I’ve had dry ramen before in Singapore, such as the super yummy Truffle Ramen at Kanshouku Ramen, but a place that serves specially just DRY RAMEN? That’s a first. What’s more it’s MAZESOBA!
Mazesoba? In Japan, Maze means MIX, and putting maze and soba together, it basically means a bowl of mazesoba would require you to mix your noodles, with its flavored oil and base all together! A soupless ramen!
Here are the instructions on how you should have your optimal bowl of mazesoba – MIX EVERYTHING FOR 20 SECONDS! From personal experience, don’t take too long for the photoshoot because the noodles get really clumpy and sticky quickly because it’s dry, making it more challenging for you to give it a solid mix! AND YES, ADD VINEGAR!
The Place
Kajiken joins the enclave of Japanese restaurants at Orchid Hotel on Tras Street. I’m beginning to lose count of how many ramen stalls are there in the area. It’s crazy.
It has a really small space – a few indoor seats, and a couple of tables outside. Not the best photo spot at night, and this usually brings a longggggg queue during peak hours. We went over at 8.30pm and waited for a good 20 minutes or so. Wow. 
I really like this chalk art on its wall though. Umm pardon the photo edit, the bowl is not smudged, but I was trying to clear up some stuff from the picture and did a bad job editing this. HAHA! SORRY.
The Menu
They have a variety of mazesoba, and the one which is recommended would be the Mazeoba Nagoya style! Take away options are also available which I thought would be a better idea if you don’t want to wait for a table!
The Food
1. Mazesoba Nagoya Style ($12.80 ++)
This is their specialty, the Japanese version of ZHA JIANG MIAN. HAHA! This consists of spicy minced pork, seaweed, chives and egg. While the ingredients sound rather meh and common, like what i initially thought, the mixture of everything came up to an extremely flavorful mix.
I really liked the texture of the noodles, and the crazy flavorful mix from the base and noodles and THAT egg of course. The additional textures from the minced pork and the chives elevated the entire dish, so much so that I was surprised I preferred this to the next bowl we had, even though I’m usually someone who LOVE my meat and protein.
2. Mazesoba with all toppings ($15.80++)
What I call an “ALL IN” mazesoba. This consists of their braised pork, charsiew, , deep fried chicken and EGG! Gosh look at that. I wish I had better picture quality but I had to make do with my phone. ): And there were a hell lot of shadows in the picture, so tons of editing has to be done to these pictures. HAHA!
This bowl required the addition of the chili oil and vinegar they provided as the base could get less flavorful than the Nagoya version that I had, but the variety of ingredients made up for it. I wish they had an option with the ALL IN and spicy minced pork. It’d be the ideal bowl for someone as greedy as me! HEHE! The braised pork was really tender and good though. Ah.
Also, if you’re someone who NEEDS soup with your ramen, Kajiken serves a refillable supply of SOUP in these small cups. 
Warm, comforting and mushroomy. Just like the way I love it. Gosh. I could have this soup all day. Hahaha!
Closing Remarks
Even though Kajiken might be the newest ramen kid on the block, the craze for their mazesoba looks like it would last for a long time. The bowls of ramen were flavorful and pretty affordable, and they provide a perfect alternative for people like me who are getting pretty bored of the usual ramens we have in the area.
Ever since I’ve started working, I’ve been eating SO MUCH MORE RAMEN than ever. And no worries, I’ll be sure to share them with all of you, as well as my lunch choices in the Tanjong Pagar, CBD area just to expand your repertoire of lunch choices! 😉 Kajiken is definitely one you should try!
How to get there?
Orchid Hotel #01-07,
1 Tras Link
Singapore 078867
Nearest MRT: Tanjong Pagar
Opening Hours
Monday to Saturday: 11.30am to 3.30pm; 6pm to 9.30pm
