Ramen Hashi owners advocate for chicken-based broth

Youngho and Eunyoung Kim are passionate about ramen, but not just any ramen. They’re out to convince Las Vegas that the chicken-based shio and shoyu ramen deserve respect.

The couple opened 15-seat Ramen Hashi on Spring Mountain Road in October, hoping to teach people a little more about the popular noodle dish.

There are plenty of tonkatsu (pork-based) ramen shops out there, the Kims said, and it’s likely the most popular ramen dish in the U.S. But there’s beauty to a lighter chicken broth, they said.

Youngho, who works in the kitchen, said he spends about eight to ten hours making each broth. He also makes the noodles from scratch. Diners can watch the whole process from their seats, which face an open kitchen.

Customers can select from three broth-and-noodle dishes and one rice-based dish. The rest of the menu consists of toppings and drinks.

Each dish costs $9, and all of them include bamboo, chashu (pork belly), green onion and a soft-boiled egg.

Broths are chicken- or pork-based and flavored with salt or soy sauce. The rice dish, chashu don, has large quantities of braised pork belly with shredded seaweed and egg. Additional toppings include black garlic oil, extra green onion, soft-boiled egg, extra tamago, seaweed, extra bamboo (all $1 apiece) or extra chashu ($3).

The restaurant has soft drinks ($1.50), cold tea (oolong or green, $1.75) and Asahi beer ($4).

Youngho, a 2006 graduate of UNLV’s hospitality program, worked on the concept for Ramen Hashi for the past year and a half. His research involved three trips to Japan and spending six months in South Korea. There, he connected with his friend, Seoun Ryon Ryu, who owns several ramen restaurants.

“We keep in touch almost every other day,” Youngho said. “He’s my mentor and my teacher.”

The Kims hope to phase out the pork broth entirely and introduce a new item, tori paitan. The Kyoto-style chicken-based broth is creamier and thicker as a result of higher cooking temperatures. Eunyoung likens the dish to the “chicken version of tonkatsu.”

“Our goal is to introduce people to something else beside tonkatsu,” Eunyoung said. “Traditional, authentic ramen.”

Contact Madelyn Reese at mreese@viewnews.com or 702-383-0497. Follow @MadelynGReese on Twitter.