Menya Horikawa - Japanese Dry Ramen (Woodleigh Village Hawker Centre)

There has been some talk about a new dining establishment that serves up Mazesoba within a hawker centre — Menya-Horikawa Japanese Dry Noodle is a fairly new stall that had found home within Woodleigh Village Hawker Centre; for those who have yet to hear about the said hawker centre, this would be within the same vicinity as The Woodleigh Mall / The Woodleigh Residences / Woodleigh MRT Station / Woodleigh Bus Interchange. Whilst this hawker centre can still be described as a fairly new one, there has been some switch up in the operators for some of the stalls located there recently — Menya-Horikawa Japanese Dry Noodle takes up one of the stalls situated in the middle of the compound; itself taking up a space behind one of the kiosks that is occupied by the drinks stall behind it. Menya-Horikawa Japanese Dry Noodle should be fairly easy to spot considering how the stall still faces one of the main aisles that patrons would be walking through within the food centre; the signboard does come with Japanese characters that definitely stand out from most hawker stalls in Woodleigh Village Hawker Centre or elsewhere. There is no surprise that Menya-Horikawa Japanese Dry Noodle serves up a Japanese Dry Noodle (otherwise also known as Mazesoba) menu — most of its Mazesoba offerings does come spicy, though there are two (2) items listed that come non-spicy; these being the Dry Ramen and the Seafood Dry Ramen. Menya-Horikawa Japanese Dry Noodle does also serve up a fairly limited variety of side dishes; side dishes being listed on the menu would include Cold Tofu / Spicy Cold Tofu, Boiled Dumpling with Ponzu Sauce and Edamame.

It does seem like the signature offering at Menya-Horikawa Japanese Dry Noodle would be their Spicy Dry Ramen (Mazesoba); it is interesting to note that Menya-Horikawa Japanese Dry Noodle serves up all of their Japanese Dry Noodle offerings in two (2) different sizes — the Regular and the Large. Our order of the Spicy Dry Ramen (Mazesoba) was for the regular size. Menya-Horikawa Japanese Dry Noodle does not describe the elements that comes with their dishes listed on the menu; that being said, it can be observed from our order of the Spicy Dry Ramen (Mazesoba) — Regular that the dish does come with minced pork that seems to have been seasoned with a little bit of Japanese chili powder, shreds of Nori, spring onions and a sous-vide egg. Just like the variants of the Mazesoba that is being served in Mazesoba specialty restaurants around the island, the Spicy Dry Ramen (Mazesoba) — Regular comes with thick ramen noodles, whilst a pool of chili oil sits beneath everything that is waiting to be mixed with all the elements in the bowl.

Giving the noodles and the other elements a little bit of a toss, we already liked how the sous-vide egg came with a molten egg yolk that oozes as one pokes it with the chopsticks; the broken egg provided a lot more depth to the flavours of the chili oil and allows the chili oil to better cling onto the noodles and minced meat. The rendition of the Mazesoba at Menya-Horikawa Japanese Dry Noodle can be compared to that of those served at restaurants — the thick ramen noodles provided a bit of a bite much like pasta that is done al-dente; all that whilst the chili oil and broken sous-vide egg clinging onto the strands of noodles with bits of seaweed and spring onions coming along. This ends up with a crisp bite that was all savoury, umami and spicy. Considering how some of the minced meat does also cling onto the noodles, the minced meat does provide a bit of a meaty note that is coupled with that of the chili oil and broken sous-vide egg which removes much of the undesirable porky stench that one may expect with minced pork. One thing to note about the Spicy Dry Ramen (Mazesoba) at Menya-Horikawa Japanese Dry Noodle would probably be the level of spiciness of the chili oil that they had included — these folks certainly went all out with it considering how the dish does tickle the tastebuds even for those whom are tolerable to moderate levels of spiciness, with the level of spiciness of the dish building up as one digs further into the bowl especially given how the addition of the sous-vide egg will provide a “thicker” flavour in general.

With their Japanese Dry Noodle offerings being priced from $6.90 to $10.90, Menya-Horikawa Japanese Dry Noodle does indeed hold up well to their intention of serving up restaurant-worthy Mazesoba at heartland-friendly prices — we are certainly most interesting to give their Spicy Curry Dry Ramen a go if we ever drop by Menya-Horikawa Japanese Dry Noodle again; definitely a spot worthy to consider dining at if one is to find themselves in Woodleigh Village Hawker Centre.