Upcoming Ramen Spot Adds Chef From Michelin-Starred Japanese Restaurant

Forthcoming Japanese ramen restaurant Sazan Ramen added a new chef to its team: chef Shun Shiroma, who worked at Michelin-starred ramen restaurant Tsuta Tokyo. He’ll be previewing the restaurant’s menu with a pop-up dinner at East Austin restaurant Fukumoto on Sunday, December 15.

Sazan’s whole focus is the tori paitan, where the ramen made with a creamy chicken broth. The December dinner’s showcase version is the Velvet Ramen, where the tori paitan will come with a red-onion vinegar sauce and pomegranate oil.

The rest of the menu includes Japanese appetizers like oily smoky oysters which will be smoked in a jar, cold olive oil-marinated oysters, pork belly stewed in Dr Pepper, sour plum-infused kimchi, and mochi. The $33 pop-up dinner will have two seatings, 5 and 7:30 p.m. Fukumoto chef Kazu Fukumoto will help cook dinner too.

During Shiroma’s time at Tsuta, he opened several locations of the ramen chain in Singapore, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Macao, and San Francisco.

Sazan Ramen will be found on 6929 Airport Boulevard, Suite 146 in the Highland neighborhood, opening sometime in January 2020.

Also heralding Saza is a team of people who run several East Coast Japanese ramen restaurants, including Philadelphia restaurant Terakawa Ramen, New Jersey’s Ramen Azuma, and then Donburiya, Naruto Ramen, and Nishida Sho-ten, which are found in New York.

Sazan Ramen will be found in the same shopping plaza as Asian supermarket 99 Ranch, Kura Revolving Sushi Bar, and Taiwanese chain 85C Bakery Cafe, among other restaurants and shops like the forthcoming frozen dumpling shop Steamies.

• Ra-Ra-Ramen Sazan x Fukumoto Pop-Up [EventBrite]
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• All Coverage of Sazan Ramen [EATX]