Chabuton, Tampines

I rarely make trips to the East end of Singapore, but to celebrate a friends birthday- I made the trip! She made it worth while by suggesting a newly opened ramen place, Chabuton, for dinner. While I had never heard about it prior to dinner, reading about it on the way to Tampines did get me slightly excited about dinner. While I am aware that they do have another branch at 313 Somerset, the birthday girl gets what the birthday girl wants.

Thankfully when we got there, the queue was short, even though I was told that initially there wasn't one. Ooops. And they only seat full parties so we had to queue for a little while. The wait was less than 10 minutes which is considered ok for a Friday evening 7pm dinner.

3pcs Fried Oyster ($6)

8pcs Gyoza ($5)

We ordered 2 plates of the Kaki Fry (Fried Oysters)  and one plate of the Gyoza to start with. I have to say that the oysters were nicely done and this is probably one of the nicest oysters I have had at a Japanese restaurant. It wasn't too oily and the batter was a light yet crispy coating. The gyoza on the other hand, while crispy was a bit average and I would have gladly swapped it for another plate of oysters.

Kara Kara Ramen ($12.90) + egg and buta Kakuni ($3)

For my mains, I ordered the signature Chabuton Kara Kara Ramen (because I like everything spicy!) and added an egg and buta kakuni (braised pork) for $3. You get to customize your noodles (soft/hard), oil (low/high) and saltiness level (low/high). I chose soft noodles, low oil and low salt, so did the rest of the girls. After trying the noodles, I think its all just a marketing gimmick because everything tasted the same. One of the bowls even came with slightly al dente noodles despite Evie requesting the soft noodles. Three of us agreed that the noodles were really salty and I was really thirsty the rest of the night. Just depends on your luck and who the chef is I guess.

The bill came up to $68.40 for 3 hungry girls which I consider really reasonable for the amount of food that we ate! Most places with a Michelin star chef usually come with a hefty price tag so its nice that Chabuton does cater to the masses. Would I come back again? Perhaps, but I am not so overly impressed that I would specially suggest Chabuton when thinking of a ramen place to dine at.

Chabuton, Tampines

#02-09/10 @Tampines One

10 Tampines Central 1,

Singapore 529536

Open Daily 10.30am- 10pm

Tel: +65 68540335

Chabuton, Somerset

#B2-01 313 @Somerset, 

313 Somerset Road, 

Singapore 238865

Open Daily 11.30am- 10pm

Tel: +65 66368335