Now this is why the brand Menya Musashi is worth a try if you love ramen like I do!
1) Price - In term of pricing, Menya Musashi is reasonably priced given that their branches are in popular malls like Orchard Ion and VivoCity. A chashu ramen is $12.90. Add a $3 buck and you get to choose a delicious side like marinated mini octopus, gyoza, etc, to complete the meal.
2) Variety - if you like variety in your ramen, Menya Musashi did a good job. Your ramen comes in your preferred base of "red" - spicy, "black" - garlic or "white" - normal. And besides this, the menu gives you options of different types of ramen beside the chashu which I like. Something worth mentioning is this special dry style ramen which you can opt up to FIVE freaking times the noodle portion. That's right, FIVE FREAKING TIMES, and all at the same price. It's a style of ramen whereby the soup base and ramen are served separately & eaters dip the ramen into the bowl of soup/gravy to soak up the sauce. I think it's good for very hungry customers. I haven't know of any friends being able to finish the mega portion though.
Menya Musashi also comes up with seasonal special to surprise customers. I'd recently tried their Tom Yum dry ramen. It's not bad, just that I think I prefer soupy ramen. ;-P
Anyway, this is what a red chashu ramen looks like:
3) Locations - The brand has sprouted in quite a few places since it's flagship in Singapore at Raffles City. The latest opening should be at the new mall - Westgate. The other locations are Star Vista, Vivocity, Thomson Plaza, Bedok Mall, and Ion Orchard. My guess is they will continue to expand as the franchise is under a rich boss that runs other popular Japanese eateries in Singapore.
4) Customer friendly - okay I don't really know how to coin this so "customer friendly" is perhaps appropriate. The restaurant provides disposable chopsticks and paper towels on your table - something not every restaurant does. It's perfect because sometimes (we all do) you drop your chopsticks in restaurants and you need a spare, or some noob waiters/waitresses serve you food without cutlery, or you accidentally smeared sauces on your face and need an emergency wipe and you are the kind who is too lazy to bring your own tissue. Heck, the restaurant even put a note that says they serve customers bibs upon request - that's right - bibs. In case you don't know, definition of a bib is: A bib is a garment worn hanging from the neck on the chest to protect clothing from spilling. I have never actually saw any customers with a bib on but hey - it's perfect for damn messy eaters, or if you have a $200 pristine white shirt on and any spill is gonna set you back by a bomb to clean, or if you have damn messy kids eaters, or if you just wanna be funny to take some selfies of you acting like a kid.
Another important customer friendly point - ramen are served with the onsen egg and seaweed as pictured. Some local restaurants charges you $3 for an egg or seaweed. That is freaking daylight robbery loh. Every time I see a menu which I have to pay separately for the onsen egg, it irks and pains me. Because that means the ramen will cost over $20 sometimes. Again - freaking daylight robbery feel.
I think in a competitive world, some details like these do matters, and it matters to me. So I say - keep it up Menya Musashi! It sets you apart from the rest.
Now good things aside, I will be frank about 2 factors that may bother you (a little).
1) Consistency - this bothers me a lot. There were occasional inconsistency in the soup base. I know. Because I eat often. Period. It irks me when food are served different from my expectations. I suspect the occasional slip may be due to factors like new cooks. I stated "occasional", not always. So good luck. Didn't stop me from going back.
2) Staff - I have nothing against hiring of foreign talent. But I believe in hiring foreign talent who can speak good English and understand your orders, and whom you can also understand when they speak. I think staff training is required in some branches. Not a big issue once you confirmed they got your right order.
Well, I hope my review is useful to you somehow. Here's a parting shot of me camwhoring with my ramen. LOL.
Maybe they should pay me for the raving! Haha.