I have tried the Ajisen Ramen in Shanghai recently and it taste
much better than those in Singapore. The place is near Xu Jia Hui
subway station, within a block radius there are 3 Ajisen Ramen
branches located in the shopping centres. Getting a sit during
dining hours requires a long queue and next to impossible if its
on a weekend. The ambience in the restaurant is good, the foods hot
and filling and its seems that more branched are popping up all
over the city.
But why is Ajisen Ramen Singapore so empty during dinner time?
Well, I went to one recently and found out. To start off with, the
menu compare between Singapore and Shanghai are different. If you
log onto the Hong Kong /China Ajisen webpage you will find that the
meals serve are more appealing than compare with Singapore. Apart
from the main dish, even the side dish has more variety and more
appeal.
If you ordered a fried cutlet ramen in Shanghai, you will find the
fried cutlet served on a separated plate, where as in Singapore its
soak and dunked in their soup and none of the crispiness will reach
you.
But what is unforgiving is the utensils, I virtually have to
knuckle my face every time I want to drink a spoon of soup, not to
mentioned for those who wear spectacles. The handle for the ladle
is in such an awkward angle that drinking soup with the spoon
requires either you have a small hand, face or both.
Furthermore the soup taste different from that of Shanghai, the
Singapore Ajisen soup lacks kick and the Oomph factor is not there.
Bland would be a suitable word. If you are selling Ramen, Soup,
definitely would be your core product, if not your main selling
point. What I can say is I feel sorry for such a great product, has
been let down by the local franchise.