Menya Sakura, a popular chain in Nagoya City, Japan, has opened its first outlet right here in Singapore. This comfortable 68-seater ramen house serves Nagoya-style ramen, sides and a humble variety of whisky and sake. Excluding Singapore, the group has 22 restaurants under its belt; 15 of which are in Japan and seven in Indonesia. This first Singaporean outpost is unpretentious and features minimalistic designs, wooden furniture, black wallpaper and white paper lanterns throughout the establishment to emulate typical downtown Japanese sake houses. The kitchen is helmed by chef Sho Naganuma, who used to cut his teeth as the executive chef at MBS’ Hide Yamamoto for five years.
On the menu are Nagoya-style ramen with selected meat and seafood broth, such as the Tonkotsu Ramen with pork bone soup simmered for 12 hours ($10.90) and the Chuka Soba with clear chicken soup and fish dashi ($10.90). Spicy offerings like Spicy Tonkotsu Ramen that consists of blended red chili ($11.90) and Spicy Tonkotsu Ramen Special with chashu and flavored egg ($14.90) are also available. Besides noodle dishes, they also serve dons in small portions like Japanese fried rice with chashu and soy sauce ($6.90) and truffle egg rice that’s made up of onsen egg, scallion, kombu and black truffle oil ($6.90). For sides, try their truffle edamame and gyoza (both $6.90).
On the drinks front, they have beers, whiskies and sakes like Suntory Premium Malt’s ($13), Suntory Kakubin ($120) and Yamagata Masamune Sakemirai ($12). For the non-alcoholic, they have green tea ($2), coca cola ($2) and mixed fruit juice ($4).
