Barely 3 days after we were at Aburiya, we drove down to Robertson Quay again yesterday for some Ramen.
I tell you this place is fast becoming our 2nd home =)) This time however, we skipped Miharu at Gallery Hotel for Ichibantei, another Ramen joint. A bigger one with none of the typical Japanese claustrophobia.
I'll be frank, Miharu has the better noodle texture, you know the
Al dente springy-ness of it all. But Ichibantei has the superior soup stock. Rich in its Miso-ness and yet not too salty. This is the spicy
Tan Tan ramen with minced pork that K had. The oh so yummy hard-on-the-outside-soft-on-the-inside egg comes as a separate side order.
I had the ChaShu (Japanese-speak for Charsiew, roast pork) Miso Ramen which was just as heavenly. Notice that I like it with lotsa chilli powder for that extra
oomph!
After lunch, we strolled over to The Chocolate Factory a couple of shops down the row. This is a very stylish boutique chocolate cafe cum mini-factory cum retail store that I would really reccommend to all chocoholics.
Owner/Chocolatier Laurent Bernard, who hails from Montpellier, France, runs the place with his Czech wife Yvetta, after having spent some time as a Pastry Chef with the Meritus Mandarin. According to Laurent, he sources his chocolate from a Cocoa plantation in Chuao, a remote 16th century village on the Carribean coast of Venezuela where he says, the best Cocoa beans on this planet are produced. How exotic! The chocolates on sale are hand-made everyday and kept in a special coldroom in-store at a steady temperature of about 16 degrees. After knowing all this, trust me you don't want to find out the price for a little bar of the dark good-stuff =))
Even though we were stuffed with Japanese noodles, we just had to try the Factory's Flourless Chocolate Cake. And my oh my, out of this world I tell you. The slice was very light (cos got no flour wat silly) and still the chocolate flavor came on so strongly and tastefully. Eaten with a slight dollop of whipped cream, the whole morsel just melts in your mouth in a chocolatey, bitter-sweet mess that will send you into a Cocoa-orgasm =))
So you see, that's why I had to go to the gym today. Terribles =))