Austin Ramen Pop-Up Is Finally Getting a Restaurant in Cedar Park

Japanese noodle pop-up Ramen 512 is finally opening its own physical restaurant this year. Owner and chef Vinh Thai will debut his new ramen restaurant at 1420 Cypress Creek Road, Suite 300 in Cedar Park starting tentatively in late September.

The hook of Ramen 512’s menu is ramen. Expect familiar iterations from the classic shoyu to tantanmen to the tsukemen. New dish additions will include rice bowls, chicken karaage, and gyoza.

Thai started Ramen 512 as a pop-up in 2019, after studying ramen-making under expert Keizo Shimamoto. He always wanted to turn the business into a permanent restaurant, but had to pause the pop-ups because of the coronavirus pandemic last year. That’s why he decided to open a temporary takeout/delivery-only spot in ghost kitchen hub Kitchen United Mix in July 2020.

That move was always intended as a short-lived one, so Thai could refocus on opening a physical restaurant. After closing the Kitchen United location in January 2021, he started looking for a new location. In July, he was connected to the owners of Cedar Park Chinese restaurant Hot Wok Cafe, who were looking to retire but wanted another person/business to take over their space. He visited the address and “knew immediately it was the one,” he says.

When Ramen 512 opens in the fall, it will offer both dine-in and takeout services (where the ramen ingredients will be packaged separately with reheating instructions). The space will feature an open kitchen.

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