Jsugaru Port Station (Timbre+ One North)

The heydays of Timbre+ at one-north seemed to have since past for quite a while ever since its opening quite a number of years ago — the food centre has seen quite a revamp over the last couple of years, with new tenants having come and go. The current composition of stalls that are occupying the various stalls are largely different from the ones that were originally in operation back then. Moving into Timbre+ at one-north fairly recently into one of the caravan-based stalls would be Jsugaru Port Station — one of the caravans that are located furthest on one end of the food centre that is situated right opposite a stall named Asia Grill. Being a stall that is focused in serving up Japanese fare, Jsugaru Port Station’s caravan is one that is fairly easy to identify — the caravan being painted in a green colour scheme whilst also with a yellow door; a rather eye-catching design that is hard to miss. The menu at Jsugaru Port Station is largely centred around its ramen offerings; they proudly proclaim that their Tonkotsu broth is house-made, and is simmered for 10 hours; their ramen offerings being split into sections dedicated to Tonkotsu, Curry and Shoyu, while there is also a section of the menu that lists the Side Dishes available — this includes fried and grilled items, as well as that of Maki rolls as well. Other notable items served up at Jsugaru Port Station includes salmon sashimi, as well as a couple of rice dishes such as the Unagi + Rice + Soup and the Saha Fish + Rice + Soup.

Whilst the emphasis of Jsugaru Port Station seems to be on their ramen, we thought that their Mentaiko Salmon Hand Roll was something which was worthy of a mention. Rather than being a hand roll as per what they seem to describe it to be, the Mentaiko Salmon Hand Roll is more of a Maki Roll — sliced into a portion of ten (10) pieces, the Mentaiko Salmon Hand Roll features salmon sashimi, Tamago, crab stick, cucumber and seaweed. Also strangely, the Mentaiko Salmon Hand Roll that was served to us also does not feature mentaiko; instead, it came with mayonnaise being drizzled across the roll as well. The folks at Jsugaru Port Station had mentioned that they only use salmon sashimi that is delivered to them fresh on the day before the start of its operations — that would be their commitment in delivering freshness to their patrons. The Mentaiko Salmon Hand Roll is a pretty simple Maki; that we found to be rather comforting — the salmon sashimi is pretty fresh here, while one would reach the layer of sushi rice thereafter where the short-grain rice is sufficiently sticky. The crab stick provides a bouncy bite, while the Tamago is soft and sweet, while the cucumber provides a good crunch — all the elements wrapped within giving the maki roll a variance of textures that made it an interesting eat. Whilst the Mentaiko Salmon Hand Roll regrettably didn’t came with Mentaiko sauce like how it was being described to be, we thought that they did drizzle a good amount of mayonnaise that provided a creamy touch without having overwhelm the flavours going on in the maki roll.

If anything, it does seem that the items served up at Jsugaru Port Station is pretty value-for-money. In fact, their Ramen offerings are especially affordable — their ramen is priced between the range of $8 to $11.90; one can also opt for the set meal which adds a side dish and drink at $3.90 extra. Apart from the Mentaiko Salmon Hand Roll that we have mentioned above, we had also tried other items such as that of the Ming Prince Sauce Baked Jade Rice Ramen 明太子酱烤玉子拉面, as well as the Japanese Gold Pumpkin Slices during our visit to Jsugaru Port Station as well. The Ming Prince Sauce Baked Jade Rice Ramen isn’t as complex as one would think from how it is being named in the menu — turned out to be an unfortunate case of bad translation from its Chinese name that was supposed to be Aburi Mentaiko Tamagoyaki Ramen; the item being a Shoyu-based ramen that comes with other elements such as bamboo shoots, Ajitama (i.e. soft-boiled ramen eggs), beansprouts and Chashu, amongst others. What we found to be more interesting is the Japanese Gold Pumpkin Slices that we have opted for as a side dish to the Ming Prince Sauce Baked Jade Rice Ramen that we have opted to go for a set meal; the Japanese Gold Pumpkin Slices essentially being a fried croquette containing pumpkin-flavour Mochi within that comes all chewy and a lingering sweetness that is also a little floral — definitely an item that we have never came across before thus far. We are not sure about their other ramen offerings, though we would say that their Shoyu-based broth is not something that is quite to our liking if it was based on our experience with their Ming Prince Sauce Baked Jade Rice Ramen; perhaps their stronger offering would be their Tonkotsu Ramen offerings instead. That being said, Jsugaru Port Station does serve up pretty good side dishes that would work especially well with what Timbre+ has to offer — their extensive selection of beers while one chills to the live music performances that they have on certain evenings; all that whilst not having to break the bank as well!