Keika Ramen at Ajisen Bugis in Singapore

I'm a dork; I marked my calendar again for this (although I'm not the only one...there were two gentlemen ahead of me ordering it this morning too). See, Keika Ramen is some very old Kumamoto-style ramen shop from that ran into financial difficulties a few years ago, and is now being helped by the folks at Ajisen. The Ajisen folks decided to bring it down to their Bugis Junction outlet in Singapore for a limited 100 bowl/day run this weekend, so I came down here at the opening hour to check it out.

I was totally puzzled upon my first slurp though. Did they forget to add salt? The broth was pretty bland; there was maybe a mild richness/sweetness from the pork and chicken blend...and even a bit of bitterness from that darkly roasted garlic there. But seriously, this was so inedible that I had to ask them if the kitchen forgot to add salt. They took it back and made me another one (puleeeeze I hope they didn't pull a Road Trip French toast scene on me!).

When my second bowl came it, it was marginally saltier, but still wasn't anything that I wanted to drink, even if the pork, noodles, and everything else in the bowl were fine. Strange. Well, if that's the way that it is supposed to be, then so be it (apparently the broth here *is* supposed to be a bit of an acquired taste), but I still can't help but wonder if the Ajisen folks just didn't prepare it correctly. No, I didn't finish the broth.