Hokkaido-ya

The sides taste better than the main dish. To use 'Hokkaido' in a restaurant's name sets a high bar. Singaporeans go to Hokkaido so frequently that they can tell the difference between ramen from Osaka, Hokkaido, and Tokyo. They are currently running a free promotion: on weekends, if you buy a meal, you get a free chawanmushi. The chawanmushi has crab sticks and is delicious. 10/10. The miso soup is also delicious. 10/10. These are the sides that taste good. Now onto the reviews of the main dishes. The Chaysu ramen is a 6/10 at most. The broth is not satisfying enough and, to be fair, it is priced appropriately at $11.90. However, it does not taste remotely like the ramen found in Hokkaido. The second dish we ordered was pork katsu curry rice. The breading on the katsu is thin. The curry is Japanese curry, which mostly can't go wrong. I’ll rate it a 5.5/10. They need to improve the quality of the food to match Hokkaido’s standards, as many Singaporeans are well-traveled and know what Hokkaido cuisine tastes like. A suggestion to make it authentic is to include soup curry, which is a native Hokkaido dish.

No crowd despite it being a Sunday lunch. It's located near MRT Exit 1 (on the side that leads towards the outdoors). We ordered the pork belly rice set, ebi curry, and a croquette and egg as sides. The Ebi curry was decent. The batter was crispy and not overflowing with oil. The prawn was springy and juicy. The curry itself was not bad – sweet and spicy. The rice was bad though, very clumpy. However, you won't feel it because the amount of curry is generous, so we just ate it like porridge. The pork belly was very average and won't melt in your mouth. Give it a miss. The rice with this set was also very clumpy. The corn cream croquette had a crispy batter, and the cream was smooth. The Ajitsuke Tamago was $2.20 for one egg. The 7-Eleven one tastes better and offers more value for money, to be honest. It was quiet, spacious, and nice to dine at since there was no crowd, but I can't imagine the place surviving for long. All in all, the fried items were decent, but give the rest a miss. It felt like a private dining experience since you were almost the only one there. The place was also clean. Service was almost non-existent, as you order and pay via kiosk, collect your own food, and return your own tray. Staff will greet and bid you farewell, but that's about it.

The miso ramen plays it safe and lands somewhere in the middle. The soup has potential but lacks miso depth; the noodles are serviceable but marred by kansui bitterness; and while the chashu lifts things up, the overall experience feels like it’s missing soul. Functional, yes. Memorable? Not really. Read the full review on my blog.