I was going thru my dashboard one day and I realised there was quite a bit of traffic directed to my website when people search for “Ramen at Mandarin Gallery’”.
Back then, when I first started going to Mandarin Gallery for ramen, I couldn’t recall the name of the ramen shop at all. I was bad with Japanese names, and embarrassingly, I still am.
So, much to everyone’s envy, I got the opportunity to visit the real IPPUDO when I was on my first work trip to Tokyo last month. I headed to the one at Ebisu. It was only suppose to be a short walk from Ebisu JR station, but ok, we got lost and we took a good damn ONE HOUR. That will be another story in future when I am in the mood to blog about it.
At the entrance of Ippudo, Ebisu
The Japanese menu on the wall. But no need to freak out cos they have English menu if you ask!
This is the main difference between the Ippudo in Japan and that in Singapore. They serves such condiments on your own. Four types, garlic, ginger, the greenish one is hot! and seasoned bean sprouts. Ippudo in Singapore does not serve these.
They even provide a garlic presser
The counter seats
The regular serving
The much needed extra noodles (after the one hour walk which was absolutely not needed! Most Japanese ramen outlets do not charge for extra noodles BUT IPPUDO DOES! Angry!
And, yo, I added the seasoned bean sprout condiments
So final verdict?
Walk into any ramen place in Tokyo and I am sure they all fare better than Ippudo!
