots, chopped scallions and bean sprouts common in other ramen joints were not present.
And if you don’t want the broth to go to waste, you can ask for a complimentary bowl of rice to dump into the remaining broth.
While this is acceptable here, it is actually frowned upon in Japan as Japanese do not eat their rice with anything else than pickles (tsukemono) and/or rice seasoning (furikake).
It was a wonderful bowl of warm broth for a cold, rainy day. But observing my neighbour, the dan dan noodles looked more delicious. I would return to try that soon, and perhaps have another go at the dashi noodles. But this time without the additions.
Enishi
10 Anson Road #02-85A,
International Plaza,
Singapore 079903
Visited in Apr 2022
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