Ippudo Now in the Philippines - and Tuan Tuan Brasserie's BBQ Pork Buns

My favorite Ramen Chain is Ippudo. I first tried it from their branch in Mandarin Gallery on Orchard Road in Singapore which you can read about here, and they deliver consistent quality from what I've tried in Osaka, and in Hong Kong.

And now, they're finally open in Manila! OK, they've been open since last year,
but I don't really like lining up for restaurants, so I go when it's no longer new.

My favorite Ippudo order is Akamaru (Php390) with Tamago (Php420).
I think it tastes roughly the same no matter what country you order it from. 

We also ordered Karaka-men (Php 390) but I didn't like this one.
I found it extra-ordinarily oily and the spicy didn't really compliment
the over-all taste of the Ramen.

I'd say Ukkokei does Karaka Ramen much better. They even give you the Karaka sauce on the side (though a serving is quite pricey), so you can control how spicy you like your ramen. You can read all about it here.

I've noticed that Ippudo here seems to have more options in their
ala carte menu. Though we didn't try anything else.

An advantage of eating at Ippudo in Megamall is it is located right beside the newly opened Tuan Tuan Chinese Brasserie. I guess what you get when you mix Chinese and French concepts is a Chinese restaurant with servers in berets! Hahaha.

I haven't heard good things about Tuan Tuan, but a lot of people are raving about their BBQ Pork Buns, so we decided to order some to take away so we could eat it as a side dish to go with our Ramen. We actually saw another table in Ippudo who had the same idea.

An order of 3 pieces is only Php128.

Their BBQ Pork Buns look exactly like the Tim Ho Wan buns!

But I must say, I prefer the ones from Tuan Tuan. I think that their crust is
lighter (less bready) and the BBQ is less sweet (less sweet sauce, more meat).

You can read about my Tim Ho Wan Manila experience here. After eating at so many Tim Ho Wan branches, I think the BBQ Pork Buns are the best from their Sham Shui Po branch with the Michelin Star, you can read about that here. Everything else pales in comparison.

But back to Ippudo, the Manila branch can totally satisfy my Ippudo craving, with the added bonus of Tuan Tuan's BBQ Pork buns, it will definitely be on my list of places to eat in Megamall. But I don't think I'll ever be willing to stand in line to eat here. just saying.


Ippudo 
3F Mega Fashion Hall, SM Megamall
Ortigas, Pasig City
(02) 470 1837

TuanTuan Chinese Brasserie
3F Mega Fashion Hall, SM Megamall
Ortigas, Pasig City
(02) 570-9011