Hanamaruken Ramen welcomes the new year with its latest flavor: Mabo Dofu Donburi
Are you a Japanese food fan? Are you game to widen your Japanese food horizons?
Well, here’s a piece of good news just for you!
Hanamaruken Ramen kicks of the year by expanding its delicious menu to include something quite special: the Mabo Dofu Donburi!
Your favorite ramen place translates the much-loved spicy Sichuan Mapo Tofu dish into a tasty Japanese rice bowl. Made of coated silky tofu…
Once upon a time, I wouldn’t be able to differentiate among ramen varieties, nor appreciate the artistry that goes into crafting and delicious bowl of ramen.
That changed when I first tasted Hanamaruken’s Happiness Ramen three years ago.
Thus started my #RamenPhase that’s showing no signs of fading away.
Before the enhanced community quarantine, I was lucky enough…
I was never a fan of ramen, well until this #hanamaruken @hanamaruken_ph https://www.instagram.com/p/B6kKDSzp-iXZszbxm4gzOLs7ulZZZP934Vgv6E0/?igshid=jwil0b5cpdyc
With ramen restaurants sprouting all over the metro, it sometimes get difficult to distinguish one from the other. I have my own favorite ramen joints, but it takes a special kind of ramen restaurant to enter and survive this overpopulated industry. This particular restaurant takes its signature item very seriously, offering a dish that I can say is truly the happiest bowl of ramen in the city.
Hanamaruken Ramen is one of the smaller ramen franchises in the country that deserves its place in my personal list of ramen favorites. Its branch in Trinoma has been always been a destination whenever I feel down and need some perking up. You can find it at the second level of the mall’s garden restaurants offering not just its Signature Happiness Ramen but other very appetizing ramen variants and sumptuous rice bowls as well.
Hanamaruken Ramen found its beginnings in no less than the mecca of Japanese cuisine—Osaka, Japan. It was founded by Takaku Arakawa, a man whose family was in the piggery business. As the one whose job was to sell pork, he developed a passion for it and wanted to find a way to integrate his favorite cut into ramen, the Japanese national food. He discovered “Tonkotsu” which is stewed pork cartilage—a cut that was not only delicious and flavorful, but one that could easily broken by chopsticks. This is what set his ramen apart from the numerous ramen restaurants in Osaka, and is what birthed what many like to call his masterpiece ramen: The Signature Happiness Ramen.
Over 40 restaurants later, Hanamaruken has found its new home in Manila, thanks to ramen enthusiast, technopreneur, and restaurateur Charles Paw. He frequented the restaurant so often during his travels to Japan that he decided to bring it here as a franchise. Hanamaruken Ramen currently has three branches in Trinoma, The Grove by Rockwell, and at the Alabang Town Center.
The restaurant interiors are beautifully designed with casual yet elegant Asian fixtures. Complimentary hot tea is also served for each guest.
Diners can start with the Edamame Stir Fry (₱180) for appetizers or some Gyoza and Chicken Karaage.
I was feeling a bit down after getting some not-so-good laboratory results, so I went to Hanamaruken that afternoon for a bowl of their Signature Happiness Ramen (₱580), founder Takaku Arakawa's masterpiece straight from Osaka. This joyful bowl includes a shoyu tonkotsu broth ramen topped with a tender, slow-braised custom cut soft bone rib. You can add an Aji Tamago, a traditional marinated soft boiled egg, for an additional P50.
The Signature Happiness Ramen is one among nine ramen options to choose from at Hanamaruken, whose menu is simple and straightforward. The Sparerib Ramen and the Potbelly Ramen are certainly menu stars, but the other selections—the Curry Tan Tan Mien, the Spicy Tobanjan Ramen, the Salary Man Ramen, the Chasyu Ramen, and the Champon Ramen (₱350) with its medley of vegetables are certainly worth the try.
Hanamaruken also offers dry noodles such as the Abura Soba (₱320) and the Bacon Tomato and Egg Soba.
Meat is taken quite seriously at Hanamaruken, and this is evident on their Hanamaruken Rice bowls which capture the Filipino’s love for rice topped with meaty ingredients. The Drunk Man Rice Bowl (P320) is quite an indulgent treat which includes pork belly cubes and two fried eggs on top. Customers are also raving about the Happiness Rice Bowl which includes the famous pork rib over steamed rice.
Some diners even like having rice with their ramen, and I know one friend who likes combining these two carb-rich dishes. The Fried Rice Chahan (₱220) would be a good choice to pair with the Signature Happiness Ramen because you can actually separate the big pork rib and eat it with rice. Now that will definitely make any guest very very happy. So if you ever need something to brigthen up your day, visit Hanamaruken Ramen and have yourself an uplifting and enjoyable meal.
