Authentic Japanese food in the middle of the city? Yes please. Peter Tempelhoff’s latest restaurant creation, Ramenhead, opens this week on Parliament Street in Cape Town and you need to go.
From this Tuesday 13 December onwards, guests are invited to slurp handmade noodles and sip on bowls of broth while socialising with friends or family.
But these are not just any old noodles and broth. The authentic flavours that were carefully crafted after the head chef took a ramen-tasting trip to Japan will have you grinning and flagging down the waiters for more.
Ramenhead is led by chefs Peter Tempelhoff and Ashley Moss, the same pair behind the award-winning Japanese-fusion restaurant FYN.
Chef Julia du Toit joins them in the kitchen, leaving her position as head chef of Tempelhoff’s beyond restaurant at Buitenverwachting.
It’s not just the food that will transport you to Japan. The interior was conceptualised by Tristan Du Plessis, from Tristan Du Plessis Studio, who took traditional elements of Japanese design, including blackened oak panels and ramen bowls crafted by seven local designers.
Du Plessis is the designer who worked on FYN’s well-known and celebrated interiors.
Ramenhead has an open and fluid space with indoor, outdoor and bar seating. Guests can watch the creation of the ramen bowls through the open-plan “finishing” kitchen.
The space also boasts a noodle lab housing the only Yamamoto Noodle Machine on the African continent. The machine was purchased on the chefs’ trip to Japan earlier this year.
The 10-day ramen-tasting tour Tempelhoff and Moss undertook brought them useful information about ramen styles and techniques and gave them a chance to round up ingredients.
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So, the rich flavours you experience in each bowl taste uniquely Japanese, with ingredients manufactured and produced in the country itself.
“Ramen is very technical in its creation, some ramen houses in Japan are super serious and don’t even allow talking while eating!” Tempelhoff exclaims.
Tempelhoff refers to the delicate balance of ramen-making, and how bone nutrients, lean proteins and amino acids all work together to “give ramen its umami, making it highly addictive and creating a feeling of euphoria.
Ramenhead works to serve its brothy noodles in line with ramen’s basic principles: the food should be fast, cheap, filling and restorative.
For Moss, Ramenhead is a continuation of an interest in Japanese culture that started when he was young, after checking out a book on Japanese writing from his primary school library.
“I became interested in the culture and watched Japanese anime all the time. I’ve tried to learn all I can about the country, including the language, and this last trip gave me a lot of insights into ramen’s origins and the various regional styles.”
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Ramenhead caters to various preferences, allowing diners with any dietary preference to enjoy the delicious food. The menu includes meat broths, vegetarian broths and a number of different ramen options.
The noodles on offer are both traditional and gluten-free, and the menu features Japanese snacks such as fried chicken karaage and gyoza dumplings.
Ramenhead opens on Tuesday 13 December and will be open for lunch and dinner daily except on Sundays and Mondays.
Following Japanese traditions, the street-food-inspired eatery will not take reservations.
Ramenhead’s opening comes a few months after Tempelhoff’s FYN was named “Best Restaurant in Africa” and number 37 in the world by The World’s 50 Best Restaurants.
Visit Ramenhead’s website here.
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Picture: Supplied