Pretty soon, ramen restaurants may outnumber breweries in America's Finest City! Heading into the brand new, 2,800-square-foot, free-standing building at 815 University Avenue that was previously slated to become a second area Jinya location in San Diego's Hillcrest neighborhood is Ramen Ryoma, an Oregon-based Japanese eatery specializing in hand-massaged ramen noodle soups.
The flagship Ramen Ryoma opened in the Beaverton suburb of Portland, Oregon in July 2016 with a concise menu that offers a variety of Japanese-style ramen noodle soups made with rustic "temomi" hand massaged noodles that are uneven with a unique "al dente" texture, as well as a small list of appetizers and Kirin beer. A favorite at Ramen Ryoma is its pork belly chashu, which is cooked in soup broth for 5 hours before taking a long soak in a blended Tare soy basting sauce. The unique ramen broth is also made with a mixture of torigara chicken stock and tonkotsu pork broth and available with either a miso, shio, or shoyu base.
Owner and chef Yoshinari Ichise was born in Kyoto, Japan and migrated to the United States when he was 21. Along with his college friend, they opened Sushi Twister in Las Vegas in 2006, and Chef Yoshi has since opened several other restaurants, including Ramen Sora and Izakaya Hachi in Nevada and several different concepts in Singapore, Philippines and Portland.
Ramen Ryoma's Hillcrest branch will offer indoor and patio seating in a newly built, modern building. There will be a bar counter on the mezzanine floor of the space that will offer at least ten varieties of craft beer on tap, as well as a curated list of premium sakes imported from Japan and wine. The restaurant hopes to open within the bi-level space by year's end and will offer an expanded menu with a large list of Japanese tapas.
For more information on Ramen Ryoma, visit ramenryoma.com.
