Kusabi Has Revamped Its Menu (Argh!)

I was walking through the Central on the way home from work the other day when I noticed that Kusabi had changed into a tendon shop called Ten Restaurant. "Oh no!," I thought, "Has one of my favorite shops in town finally shut down?" But I suspected that the Marina Square outlet was still open; after all, the staff at the tendon shop was still wearing those old black and white checkered Kusabi uniforms, so I presume that the owner merely changed the shop's focus. Fortunately, I was correct, as Kusabi was still at Marina Square.

But the story wasn't over yet. Upon sitting down at Marina Square, we found that they had revamped their menu. That uniquely fragrant kogashi ramen? Gone. That refreshing kasaneaji shio ramen? Gone. The huge jiro ramen? Also gone. Oh crap, this sounded just like the time Keisuke ditched their signature ebi ramen. And just like Keisuke, these guys also created a new tonkotsu-focused menu (not to mention a gimmicky DIY takoyaki), presumably in an attempt to appeal to a wider audience. Fortunately, the kickass gekikara uobushi survived the revamp.

I was thus a bit apprehensive about the new menu, but I gave in and tried the black tonkotsu ramen above, which came topped with some kind of a grilled onion paste or something. No, it wasn't like Keisuke's sansho-based black one, but it turned out to be a lot better than I was expecting, as it provided an earthy depth that motivated me to keep eating more. (Whew - what a relief!) While I'm definitely going to miss the old menu, I guess that they didn't have much choice but to make this move, as I hardly ever saw any other diners in there in the past. I wonder if it's because long names like marutoku uobushi tonkotsu shouyu ramen scared people away. It's too bad, because they brew some great tasting broths here.