Authentic taste of Japan hits Cairns
THE new owner of a Tokyostyle ramen noodle business has made it his mission to bring authentic Japanese flavours to the Far North.
Hironobu Saito immigrated to Australia in 2010 and embarked on a career in the aged care industry before following his passion to create in the kitchen.
Last week Mr Saito started his first business called Ramen Nobu in the Stockland Cairns’ Lantern Lane dining precinct.
Seeking assistance from well-known Japanese food guru, Yoshiyuki Asakura, the Ramen Nobu owner has been guided through the logistics of starting a food business.
“This is my first takeaway business and I have been getting very strong support from Yoshi from Ramen Street,” he said.
“I was a bit concerned because I did not have any knowledge about how to open a take out business, so I asked Yoshi to help make a takeaway business.”
Sourcing custom-made noodles and dumplings from the Ramen Street wholesaler, Mr Saito also uses a mix of local produce and imported specialty ingredients, such as bonito powder and dried sea weed obtained directly from Japan.
Ramen Nobu have three flavours on the menu, which include Tokyo-style shoyu (soy sauce) ramen and chicken, tonkotsu ramen done in the Fukuoka southern province style with pork and a soy sauce base and a Japanese take on Chinese dan dan noodles called tantanmen ramen, with spicy sauce and chicken.
“My intention was to introduce Japanese ramen and also wanted to offer local people what I think is very tasty,” he said.
“That’s why I wanted to use ingredients from Japan and introduce ramen culture for people who are curious to taste it.”
Mr Saito said each Japanese province had its own ramen culture and in the future the business owner planned to introduce northern and miso flavours to the Ramen Nobu menu.
“We are 100 per cent sure we can provide good quality ramen and we get feedback on a daily basis from the customer so if we find a problem we fix it day by day,” he said.
Mr Saito said a love of good food made all the hard work of setting up the business worthwhile.
“If you don’t have any passion it’s not easy. It has been my dream come true,” he said.
Ramen Nobu is the second new addition to Lantern Lane as Freshies Island Foods prepares to begin trade next month.