Mensho Tokyo Review: Michelin-Approved Ramen With Duck Matcha And Famous Chicken Broth

Mensho Tokyo is a Michelin-approved ramen eatery at Raffles City

Ramen used to be one of my favourite dishes, but in recent years I’ve found that the dish no longer excites me like it used to. More often than not, I find the ramen I come across too cloying, too predictable, and dare I say it, too boring. But my recent visit to Mensho Tokyo, a new restaurant in Raffles City, helped me fall in love with the dish yet again.

Mensho Tokyo is a ramen brand by chef Tomoharu Shono, currently with 18 outlets worldwide. Its San Francisco outlet was featured in the Michelin Guide, and it has earned awards such as Tokyo Ramen Of The Year and Ramen Walker Grand Prix. As you can see, there’s plenty of acclaim to its name—and now that I’ve tried the fare at this Singaporean outpost, I can confirm that Mensho Tokyo is very much worth the hype.

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Food at Mensho Tokyo

We started with the brand’s claim to fame, the Signature Toripaitan ($28++). House-made wavy wheat noodles are prepared in rich, creamy chicken soup, joined by a trio of A5 Wagyu, smoked pork, duck, and chicken chashu. Truffle sauce, ajitama eggs, king oyster mushrooms and more make up the rest of this dish.

Right off the bat, I will say that this is by far the best chicken-based ramen broth I’ve ever had. It was rich, creamy, and umami, yet not to the point where it got too jelak—far from it. The earthiness of the truffle sauce, which you’re supposed to mix into the soup, added depth to an already incredibly layered soup.

All that flavourful goodness was absorbed by the noodles, which were thick and pleasantly chewy. I’ve got no complaints about their texture at all.

The three types of meat here were excellent, too. The A5 Wagyu was just melt-in-your-mouth, the duck was tender, and the chicken was succulent. Every element was done extremely well in this exception bowl of tori paitan.

Our next dish, the A5 Wagyu Shoyu Aburasoba Ramen ($41++), was almost as good. This dry noodle dish features thick wheat noodles drenched in a sauce made from organic Kioke wood barrel-aged shoyu, and sports two types of Miyazaki A5 Wagyu.

I think any fan of beef will absolutely adore this dish. With enough Wagyu, both sliced and minced, to cover the whole bowl, as well as the beef oil drizzled onto the dish, there was just so much rich beefy flavour in this single bowl. And like in the previous dish, all the pieces of Wagyu were top-drawer stuff.

However, while the tori paitan got its balance right flavour-wise, this dish became too cloying after we ate about half of it—we needed less of that salty shoyu-based sauce in the noodles. Thankfully, vegetables in the dish, such as spinach, baby asparagus, and red onion, helped alleviate some of that.

And while the Duck Matcha ($28++) ramen was arguably the most fascinating dish we tried, it was also the weakest of the bunch.

The broth here is actually chicken-based, but with matcha offering its grassy and earthy characteristics to the dish. Sadly, it didn’t come together coherently, with the chicken soup and the matcha’s flavour clashing unpleasantly.

Mensho Tokyo has some great appetisers and sides to pair with your ramen. These include sushi such as the luxurious A5 Miyazaki Wagyu Caviar Sushi ($14++ for two), as well as the crispy Aji Fry ($12++), which is essentially deep-fried horse mackerel. If you’re just here for the ramen, that’s more than enough as the aforementioned noodle dishes are pretty hearty on their own.

Ambience at Mensho Tokyo

Located right beside Surrey Hills Grocer, Mensho Tokyo has both table and bar seating with a total capacity of 90 people. Japanese aesthetics inform the space, with timber wood walls, wooden furnishings, and a warm colour palatte throughout.

Mensho Tokyo is a five-minute walk away from City Hall MRT Station.

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The verdict

Mensho Tokyo offers some incredible bowls of ramen. If you’re a ramen fan, be sure to drop by to try the fare here, especially the masterful Signature Toripaitan.

For another award-winning chicken ramen to try, read our Kageyama review. For Japan-famous Wagyu ramen, read our Mashi no Mashi review.

Address: 252 North Bridge Road, #03-43, Raffles City Shopping Centre, Singapore 179103
Opening hours: Daily 11am to 10pm
Tel: 8380 8467
Website
Mensho Tokyo is not a halal-certified eatery.

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Photos taken by Maisie Chong.
This was a media tasting at Mensho Tokyo.