For a very long time the section of Pavilion KL on the 6th floor right above Harvey Norman was sealed off for renovation. The site is now reopened to public in a pretty radical transformation that is Tokyo Street, with 32 new outlets of Japanese themed products and services.
Tokyo Street at Pavilion KL
With this, I think Pavilion has successfully beefed up the previously lackluster 6th floor. It now at least sits on even keel with the dining options at basement, albeit catering to a slightly higher market.
One of the new restaurants at Tokyo Street is none other than Hokkaido Santouka Ramen, the famous ramen chain hailed from Hokkaido and was previously only available closest to us in Singapore. I had it there a couple years ago and at the time. It was a … “life changing” experience that left me wondering why we don’t have them here.
Well, now it is here, so I just had to check it out.
Santouka Ramen, now in Pavilion KL’s Tokyo Street
I guess I was not alone, there seems to be quite a lot of people who are dying to get a taste of Santouka’s famous ramen. Over lunch time, the line just for getting into the restaurant can be quite daunting.
As of 2nd August, 2011, Santouka was still operating with limited menu, but the dishes that I was eyeing was there – the pork ramen, of course.
pork ramen with salt (left) & miso (right) pork broth
There were four types of pork ramen with different broth (all pork base) – shio ramen (salt flavor), shoyu ramen (soya sauce flavor), miso ramen (soyabean flavor), kara-miso ramen (spicy soybean paste flavor).
The ramen comes in 3 sizes, S, M, and L. We were advised to pick M size since it was only RM 2-3 more at RM 25 and comes with 2 pieces of pork instead of one. Not too sure if L size comes with even more pork, hmmm…
check out the pork, the ramen, and of course, naruto
I had the classic shio ramen that came with the sliced pork (not chasiu), bamboo shoots, leek, narutomaki, and ramen noodle soaked in the salt flavored pork broth. There’s also a sprinkle of sesame seeds, and that is all, no eggs, no fried garlic, or any other condiments.
The verdict – wow, the soup, and the pork, they were superb! I probably still favors the hand made noodle from Ton Chan at Wisma Cosway just across the road, and kinda miss the fried garlic and egg at Marutama, Fahrenheit 88 (also just across the road), but as far as soup goes, Santouka takes the crown for me right now, though I would still continue to visit the other two outlets.
The more choices the better. Bukit Bintang area now has at least 3 pork ramen places within a stone’s throw away from each other.
KY & Sheng at Santouka Ramen, Pavilion KL
Note: I was wrongly given only 1 piece of sliced pork for my M size ramen, but upon notifying the waiter, I was given 2 replacement pork instead! Service – *like*!
Address:
Hokkaido Santouka Ramen
6.24.03, Level 6, Pavilion
Jln Bukit Bintang
Kuala Lumpur
GPS:Â 3.148872, 101.713368
when will their famous pork cheek charsiu become available? wheeeeeennnn? 😀
Sean: argh can’t wait!
My mom loves this place. 😉
Michelle: that makes at least… 2 of us! 😀
Always good to see great pork broth ramen. 😀
I passed by Tokyo Street the other day but didn’t have time to go in and eat.
Huai Bin: give it a try next time then 😀
Didn’t even notice the existence of Tokyo Street until after reading posts on this ramen shop. Cafe Takahashi will be opening there as well, if I am not mistaken. A branch from Ipoh.
J2Kfm: yeap cafe takahashi is there. 😉
Like Sean…need to taste their pork cheek ramen….WHENNNNNNNN? 😆
ulric: WHENNNNNN!?!?!??!
if only we have a bowl of ramen combination of hokkaido’s soup + fahrenheit’s egg + ton chan’s noodle = perfect bowl of ramen
connie: that suggestion reminds me of cooking cintan mee with maggie soup. lol
eeeeeeeee…
connie: try it ok! very nice wan. hahah
Always full when I go…damn ! Next time must ask the owner (my friend) to reserve and hopefully extra piece of pork !!!
Va_d3r: hahaha, so nice! go before 12 la empty wan. 😀
I can’t wait to try Suki-Ya, japanese sukiyaki steamboat!
JD: oOo, I shall do that soon too 😀
wahhh you so fast!!
eiling: haha walking distance from my office maaa
i just tried d… thumbs up to the shio ramen! tq for recommending.. noodle wise, marutama wins though
connie: my pleasure 😉
Read in CNN the owner is a disciple of of the renowned Ippudo international chain. Tried it today. Honestly I prefer my shin ram yun with slice pork.
Siew: ooo interesting.
i love the miso base soup ..the chars n ESP the ramen! The 1st time I had it was in spore..absolute delicious 😉 Now dunt have to travel that far anymore..
cheryl: haha true that, awesome food right here!
oh wow ! i’ve been wanting to try the santouka ramen in malaysia !
i’m living in canada atm and we have a santouka ramen here too ♥//
but i’m a bit surprised though because the santouka ramen here only comes in two sizes (Small and Large and it’s only a dollar more for a large size, which btw, is quite large ! ) and both sizes have at least 3 pieces of big charsiu/pork in em’
but nonetheless, when i come back to malaysia for a holiday, i’ll definitely come here if i feel like eating ramen ♥ thanks for your review ! i absolutely love santouka ! ♥ ♥ ♥
aika: I hope you’ll love it!
Pingback:KY eats – Hokkaido Ichiba Japanese Restaurant | KYspeaks
This is nothing if compared to Musashi Ramen @ Isetan 1U.
pei: ooo will try it one of these days, got porkk? 😛