Went to this new restaurant called "Menya Kaiko" at Marina Bay Financial Centre, Tower 3.  This is a new branch (the other one is at ION Orchard) and my bro and I decided to try it since there weren't a lot of other food places open on a Sunday.  First impression was that this was quite a snazzy place with modern jazz played in the background.  Ramen has definitely moved from being a cheap roadside yadai meal to restaurant status.




They were having a promotion on their set meals so my bro ordered the salmon teriyaki set (S$20++) with red miso half-ramen (half the usual portion).  No complaints from him and he liked the ramen although he couldn't understand why anyone would want to eat noodles AND rice in the same meal.  Very typical Japanese to do so, actually.  I took a bite of his salmon. It was so-so.  The soup was really tasty and thick - Hokkaido style.

I ordered the Tonkatsu set with white miso  set ($25++) and I really liked the soup base which didn't taste as salty as the red miso soup but still had that thick flavour that's distinct of Hokkaido ramen.  I liked that you could order a less salty version of their soups too! The typical Japanese salad dressing was light and refreshing, which was paired nicely with the thick salty ramen.  Ok, now that we've covered the good...lemme get onto the not-so-good.  My tonkatsu was dry and tough. Disappointed.  The rice for the onigiri wasn't fragrant and was not as sticky as it should be.  I know, I know...it's NOT rice from Japan..prolly California rice but...you know...and I would've appreciated it if they wrapped the seaweed just before the onigiri was served so that it doesn't become too soggy.

Go there now if you have a DBS card so that you'll get the $5 return voucher. Go for their ramen (except the tonkatsu) and the char siew is really quite soft so that's another plus point.  Would I go again? Yup, but only for their ramen.

Men-ya Kaiko
2 Marina Boulevard
Ground Floor (it's so new that the address isn't on the web)
Marina Bay Financial Centre, Tower 3