Basketball star Chris Tiu opens a new business venture, the Tampopo restaurant located at Greenhills, San Juan.
Tampopo, co-owned by Tiu with partners George Huang, Kelvin Gaisano and TY Tang, is originally a ramen restaurant chain from Singapore created by one of the key players in the Japanese F&B industry, Takaaki Takagi.
The name Tampopo actually means "dandelion."
Chris Tiu said:
“It took a long time before we were able to convince Takagi to allow us to bring Tampopo to the Philippines,”
“It’s the restaurant’s first franchise outside the country, so Takagi was really hands-on. We all went on several visits to Singapore to sample different kinds of ramen at different restaurants, and we liked the taste at Tampopo best — we made sure, and Takagi made sure, that the food we serve here is consistent with the original recipe.”
So, what are we supposed to expect from Tampopo?
In a recent review from Philstar, a favorite among Singaporeans is Tampopo’s signature ramen dish, the Deluxe Tampopo Black Pig Shabu Ramen, which is double the fun because you get your ramen with a generous serving of tonkatsu on the side. The meat of the black pig is tasty, tender and juicy and it complements the taste of the ramen.
Exclusive to Tampopo are the Hokkaido noodles that are made of special Hokkaido flour from the north of Japan — the resulting ramen is savory, a bit spicy, but still with a clean taste. Its Kyushu ramen uses pure pork bone soup, which is boiled for two whole days! The taste is likewise clean and the flavor is just right, so that you can still taste the ingredients, not just the seasoning.
You can find Tampopo at the ground floor of Promenade 3, Greenhills, San Juan, with a second branch set to open soon at Bonifacio High Street Central, Taguig City.--(Image credits: Lady Iron Chef)