Tsuta made a huge buzz when it first landed in Singapore a year back, and for its one-year anniversary, it’s giving us Singaporeans what we like – duck. This isn’t your normal run-of-the-mill duck, whether roasted or braised, but instead, poached duck that is slow cooked in shoyu sauce for a tender and juicy texture.
Tsuta’s Chef Yuki Onishi’s been pondering about bringing duck ramen to Singapore since late 2016. As the result of one year’s worth of extensive experimenting, the duck ramen dishes will be available from 4 Nov onwards in both soup and dry. While both dishes feature poached duck breast, my tastebuds were receiving different signaling cues from the soup and dry variations. Which do I prefer? Each dish has their standout element, which funnily enough, wasn’t the poached duck breast in either dish (although this was also very good).
The Kamo Paitan Soba ($11) as the soupy version came with a slow cooked duck broth, which according to Tsuta, is cooked for five hours using precise temperature control. In addition to the standard ingredients in every ramen – noodles, soup, and meat – it also came dusted with crushed roasted cashew nuts and scattered yellow onions for a contrast in textures. What stood out about this dish was the broth. The flavours were strong and richly defined by the taste of duck, all in a creamy broth that you just wanted to slurp after every mouthful of noodles.
The Kamo Abura Soba ($10) is the dry variation that upon first glance, is almost identical to the Kamo Paitan Soba except for its lack of soup. But the noodles! The noodles are marinated with premium shoyu and duck oil that’s made from scratch by Chef Yuki Onishi. Each strand of noodles has a texture that rivals the springiest of egg noodles, and also comes with the cashew nuts and yellow onions. A bowl of refreshing chicken stock, with a bit of shio, was on the side.
If you want to add on à la carte items, the gooey ramen egg is available at $1.80 and the silky duck wanton at $1 each.
Get the Kamo Paitan Soba for its hearty broth and the Kamo Abura Soba for its noodles.
Available at Tsuta (#01-01, Pacific Plaza; #01-01, 18 Tai Seng Street) from 4 Nov onwards.
Images: NYLON
Header Image: Tsuta
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