梅光軒 - Baikohken ramen

I knew I mentioned that I was going to post about White Dog Cafe (that mushroom soup place) today, but since I just got back from Baikohken, I thought I might as well post about that instead. The impression's still fresh in my mind and the ramen's still fresh in my stomach, after all. :)


A shot of the interior. I remember being really surprised at how small the place was; it was like one of those tiny little family-run restaurants you see in Japan - practically a little niche in the wall with 15-20 seats, max.

You can see Brudder looking very amused at being photographed. The little area in the background on the left's the little kitchen that they cook the ramen in; just behind Brudder you can see a little picture saying "namara umai", whatever that means.


Here's what I got - corn and butter miso ramen with added charshu! $13.50 for the ramen plus an additional $2 for the charshu. The menu's actually pretty limited, if I remember correctly, all they have is four different kinds of ramen - normal, corn and butter, charshu and vegetarian. The only other variety you get is the kind of soup your ramen comes with - shoyu (soya sauce), shio (salt) and miso. The only other things I remember being in the menu were gyoza (which I ordered to try), dry ramen, and various drinks, including the ubiquitous japanese beer.

Anyway, back to the ramen. The servings were huuuuuge. As in so huge that I had trouble walking after dinner. And all I had before that was rice for lunch ages ago. So don't go unless you have a really empty stomach - don't say I didn't warn you. The soup was pretty good too, not as salty as some ramen I've tried. And the charshu was, to quote Brudder, godly. Imagine really thick and tasty slices on melt-in-the-mouth goodness. It was so good I almost regretted not getting the charshu ramen instead (which comes with twice the amount of charshu(!!)).


I also ordered gyoza since I wanted to see what high-class gyoza was like. Answer: Almost like normal gyoza except crispier and more garlicky. Not really worth the $5 tag for it (as Brudder said, $1 a gyoza is the reason why he doesn't normally order it whenever he goes for ramen).

In general, Baikohken is a place to which I'd go again - I've even decided what to try the next time I go (shoyu charshu ramen)! Try to go on an empty stomach, and remember to order ramen with charshu!

The service was of the typically-fantastic Japanese kind, but the place isn't air-conditioned, so you might want to avoid it on a hot day. Thankfully, they also serve a free-flow cold mugicha (麦茶 - roasted barley tea), which helps wash everything down nicely. Ramen costs from $13-15, depending on which you order, so be prepared to spend around that amount, with perhaps a couple of dollars extra if you decide to add toppings or share gyoza with a friend.

Baikohken ramen
7 North Canal Road

An appetiser

Right. I think this blog has been stagnant for long enough. That, and the pictures have been accumulating nonstop for ages now.

So what I'll be doing will be trying my utmost best to post at least one place per day over the next few days until I've covered my backlog before I forget everything bout the places I've gone to. Brief posts for now, and perhaps more detailed ones as time goes by. :)

So let's start with the long-awaited Outback Steak House:


This is an onion thingy that they're apparently famous for. Imagine this huge oily crispy onion ringy thingy that comes with a dipping sauce. I didn't touch it that time round due to a horrible sore throat I had on the day, but it looked the same as always - good, yet ever so sinful. I think it was under $10, which is pretty decent for an appetiser that the whole table can share.


The very same onion after it was attacked by six very hungry diners. :) (not including one somewhat-sad diner with a sore throat who was trying not to drool over it)


This was what I had - Salmon. Was the only practical thing on the menu due to my horrible throat - everything else was either crispy or served with fries. Not exactly the kind of thing you go to a steakhouse for. But then again, it was during Lent and I was abstaining, so it was the only thing I could've gotten, anyway.

I remember it as being pretty good, a really juicy piece of salmon for a pretty decent price of 20-ish dollars. Don't ask me about the veg. Not a terribly hot fan of boiled stuff, so it ended up on the plates of the girls.


What Jacq had - I managed to take a quick shot of it as she was directly opposite me. Notice all the blood, ugh. I'm not really a fan of stuff that looks vaguely alive, but according to her it was really nice and juicy. 20-30ish as well, I think. Oh, and it came with this really interesting-looking mashed potatoes that we thought was ice-cream at first. It had bits of potato skin in it, which was a very unique way of presenting a very otherwise-normal dish.


And finally, one thing that really amused us was the way they served their (free) bread - it was literally skewered by this huge knife and served on a wooden cutting board. Can't really remember much, aside from the butter being really light and fluffy! I heard some people go there just for the bread... Not me, though. I go for the onion that I can't eat due to a sore throat. *grumble*

All in all, it was a pretty good (and typical) night at Outback. Good if you like typical western food, and I guess I should mention that they serve a really mean chicken. I can't remember what it was called, but I seem to recall quite a few people having it that night. I should prolly go there again to try it out.



Tomorrow: French toast at this HK Cafe opposite Novena and possibly mushroom soup at this place whose name I've forgotten (if I have the time!).