Broth Bowl

Got to know about the opening of Broth Bowl when we had happened to pass by the establishment whilst going past the Tanjong Pagar area. Located within Onze, Broth Bowl takes over the former premises of the now-defunct Beef Sukiyaki Don Keisuke there. Being situated in a shop unit in a corner of the building, Broth Bowl should be relatively easy to spot considering how the shop unit does come with a dual frontage — one side of the shop unit faces towards Kee Seng Street, whilst the other side would be the entrance facing the walkways within the building itself. Broth Bowl had done quite a bit of work to the entire space — considering how they are a quick service restaurant, they had shifted the counter away towards the right of the another space which leads further into the food preparation area. What used to be the food preparation and counter seating for Beef Sukiyaki Don Keisuke is now dedicated to dine-in seating; there are seven (7) dine-in tables within Broth Bowl comprising a mix of two-seaters and four-seaters — the entire interior space also being decked simply and stylishly with the use of wooden accents amidst white walls and white surfaces which we found to be pretty zen despite being fairly compact. As the namesake of the establishment suggests, Broth Bowl is a dining establishment that focuses on its collagen broth offerings — the collagen broths are being sold in sets alongside a protein, a staple and greens of the patron’s choice. Broth Bowl also does serve up a small selection of Add-Ons, while they also have a limited variety of menu items on its Breakfast section of the menu that is available from 7:30am to 10am.

Being primarily a quick service restaurant at heart, Broth Bowl serves up its dishes in disposable ware even for dine-in patrons — orders for their collagen broth sets are served in dual-tier bowls where the top layer is where one will be able to find the choice of protein, staple and greens opted to go along with the collagen broth; the collagen broth sits within the layer of the bowl that is beneath the top layer. Going for their most conventional broth offering, we found ourselves going for the Pork Miso Tonkotsu Set; the choices of proteins that one can opt for with the Pork Miso Tonkotsu Set would include that of the Black Garlic Pork or the Pork Tonkatsu — our choice being the former. Between the Short Grain & Brown Rice, Ramen Noodles and Inaniwa Style Thin Udon that Broth Bowl offers for the Staples do go along with the collagen broth sets, we gravitated towards the Inaniwa Style Thin Udon whilst we opted for the Roasted Broccoli for our choice of Greens. We were told to have that the dish is best to be enjoyed with the proteins and greens on their own, whilst we can add the staples into the broth — this is especially considering how the proteins and greens already comes with its own flavours.

Broth Bowl describes their Pork Miso Tonkotsu to come with pork collagen broth, Miso and Dashi — it does seem that the folks at Broth Bowl had decided to opt for a lighter note for their Pork Miso Tonkotsu since this doesn’t really come with that rich, creamy and at times, even sticky collagen-rich broth that one would sometimes associate with ramen dishes featuring Tonkotsu broth. Here, the lighter notes of the Tonkotsu broth are well-balanced and further enhanced with the addition of Miso that gives it a bean-y, earthier finish that we found not to be jelak to say the least. The Black Garlic Pork does feel like it sits in the middle of being the Chinese-style Char Siew and braised pork; the soy-braised pork belly does come tender and juicy — coming with a gelatinous texture from the fatty parts, all that without any undesirable porky stench considering how it has already absorbed all of the flavours of whatever it has been marinated with. There is a slight sweetness amidst the deep and rich savouriness — well-complimented by the slightly nutty and roasty notes of the black garlic sauce that went over it. The Roasted Broccoli is pretty much charred broccoli florets that come with slight crisp and smoky ends; easily a crowd favourite on its own and definitely not something that is conceptually new given how many times we had come across such an item — the version at Broth Bowl does come with fried garlic and Kombu crumbs that add another dimension of savouriness and crunchiness to the broccoli. The Inaniwa Style Thin Udon requires a top-up of $1.50 to the base price of the collagen broth set that one opts for — works especially well with the broth considering how smooth and slurpy it is. We were also surprised with the generous serving of udon that came with our order.

During our visit to Broth Bowl, we had also decided to go for the Spanish Omelette which was an item listed in the Add-Ons section of the menu — the menu describes the Spanish Omelette to come with elements such as Potato, Carrot, Broccoli, Purple Sweet Potato, Egg and Kombu Crumb. Inspired by the Spanish Tortilla, the Spanish Omelette is Broth Bowl’s twist to the Spanish omelette that typically features elements such as potatoes apart from the eggs — we would liken the Spanish Omelette at Broth Bowl to be more like a quiche with the main egg layer coming with florets of broccoli within; the omelette also being layered with different root vegetables such as the carrot and purple sweet potato that will replicate the textures of potato, but providing a different dimension of sweetness and a vibrant aesthetic to the dish. It comes topped off with the same Kombu crumbs that came along with the Roasted Broccoli that provided a savoury note, whilst the light drizzling of mayonnaise helps to further gel all of the elements together.

Overall, Broth Bowl does seem to be an establishment that seems to be focused around serving up hearty and wholesome fare that speaks to the soul. While its offerings might come across as simple to some, it does seem that these folks had placed a lot of emphasis in the details — the end product being one that is easy to the stomach yet big on flavours; one that is also surprisingly filling given how well-portioned it is for the price. Base prices of the collagen broth sets at Broth Bowl range between $11.90 to $12.90 — a rather reasonable price considering how other similar dining establishments in the Central Business District. Pretty interested to give their more unique collagen broths such as the Chicken Soy Milk and Golden Chick Squash a go some time soon — definitely things that we would crave for especially given the monsoon season these days!