Most people think of ramen as a staple food of college students on those on an extreme budget. The soup evokes memories of blocks of barely-edible noodles, reconstituted in boiling water and flavored with a tiny pack of unknown seasonings.
Real ramen, though, is totally different than the freeze-dried, prepackaged stuff you might remember from your college days. It’s a creamy, flavorful Japanese soup, full of fresh vegetables, mushrooms, meats, soy and other tasty and non-dehydrated ingredients.
One of the best places to get real ramen in the East Bay is Ramen Hiroshi. With locations in downtown Walnut Creek, California and a new location at City Center Bishop Ranch in San Ramon, California, Ramen Hiroshi serves up real-deal Japanese ramen soup, as well as a variety of other Japanese speciality dishes.
Visitors to Ramen Hiroshi can choose from a variety of ramen soup options. My favorite is the Hiroshi Tonkotsu, the chain’s signature dish. Real tonkotsu ramen like Ramen Hiroshi’s is made by boiling pork bones in water for hours, or even up to a full day. The bones’ marrow and pork fat combine to give the broth an almost creamy mouthfeel which has just a hint of fat but isn’t oily. It’s very hard to find places which do tonkotsu right, and Ramen Hiroshi is one of them.
The restaurant’s default is to serve their Hiroshi Tonkotsu with thin noodles, but I usually opt to switch those out for the more traditional wide ramen noodles. The soup also includes Berkshire pork belly slices, a soft-boiled egg, and traditional accompaniments like lotus root and pickled red ginger.
Ramen Hiroshi also serves Shoyu ramen, a ramen soup with a soy-based broth. The broth is intensely flavored, and so extremely umami that it also tastes smoky. An milder soup popular with kids is the Shio ramen, which is made with sea salt broth instead of soy or pork bone broth, and has a much lighter flavor.
If you like spicy ramen and want to opt for something that’s actually creamy rather than just having a creamy mouthfeel, try the Tantanmen ramen, which has a creamy sesame broth and plenty of spice. Ramen Hiroshi provides the option to create your own custom ramen soup, too, opting to add whatever broth and ingredients you want.
Ramen soups are Ramen Hiroshi’s speciality, but they offer a variety of excellent Japanese appetizers too. The chicken Karaage is a tender fried chicken dish which reminds me of Peruvian chicharrones. The restaurant also offers two varieties of gyoza, as well as squid legs, chicken cartilage, octopus balls, and other fried dishes for those seeking a more adventurous/authentic meal.
Ramen Hiroshi accompanies its dishes with drinks including beer staples like Asahi and Sapporo, as well as a variety of sakes. Desserts are limited, but the restaurant does offer mochi ice cream in several flavors.
Ramen Hiroshi has two locations, one in Walnut Creek and the other, newly opened, in City Center Bishop Ranch. Walnut Creek’s location feels more bustling and urban, whereas the San Ramon location is newly built and has a larger interior dining room with high ceilings and a performance kitchen. Be warned--Ramen Hiroshi is popular, and both places can have a wait, especially on the weekends. You can also use Ramen Hiroshi’s online ordering system if you absolutely can’t wait for your ramen. With the tasty, creamy, authentic soups Ramen Hiroshi serves, I wouldn’t blame you.