Hakata Ikkousha

My all time favourite Ramen place! The soup is simply delicious!

This place was a disappointment. The flavour has taken a turn for the worst from their Ramen Champion days. Prices are comparable to the higher end ramen-​yas, but I felt like I had just eaten at a fast food joint.

I was a bi-​weekly regular when Ikkousha was at Bugis+ and felt it served the best ramen in Singapore. As a result, I was very excited to hear that the shop was relocating to my Tanjong Pagar neighborhood. Unfortunately, my excitement was misplaced. They have substantially changed the menu, making ordering more complicated and the dishes more expensive. In fact, I could not find their old Special Ramen anywhere. More importantly, the quality has dropped precipitously.
I had the Red Tonkatsu Ramen. The noodles had no flavor. The soup was oily and bland, and tasted nothing like I remembered it from the Bugis+ location. The add-​in egg was $ 2 and not sliced in half. The additional black fungus was hard. In addition, someone had forgotten to screw the sesame seed grinder cap on tightly. When I tried to use the grinder, the cap came off and my soup bowl filled with sesame seeds. The staff was very kind about it and replaced my bowl quickly, but seemed to want to make it up to me so much that they overfilled the replacement bowl, making it almost impossible to mix the ingredients together,
My fiancé had the Miso Ramen, which was a bit better than mine, but still overly salty.
We both left very disappointed that the quality did not carry over from Bugis to Tanjong Pagar. While I would like to give Ikkousha another chance, our meal was so lousy that they have probably lost me as a fan.
While I used to think that Ikkousha’s Special Ramen was slightly superior to Ramen King’s Spicy Black Ramen, Ramen King beats Ikkousha’s new incarnation handily.

So does it live up to its «grobal standard» billing?
The God Fire is their best offering and pretty darn good (and spicy — had 3x spice, may settle for 2x next trip). Egg was cooked perfectly. Their style is comparatively thinner — thin slices of pork and thin noodles.
Still prefer the black ramen at Keisuke Tonkotsu King.