San Diego Business Journal

Takashi Endo goes to great lengths to make fresh ramen at Menya Ultra

RESTAURANTS: Takashi Endo Goes to Great Lengths to Make Fresh Ramen at Menya Ultra

By NATALLIE ROCHA

Every morning, Takashi Endo starts his day no later than 4 a.m. to make homemade ramen noodles. Sometimes he gets to the kitchen at 2 a.m., if it is a busy day and sometimes one of his four sons wakes up early to help him make the noodles. However, the owner of Japanese ramen house, Menya Ultra, always insists on making his noodles from scratch daily.

“His kitchen is next door to a fitness center and it opens about the same time at 4 a.m., so they open together,” said Endo's spokeswoman,

Yoyo Sasaki, who translated from Japanese for him and runs the restaurant's marketing.

Endo's attention to detail translates to the bowl and has garnered national recognition — he has won the Tokyo Ramen Festival, the largest ramen event in the world, four years in a row.

He uses a special blend of three flours imported from the Hokkaido region of Japan, a northern island known for its wheat and spent time studying with the wheat farmers on how to make the best noodles. This blend gives Menya Ultra's hand pulled noodles — which contain no preservatives, no GMOs or artificial colors — a distinctive sweet wheat scent, springy and smooth texture that will surprise you, Sasaki said.

Mastering Ramen Noodles

Growing up in Tohoku, Japan, Endo enjoyed cooking and the first dish he learned how to make was tempura around the age of 10. Later, like most 20-yearolds, he mastered the art of making premade ramen. Then, it was around this time that his brother returned to their hometown after working at a ramen store in Japan and he taught Endo how to make homemade ramen noodles.

In 1994, he opened his first ramen restaurant called Nishiki in Odate, Akita, Japan and today, he owns eight restaurants in Japan, four in Tawain and three in the United States — all in San Diego County.

He came to San Diego to visit a friend and ended up staying because he liked it here and he didn't find authentic ramen like the kind he made in Japan, said Sasaki.

In 2017, he opened his first Menya Ultra in Clairemont and since then, his stores have had a line out the door. The Japanese word “menya” translates to “noodles” and although there is no word for “ultra” in Japanese, Endo added it to the name because it means better than super, and he wants to be the “ultra noodle house” Sasaki said.

One of the most popular dishes is the classic tonkatsu ramen which features a house made recipe of pork broth, and topped with a slice of pork chashu, bean sprouts, green onion, wood ear mushroom, roasted sesame seeds and a soft-boiled egg.

Adjusting for the Future

In March, Menya Ultra opened its third location in Hillcrest, and although the past year has presented Endo with challenges, he's made adjustments to maintain his standard of quality.

Prior to the pandemic, Sasaki said that Endo traveled about 80 times annually for the past five years so he could check in on all of his restaurants and ensure the quality of the ramen was being kept up. He would spend three weeks in San Diego, fly to Japan for two weeks, then to Tawain for two weeks and repeat the cycle again.

Menya Ultra now offers takeout, delivery and at-home ramen kits, all of which did not exist before the pandemic.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

en-us

2021-05-17T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-05-17T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://sdbusinessjournal.pressreader.com/article/282076279757213

LABJ