Ramen gallery - Sake with Ramen? ...Thumbs up! - SAKEMARU - Artisan Sake Online Boutique+Subscription

This time, I would like to introduce pairing between sake and ramen. There is a ramen bar where you can enjoy taste of popular ramen from all over Japan, at the heart of lively night out area, Boat Quay. There is a wide variety of taste from a pork born ramen from Kurume, Fukuoka to Michelin bib gourmand selected tastes. According to the owner, there are many ramen bar changes their taste in Singapore to fit with local preference, but here they are serving ramen with same recipe as Japan. Recipe made with scientific approach, investigating each ramen bar for minimum three days to obtain numerical value of, time, temperature, saltiness, and so on. To maintain the same taste, all spices are imported from Japan by air.

This ramen bar is introducing Sake selected by the owner to match with ramen. This time, I tried Kaga Tobi from Ishikawa prefecture, and kudoki Jozu from Yamagata. Kaga Tobi has bland woody aroma, transparent taste, then sweetness and umami expand in mouth. Kudoki Jozu has an elegant bland sweet aroma, thick and profound sweetness expand later.

For a starter, I had a edamame and bamboo shoots. Bamboo shoots dip with sweet and spicy chili oil. Kudoki Jozu matches well with sweetness of chili, and make profound sweetness. Edamame has a good texture and Kaga Tobi make taste more fruity.

Gyoza has chewy skin, juicy and tender meat, with crispy base. Kudoki Jozu brings apple like sweetness, and Kaga Tobi brings first the bitterness then caramel like sweetness. For gyoza both Sake are equally good to go with.

To complete the pairing I had miso ramen from “Domiso” using five different miso paste for the soup, that owner said matches best with sake as both produced through fermentation process. Thick noodle absorbs the soup made with rich miso, five spice powder, pork bone, seafood. Corn, bean sprout and cabbage has entertaining texture. umami of miso and Kudoki Jozu melt together and become apple like taste. Kaga Tobi blend with umami of soup well also.