Tampopo

I have officially survived the first week of school.

Although with two days of public holiday and only three and a half lessons, this doesn't quite qualify as an official school week. It still felt like a mini onstacle course, which I emerged with unnoticeable beyond skin deep traumistisations.

I do also forsee this course CAT (Computer as an analysis tool) to be my Archilles Heel for the semester. Lesson 1 was plain torturous- only the devil knows what lies ahead for the next two months and the textbook looks like it was conocted out of a madman's fantasy of Microsoft Excel Dreamworld. Two months down the road, I will probably grow bald not due to stress-related hair loss but rather, frustration-induced spontaneous tearing of hair.

For my Ethics course, when I first laid eyes on my professor, his pot belly and gregarious waistline seemed paradoxical next to his 1.5 litre bottle of coke light, which sat beside him like an old faithful companion. I have always known there was something fishy about the "zero calorie" claim...

Anyway enough about school, moving on to less depressing issues...

I think I know what Diana King meant when she sang, “I don't want no fly guy, I just want a shy guy” after it was the low key Tampopo at Liang Court that made my Friday night and end of a school week a little more memorable.

Worlds apart from chic-er competitors such as Sushi Tei and Kuriya, neither the interior design nor table settings require a stretch of your imagination- think traditional wooden tables and chairs, self-serviced chopsticks and condiments. However while the setting was ordinary, the food was anything but so.

One word, “Kurobuta“

It means “black pig” in Japanese and since Tampopo specializes in it, we had to try it out to see if it were worth the hype or justalotta hogwash (couldn’t resist). Service at Tampopo was quick, as within 8 minutes of our order taken, our steaming bowls of black pig shabu shabu ramen arrived.

Time for a Jessica Simpson moment: Gee, I didn’t know that kurobuta was white! [Insert Beethoven’s Symphony Number 5] Alright now, let’s try to restore the IQ level of this blog.



Sinewy but fatty stripes of pork and thin ramen noodles lay side by side, set in a warm bath of milky pork bone soup, with a dash of chili powder. How was it? Well, there exists no finer bowl of kotabura ramen. The ramen and pork stripes resembled loyal henchmen next to the incredible robust pork bone soup- result of a 2 day brew. Such pleasure it was, we had no qualms about ordering an extra portion of soup.


Get your Tasty Egg at just S$1.20 today!



The saba shioyaki above was expectedly good but lay almost forgotten beside our sashimi platter below. The sashimi platter mix consisted of fresh salmon, tuna, swordfish, prawn, octopus, cuttlefish and scallop. Each fold of thickly cut sashimi dipped in shoyu-wasabi made me glee with contentment in a very “world peace” sort of way. Would I ever get tired of fresh sashimi, say, “NAY-AY!”





Based on looks alone, the wafu beef diced steak wasn’t “wow”. Set on a bed of bean sprouts and heavy handedly sauced, the beef was lacking in smoky aroma but the texture was something altogether. Each cube squished-squshed in my mouth, working my jaw into a mild rhythmic workout.



But I will have to say the salt black pig katsu don (coated with himaraya pink salt) was absolutely INSANE! Here’s the trick- you have to eat the katsu in slow motion and please please please take a moment to consider the amalgamation of flavour and texture! Upon contact, your K9s would first crack the brittle crisp batter casing, tap into the thin fatty layer before sinking into the tender flesh. By now, your heart should be bursting with song and your idea of katsu don will hence be changed f-o-r-e-v-e-r. What's more, the nuggets of gratification rested on a chive and lemon zest topped vinegar rice, which added a unique refreshing twist.



One minor quibble was the time management of the dishes. We were two mouthfuls into our ramen when the sashimi arrived. While it didn’t seem right to set aside the ramen, we didn’t want to leave the sashimi out cold but mixing the two would only mask the freshness of the sashimi. Overall, it was hard to pick a favourite dish (though I am swinging in favour the the salt black pig katsu don), making this is the perfect first post for 2007!