SUZUKI

A trip to Southeast Asia can either be a massive ramen adventure or a massive local foods adventure. I chose the latter, and Ramen Bar Suzuki was the only place I ate at during my spring break holiday.

Around 150 ramen shops in Singapore alone. Other cities like Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur are also chock full of Japanese-style ramen. Most of these shops feel very artificial, though. All the big names like Ippudo, Chabuya, and Menya Musashi have food court ramen in department stores. It is weird, but that is how things work over here. Stand alone shops are very uncommon.

My good friend Take Suzuki actually helped produce quite a few of these shopping mall ramen shops. Finally, after a few years, he was able to branch off and open his own.

Great tonkotsu ramen in the heart of the city.

There is a big variety, with red, green, black, and white versions. I would recommend the white version, as good as you are used to back in Japan. Red is spicy, black garlicky, and green is a kind of Italian fusion thing.

The location is great. Almost on the banks of the Singapore River.

I’m not too knowledgeable about the geography of Singapore, but the riverside promenade that Suzuki is next to is three kilometers of bars. On both sides.

Like I said, great location. It is no wonder they are able to pack in around 300 bowls of ramen a day.