Lunch at Kichitora

Yes another ramen restaurant has joined the ramen craze in Manila. Even though I’ve often said I’m not a big ramen fan I decided to try Kichitora at SM Megamall just for my dear readers.

Kichitora is located at the 2nd level of the atrium right across Yabu.

This is the first branch of Kichitora outside of Japan.

Kichitora means lucky tiger that’s why their decor features tigers on the walls. That’s the young owner, Larson Chan, in the picture below.

Even their bathroom had tiger stripes tiles. rowr.

Their kitchen is manned by at least 1 of 3 rotating Japanese chefs who come to Manila.

I liked their lightweight acrylic water glass.

Three of us intentionally ordered different kinds of ramen so we could try more varieties. I liked Elisa’s order of the more traditional miso ramen with a touch of spice and a drizzle of ma yu or black garlic oil which added a unique aroma and flavor.

You can request the level of heat for this ramen. The soup was very rich and flavorful. The noodles were really al dente even though we forgot to request if to be katamen (very firm).

special miso chasu ramen with ma oil (ma yu) P395

Kit ordered the tsukumen which he really loved since it was his first time to try ramen with a separate dipping sauce. I tried it and it was good but I liked Mitsuyado Sei-Men’s version better.

spicy ma bo tofu with pork tsukumen P395

Since I had a cold and cough at the time I ordered the chicken soup based ramen. The soup was like concentrated chicken soup and was very soothing for me. It tasted like true comfort food. I just found the soup a tad sweet. I later learned they topped the soup with a dash of sugar. Next time I will request them to skip the sugar. I did love the super tender chicken breast in my ramen. I only eat white meat so it was a treat for me to eat chicken breast cooked perfectly.

Larson, the owner, explained to me the this soup has a shoyu (soy sauce) base that’s why I could taste some sweetness. He told me they will be having paitan shio (salt) soup soon.

I noticed that towards the end my noodles were already soft. Larson said in Japan they normally eat a whole bowl of ramen in 5 minutes or less to avoid the noodles getting soft. So remember to eat your ramen faster to enjoy the noodles at their best texture.

paitan chicken ramen P360

The gyouza was just ok. Not bad but nothing fantastic either.

They only had two desserts to choose from and the word matcha literally jumped out of the menu. I simply loved the distinct coconut flavor of the soft, silky tofu. It tasted more like panna cotta than tofu. There wasn’t much matcha flavor but I didn’t mind since the coconut tofu more than made up for it.

coconut tofu with matcha & azuki P150

Kichitora is definitely in the game for the ramen competition of which store will last the longest in Manila. They have a strong product and will be a tough competitor. Try it out and let me know which is your favorite ramen.

Kichitora menu (click to enlarge)

Kichitora
2nd Floor, Mega Atrium, SM Megamall, Mandaluyong, Philippines
telephone: (02) 451-2218
Facebook

Hours:
Mon – Thu: 10:00 am – 9:00 pm
Fri – Sat: 10:00 am – 10:00 pm
Sun: 10:00 am – 9:00 pm