TAMPOPO

Just when you thought that we already have too many ramen houses in the metro, one more sprouts up challenging us hungry slurpers with their bowls of rich broth and noodles. But how could this new ramen joint be different from the numerous houses who claim to be the best at offering this bowl of heaven?

You'll always read the same things:

  BLANK simmers its broth for 50 million hours...

  BLANK gets its ingredients straight from the land of the rising sun itself...

  BLANK has food so good that diners don't care if it has a monster of a chef....

  BLANK is the most popular Ramen house in Japan!!!

 All BLANK and no BLANK makes BLANK a BLANK BLANK!

OOPS sorry... different movie. 

Well I am not really sure how TAMPOPO generally fares up compared to the other Ramen Houses that have already settled its brothy selves in the metro.  But I DO know that with one sip, I fell in love and there was no turning back.

I now present you with... TAMPOPO!

Oh please... do NOT even think of singing it with SHAGEDY SHAGEDY.... :P

TAMPOPO!

TAMPOPO is located at the new Promenade wing in Greenhills where a bevy of other restaurants have called home. 

But TAMPOPO is making raves as the new Ramen "jock" on the block! 

The restaurant hailed from Singapore and was brought to the country (oh I'm so thankful) by friends Chris Tiu, George Huang, and Ty Tang. 

Could you see me in this pic? Find Waldo... este Jazzo!

Here I am!!!

You wouldn't miss TAMPOPO with its one of a kind open setting in a restaurant. I initially thought that I would be uncomfortable with measly mall air conditioning but it was quite cool that I was needing a hug from somebody's big arms!

Legolas' maybe? Tee hee!

Sorry... I just saw the DESOLATION OF SMAUG!!! Ha ha ha ha ha!

I loved the faux food display of TAMPOPO! Truly a Japanese classic staple!

Now THIS is making us hungry! Time to order!

TAMPOPO meynuh one!

TAMPOPO meynuh 2

TAMPOPO meynuh 3.... 

TAMPOPO meynuh 4.... 

TAMPOPO meynuh 5... 

TAMPOPO meynuh 6... 

TAMPOPO meynuh 7... 

TAMPOPO meynuh 8

TAMPOPO founder.... 

... and his long lost son! 

Kidding! He he he he he!

TAMPOPO has ready condiments available per table. You get there chili flakes and oil, tonkatsu sauce and cabbage salad dressing. 

My husband and I ordered the TAMPOPO Koumi Fry Ramen (P460.00)! Their super flavorful milky broth was from the long simmering of pork bones for 2 days! 

I requested my noodles to be hard and/or cold but then server advised me that TAMPOPO uses special kyushu noodles which was naturally firm to the bite!!!

As much as I love meat, I'm more of a "noodles only" kind of gal for my Ramen. So lucky for my husband as he got my tasty fried pork ribs for his dinner!

He ordered TAMPOPO's Pork Chahan (P180.00)!

My Chinese Adonis said that he loved the flavors of the fried rice except that he was not really too keen on the strong taste of the mushrooms. 

Still, he was eager to wolf it all down in 1 minute!!!

Along with my TAMPOPO noodles, I ordered a serving of their flavored tasty egg (P50.00)!

I don't know why they don't call this as "tamago" but hey, I got a bite of this TAMPOPO egg and it WAS tasty!!! Tee hee!

In to my TAMPOPO ramen you go!

Don't you just love it when your forehead has a shadow from ordinary lighting?

I DON'T. 

Now ain't that so purrrty??? This TAMPOPO ramen was supposed to be spicy. Let's see how this fights up my  chili pepper loving tongue!

LET'S EAT!!!

Open wide...

There's that shadow again... tsk tsk tsk..... Why do I have to have such a high and mighty hairline? WHY?

At first sip and slurp, I was ecstatically IN. LOVE.

The broth was just jampacked with all the flavors that 2 days of simmering would bring. Though the red flakes added a special "kick" to the bowl, it just made everything MORE exciting!

According to the server, they don't use MSG to flavor their dishes. Now that's a major PLUS.

Plus the NOODLES. Wow. It was so perfectly firm and hard that I cannot stop raving about it to my hub. I kept on exclaiming that "It was sooo good... it was sooo good" that he thought I was implying something else.

Sorry my guy could become a bit of a pervert when nobody's looking. 

HA HA HA HA HA! Kidding.

When it was clear that I was referring to my lovely TAMPOPO ramen, he retreated back to his pork ribs and rice!

WHICH he thoroughly enjoyed as well!

OMIGERRRD... the PERFECT loveteam for the night!

My hub loved me enough to spare me the bone of the TAMPOPO fried ribs. Yup! 

He knows me too well as I instantly sucked the whole thing dry. 

In a restaurant, the little things matter to me. I truly appreciated that TAMPOPO servers gave us our own pitcher of water with lemon so that we don't need to bug them every 5 minutes to refill our glasses. He he he he he!

DONE!

Our bill!!!

After only a few days, we went back to TAMPOPO since I started craving their noodles again.

But this time, instead of a TAMPOPO tasty egg, I ordered their potato salad (P120.00) as my little extra.

Believe me, when THIS landed on our table I was surprised that it was such a great serving!!! You know how in a menu, the burger looks all juicy and big but what you get in reality is a small bun with a sliver of meat?

WELL... it WAS the opposite in TAMPOPO!

Because what I saw in their menu was this little small scoop.

What I got was a big bowl of the BEST potato salad I ever had!!! I LOVED IT SOO MUCH that I wanted to marry it! Ha ha ha ha ha1

OH IT WAS FRIGGIN GOOD! The TAMPOPO salad was very creamy with crunchy bits of onions, corn, and small cucumbers. It went perfectly well with the mashed up potato!!!

My hub still loved his fried pork ribs....

While I forgot the "no carb" diet and just dove in to my noodles and TAMPOPO salad!

ANOTHER perfect meal at TAMPOPO for ERICJAZ FOODIES!

We will DEFINITELY be back!! 

TAMPOPO

Ground Floor, Promenade 3 Greenhills Shopping Center, 

San Juan City

(+63) 917 854-7440

Check them out!!!

TAMPOPO WEBSITE!!! 

TAMPOPO FACEBOOK!!!!