Tori King @ 100 am Amara Hotel

Opening hours

Menu

At first I thought that this ramen place was just another branch of the one at Orchid Hotel. We wanted to dine at this place since it was a pretty hot day and we thought that at least this branch would have air conditioning, seeing as it is in a shopping centre.

But turns out that although the restaurant is also owned by Keisuke Takada, it specializes in chicken based ramen with a broth made from chicken parts and vegetables. That's why this outlet is called TORI King and the other one is TONKOTSU King. Like duh, Becca. Can't believe I only realized it there.

Like Tonkotsu King, they have a pretty standard menu (ramen with a chicken drumstick) but you get to choose the soup base - chicken broth, black spicy (black pepper) or green spicy (wasabi).

I actually liked this one better than the Tonkatsu cos you get both a chicken drumstick and a slice of pork. I never finish the broth served with ramen, my bowl usually still looks pretty full when I'm done, but not this time. I finished nearly the whole content. It was that good. I did hear several people commenting that it was too salty though, so ymmv.

According to a sign on the table, the ramen is high in collagen so you will wake up the next day with beautiful skin. Even more reason to have it again.

Tonkotsu King @ Orchid Hotel

Have been on a Japanese food kick lately and was browsing around the internet when I came across Time Out's 2012 Singapore's Best Ramen Bowl article. Tonkotsu King was number one on the list. After reading their description, looking at the price and checking that the location wasn't too far from my house, I immediately decided to check the place out.

There was a small line waiting to go into the tiny restaurant at about 2.30 pm on a weekday.

They had a order form for you to fill in while waiting. You can customize the ramen to your liking. I'm glad they had the 'No Spring Onion' option there, I hate spring onion but somehow always forget to specify that I don't want it.

They had a small bowl of hard boiled eggs on the table for you to add into the ramen, or snack on if you're hungry while waiting like my mum was lol.

The ramen arrived at our table about 5 minutes after we were seated, excellent service on their part. I had the Black Spicy Tonkotsu Ramen Special (All Toppings) since the menu said it was their signature dish. I guess all toppings means seaweed, flavored egg and black fungus. The Black Spicy broth has black pepper, it wasn't too spicy. Rich broth, creamy-yolked egg, generous serving of meat and noodles with a good texture - everything you would want in a ramen bowl, this one has it. The egg they served in the ramen was different from the ones they had on the table; it was really good, well worth the money.

This is a really authentic Japanese ramen place. I highly recommend it, but I think most people know about it already. Would definitely return to try some of their other offerings.

FYI they don't do takeaways.