Sapporo Ramen (Sunshine Plaza)

It’s pretty cool to think how many Japanese establishments seem to have moved into Sunshine Plaza over the years — the sleepy residential-cum-commercial development had seen quite a change of tenants ever since the past year, which had Japanese eateries such as UOUO, Chirashi King Kong and Deli Kitchen moving into the premises, operating alongside quite a number of Thai F&B establishments which occupy mostly the street-facing units around the perimeter of the building.

Named pretty simplistically, Sapporo Ramen is one of the newest tenants to have moved into the building, occupying the unit that was previously occupied by Gyūnion which had moved into new digs at Oxley Tower in the Central Business District. While the ramen off their ala-carte menu comes at prices just slightly below $20, it is their lunch menu that attracts the most attention with the office folks around the area at just $9.50, giving patrons a choice between two different types of ramen, along with a drink. The Sapporo Classic Cha Shu Miso Ramen comes with elements such as Pork Miso Soup Broth, Butter, Corn, Beansprouts, Egg and Seaweed; the broth for the ramen is generally on the lighter side but could be made richer once the butter is being mixed into the broth. Otherwise, the noodles come springy and wavy; some may find it a little on the harder side but otherwise, we found that it carries a distinct bite. Otherwise, the other elements such as the corn provides yet another textural contrast to the bowl with a slight hint of sweetness to balance out the richness of the butter, while the beansprouts also provided some crunch — the egg felt a little pedestrian however, with its almost solid yolk while the Cha Shu was surprisingly tender without being too lean nor carried a stench.

Not sure if it has something got to do with the lowered price tag, but we did feel that the ramen here was fairly decent at best; we were actually pretty intrigued by one of the items someone else at another table ordered considering how good it smelt. Still, it’s pretty much a decent option if one is looking for ramen at a price tag of under $10 for lunch in the area overall.