EVERY kabalen can now experience the genuine cuisine flavors of Japan and the aromatic goodness of the famous Ramen Nagi creations, as the award-winning ramen chain from Tokyo is finally conquering Pampanga and is ready to serve the best tasting bowl of ramen in town.
Located at SM City Pampanga, the newly-opened Japanese restaurant is the 9th Ramen Nagi branch in the Philippines and the first branch in North Luzon. Other branches are located in SM Aura, SM Moa, SM North Edsa, Robinsons Magnolia, Robinsons Place Manila, Greenbelt 3, UP Town Center, and the Podium.
How it started
In 2006, Ramen Nagi founder Ikuta Satoshi opened a tiny restaurant with his ramen-loving friends in Fukuoka, Japan. Because of the limited dining space, customers were encouraged to share tables, and in his intimate restaurant, Chef Ikuta produced his ramen in front of each customer.
This ground-breaking restaurant then became the first in the world to serve a different type of ramen everyday for 365 days of the year. In a short time, his restaurant became so popular that customers had to queue to be served.
By word of mouth from satisfied customers, the reputation of the restaurant as a leading gourmet ramen destination spread and reached overseas. It was then that Chef Ikuta decided to open in Hong Kong, and not long after, branched out in Indonesia, Taiwan, and the Philippines where it instantly became a hit.
The ultimate gourmet Ramen experience
To date, Ramen Nagi continues to enjoy tremendous success because of its commitment to authenticity, quality, innovation and creative thinking. Ramen Nagi never fails to provide the diner, whether ramen lover or not, a delightfully curious and memorable experience as a bowl of ramen brings with it both culture and cuisine.
Ramen Nagi takes pride in serving delicious noodle bowls made with only the finest ingredients. For over twenty hours, its most-coveted flavorful pork bones are slow cooked to create a wonderful tasting Tonkotsubroth. The result? A full-bodied creamy soup that perfectly complement its traditional millimeter-thin Hakata noodles made from Japanese flour.
It offers four main ramen kings namely the Original King Butao (original pork bone broth),Red King Ramen Akao (spicy miso),Green King Ramen Midorio (an Italian fusion soup made from pesto-like combination of olive oil and basil), and Black King Ramen Kuroo (pork broth dyed dark with squid ink.
As the ever-evolving foodie's taste for ramen matures, one would prefer more rich and bolder flavors versus the lighter variety. And once you taste the richer gourmet version of Ramen Nagi, there's no going back to light and lesser quality ramen.
Choose how you want your Ramen
To further enrich and personalize the ramen experience, Ramen Nagi involves its patrons in the creative process.
In an old fashioned Omotenashi style, Ramen Nagi offers a checklist on how each ramen can be customized to fit varied preferences.
Upon ordering, customers are given an Omotenashi Sheet, with choices such as the richness of taste, special sauce, garlic, pork, vegetable, level of spiciness, noodle firmness, and add ons like Tamago, pork shoulder or pork belly, seaweed, extra noodles, green onion, cabbage, and Kiruge.
Ramen Nagi has a reputation that precedes itself and it’s a challenge to pick out the best combination, but the best-tasting dishes are always the ones you have to work for. Or in any case, you can always also opt to choose Chef’s Recommendation.
Not just Ramen
Aside from the piping hot bowl of original ramens, Ramen Nagi also offers other gastronomic offerings such as Chicken Karaage, Pork Katsu Roll, Fried Shrimp with Tartar Sauce, and Gyoza.
For the health conscious, the restaurant also offers salads and other vegetable-based side dishes like Nagi Star Salad, Curry Spring Rolls, Sesame Q, and Nagi Chips.
Dig in and savor the best-tasting Ramen there is, head on to Ramen Nagi located at Annex A, SM City Pampanga.