The ramen craze in Singapore continues with the launch of a slew of Japanese noodle eateries around town. Jumping on the bandwagon is Keisuke Tokyo - which opened its first overseas venture in Singapore two months ago at Millenia Walk’s new Parco departmental store. First launched in Tokyo in 2005, Keisuke Tokyo has since expanded to eight outlets in Japan serving over 3000 bowls of ramen daily.

Instead of classic soup bases like shio, miso or shoyu, diners can to try something different here – ebi or prawn-based stock, a creation of celebrity ramen chef Keisuke Takeda. Trained in classic French cuisine, Takeda is known for his unusual flair of infusing creative elements into traditional Japanese ramen. In fact, prized amaebi (sweet prawns) are used for the soup thanks to its delicate flavour. According to Takeda, who is said to have revolutionised the Tokyo ramen scene with his unconventional flavours, it takes 3000 amaebi prawn heads to make enough soup for 200 bowls of ramen. He says: “There are no rules when it comes to ramen.” The chef concentrates fully on what goes into the “one bowl” of noodles. He believes he can be creative with ramen and is most happy when seeing diners enjoy his noodles. He also customised the cutleries and utensils such as the diagonally-cut bowls to enhance the aroma of the ebi ramen when served as well as the hexagon-shaped chopsticks and oversized soup spoon for easy consumption. Noodles-wise, the chef is working in collaboration with a Singapore-based ramen factory originally from Tokyo. The noodles are freshly made using premium ingredients flown in from Japan. Takeda uses a variety of these noodles for his dishes – curly ramen for clear soup; medium-sized ramen for ebi-based soup and thick ramen for the richer, more intense crab stock.  When the chef devises a recipe, he first creates the soup and then find the best noodle to match.The ebi ramen ajitama-iri (prawn stock ramen) topped with flavoured egg, orange peel and spring onions is hearty and comforting. Apart from the perfectly springy noodles, a highlight for many is the egg which is soaked in soy sauce for one and a half days before being cooked. The yolk is semi-soft and incredibly flavourful.

You can also try the sio ramen or original chicken stock ramen (original) – which is rather light but just as tasty as the prawn version. For the Singapore market, the chef created the spicy ebi miso ramen which has a welcome spice kick. This July, look out for his new creation – crab ramen bathed in a robust stock made of flower crabs.  If you want to share other dishes, there are other non-noodle items to be had, such as ebi-chahan (prawn fried rice), ebi gyoza (pan-fried prawn dumpling) and tori karaage (deep-fried chicken). 9 Raffles Boulevard, #P3-02 Millenia Walk. Tel: 6337 7919, 11.30am to 10pm, Monday to Friday, 11am to 10pm, Saturday and Sunday (last order 9.45pm)

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