What image do you get when you think of the word ramen? Maybe it’s the Marauchan packs you buy at the grocery store. If it’s authentic ramen, you likely imagine the pile of noodles sitting in broth first. Menya Hanabi wants to change all that. The company is bringing it’s famous mazesoba, or broth-less ramen, to the U.S. for the first time.
Menya Hanabi will be opening its first restaurant inside an Arcadia stripmall on July 28. The company is best known for its Taiwanese-influenced mazesoba, or broth-less ramen. Their ramen noodles are topped with savory ingredients such as seaweed, dried fish powder, raw egg yolk and spicy minced pork. Guests mix all of their ingredients together before consuming the ramen. A lack of broth creates a more intense flavor profile for the multitude of ramen ingreidents. It’s the same ramen experience, but with a lot less slurping.
Menya Hanabi was founded in 2008 in Nagoya, Japan. Since then, it has spawned over two dozen stores internationally. Naoto Niiyama, founder of the company and pioneer of mazesoba, says the “Arcadia location differs from our other locations overseas in that its interior design has a much more modern, industrial feel to it with a touch of Japanese influences.” He also promises that “most of our main dishes will be more or less the same as our restaurants in Japan; however, we are serving more side items.”
So if you are in or near Arcadia, head over to Menya Hanabi after it opens on July 28. The restaurant will be open seven days a week. They will serve lunch from 11 to 3 and dinner from 5:30 to 9:30. And who knows, maybe the location will do so well that we will begin seeing dry ramen all across the U.S.
