Kansi + Batwan Make a Luxurious Ramen at Mugen Ramenya X Chef Raul Forés Collab

(SPOT.ph) Don’t judge it ‘til you taste it: Chef Jorge Mendez’s Mugen Ramenya in Maginhawa has a ramen that has batwan foam and Kansi beef broth. But the star of its first collaboration with Raul Forés’ B.boi, called Gyukai Batwan Ramen (P980), looks more like a bowl of rich laksa and tastes like, well, ramen—a delicious, creamy one. With the batwan acting less like souring agent but more an element that brings brightness to the dish, bringing balance to everything, quietly making sure you’ll be slurping to the very last spoonful.

The fact that there’s seafood, too, in the beef broth only makes this limited edition ramen an even more irresistible proposition, apart from the braised slices of langka and the seared Wagyu beef with crisp edges on top of the noodles. There’s so much going on here but in a very, very good way. “Mugen,” after all, means limitless, so this fits right in with the ramen bar’s philosophy—it completely makes you reimagine not only ramen in a bold new way but also the Negrense dish kansi and the batwan in terms of what they can do.

Mendez and Forés have also reimagined the chahan with its Kuro Chanan with Crab and Ikura—a garlic squid ink rice with fresh crab meat, nori shoyu and ikura. If you think you’re good with just 7 grams of the red caviar, your chahan will only amount to P680; it you want more ikura, the 15g option is at P820. Either way, you'll enjoy it. And yes, this chahan tastes as good as you imagine it. But will you still order one even after you’ve downed an entire ramen bowl? People who go to Mugen, one of the staff tells us, usually go all the way. They will order a ramen and order a chahan for a meal because, well, they already lined up anyway and want only to make their wait sulit.

The two chefs need almost no introduction if you’re familiar with the local dining scene. Mendez, Spot’s Chef of the Year in 2024, is the man behind the very popular Some Thai, and the excellent tasting menu restaurant Modan. Meanwhile, Forés has been quietly creating wonderful dishes at his Made Nice and now for B.boi where he makes “comfort food without borders.” He brings in the warmth, instinctive, casual approach to the discipline and rituals of ramen-making at Mugen.

The limited-run collab menu—which runs May 7 to 31–also features a dessert, the Mango Sorbet with Chocolate Mochi (P180), which is made up of three things: mango bars and cholocate mochi at the bottom and a big scoop of ripe mango ice cream on top. Another way to cool down after waiting in line outside is the Raul Mendez, the chef duo’s version of the Arnold Palmer, a combination of iced tea and lemonade, this time using Mendez’s house iced tea at Mugen and Forés’ Squizz Lemonade at B.boi.

The Mugen Ramenya x B.boi collab will be available from May 7 to 31 at Mugen Ramenya, 108-B Maginhawa Street, Diliman, Quezon City. Open daily from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m.