Location: 2F Garden Restaurants, Trinoma
Official Website: www.hanamaruken.ph
Facebook: Hanamaruken Ramen Philippines
Twitter: Hanamaruken_PH
Instagram: @Hanamaruken_ph
Hanamaruken Ramen Menu
Candid Cuisine’s ramen religion continues and it never ends! For over 30 years in the ramen business, Takaku Arakawa has been perfecting the art of stewing pork cartilage – the heart of Hanamaruken‘s Signature Happiness Ramen that locals in Namba Houzenji, Osaka Prefecture have been raving about.
I put my soul and passion into each bowl of ramen – Takaku Arakawa
Now ramen lovers can rejoice, as Hanamaruken Ramen arrives in Manila to bring that fall-off-the-bones (if there was literally bones in that slab of pork rib!) slow-cooked pork rib that’s topped on Hanamaruken’s Hakata style noodles in Tonkotsu broth. If you are a ramen fan, you cannot miss Osaka’s pride.
Before Hanamaruken Ramen: Ramen X
Hanamaruken Ramen here in Manila is located in Trinoma and you’d be surprised of its location. It’s situated at the former location of Ramen X! Yes, the very same ramen restaurant that I have given extremely low reviews. You can just imagine being nostalgic, entering the restaurant and remembering what used to be an epic fail in the history of food industry. (I know, I am exaggerating.) But still, remembering my bad experience soiled my impressions of Hanamaruken Ramen a little. Except I had to convince myself that Hanamaruken Ramen is the real deal – and it has authentic ramen.
But there goes little room for criticism with its clean, zen atmosphere. It is extremely masculine, with a touch of feminine artistry with its suspended trinkets.
I think they’re attempting the illusion that these objects are levitating, to illustrate the magic in the kitchens. I like it.
The Brainchild of Arakawa Pork Company
I am extremely excited how Arakawa has trained his chefs to bring the Happiness Ramen here in Manila. Hanamaruken’s ramen chain has over 40 branches in Japan. Arakawa’s father manages a piggery business and from here, Hanamaruken gets the best pork there is. Arakawa believes that pork is the best meat there is, with so much nutrients your body can benefit from. “Skills are important”, he says, “But the ingredients and quality of it we choose are the secrets to the best ramen.” Arakawa’s ultimate goal is to bring a smile to his customers faces, much like what is manifested in his Signature Happiness Ramen. As ramen is Japan’s national food, he hopes to share Japan’s culture here in Manila and offer the best and delicious ramen there is.
Appetizers: EDAMAME BEANS
We started off with some appetizers. Hanamaruken’s Edamame Beans offer a unique, salty twist. It is spiced. I am used to eating Edamame beans that are cold, actually.
SALARY MAN RAMEN
Salary Man’s Ramen is for the less adventurous. Topped with sliced pork shoulder with Shoyu based Tonkotsu broth, Hanamaruken’s Salary Man Ramen is really cheap in my opinion, for something that is made of good quality. Their Tonkotsu broth is boiled for more than a day and Arakawa’s Hanamaruken restaurants prepare 4 hours before the opening of their restaurant each day. So you can just imagine the hard work they put this through in a bowl of ramen.
You can order a Aji Tamago to go with your bowl of ramen, if that’s your religion. But to me, Hanamaruken’s Tamago did not make the cut. It’s not runny and soft-boiled. I guess they will need to keep a close eye on this, though at the moment, they are still on soft opening. [Update: Hanamaruken should be serving their full-on marinated Aji Tamago in the next weeks! That’s pretty good news for ramen lovers out there!]
CURRY TAN TAN MIEN
For curry lovers, Hanamaruken’s Curry Tan Tan Mien should be a good ramen fix for you. It looks a little bit like Laksa, with its sesame paste and curry spices in each bowl of soup. I think this can be a competitor to RYU Ramen’s Curry ramen as well.
Hanamaruken Ramen’s SIGNATURE HAPPINESS RAMEN: Literally Man versus Food
This should put a huge smile on your face. And it must! For me, Hanamaruken’s Signature Happiness Ramen is literally “Man versus Food”. This shoyu tonkotsu Signature Happiness Ramen is topped with Negi, Narutomaki and the iconic, slow-cooked pork rib that’s incredibly large in portion. I have never eaten a slab of pork this large, and my friends know me that I am never a fan of pork meat. But surprisingly, the slow-cooked pork rib doesn’t have bones in it and the bones is as close as simply pork cartilage, which is impressive.
This pork rib must have weighed around 6 ounces and you can practically share your bowl of ramen with another person.
I have to admit. For the first time ever, I did not finish the soup in my bowl of Happiness Ramen. I think it must be because I wanted to finish the pork rib. Although for some of you, you can order extra soup for P150. They also have extra noodles if you have some soup left at P80.
The meat is extremely well-cooked. Probably the best pork ribs I ever ate.
One thing I noticed is that their seaweed is only half of what its supposed to be, compared to other ramen restaurants. And I noticed in some photos posted over the Internet, the Nori had Japanese characters written on it, which is to stand for “love knot” or “marriage”. It symbolizes the marriage between slow-cooked pork rib and the ramen, something that it stands for and is innovative.
I was also glad that we had our ramen cooked as hard texture, which is actually a special request. The millimeter-thin Hakata noodles wasn’t that hard compared to the other ramen joints I tried.
Hanamaruken also offers other ramen dishes such as Pot Belly Ramen, the classic Chasyu Ramen and the Spicy Tobanjan Ramen (I’m curious if this can be a good showdown with Ikkoryu Fukuoka Ramen’s Spicy Tobanjan Ramen).
If you’re not a fan of ramen, but is more of a rice person, it’s a good thing that Hanamaruken has the Happiness Rice Bowl, which should fill you up equally like the Signature Happiness Ramen.
And as Hanamaruken puts it, we all deserve our bowl of happiness. 🙂
HANAMARUKEN RAMEN Rating:
[usrlist “Taste and Originality: 3.5” “Customer Experience: 3” “Value for Money: 3” “Brick and Mortar: 3”]