Photos by Sonny Espiritu
One could say that ramen broth runs in the blood of Chef Masahiko Teshima, who traces his roots to Fukuoka, a seaside city on the island of Kyushu in Japan which is recognized as the spiritual home of the tonkotsu (boiled pork-bone broth).
“My uncle worked at San Maru in the 1940s, which was the oldest Hakata-style ramen in Fukuoka. My father, on the other hand, opened his own ramen house, Wu Maru, in 1953,” said the bespectacled, longhaired Teshima in calm Japanese, with real time English translation provided by his friend and business partner, Junji Okabayashi.
Hakata-style ramen has a milky tonkotsu broth, which is probably Fukuoka’s most famous culinary export, and thin flat noodles. The ramen is usually topped with sesame seeds, crushed garlic, slices of wood ear mushroom, and tamago or egg that has been marinated for hours in soy sauce and mirin, a Japanese sweet rice wine.
“My family has had a love affair with ramen for 70 years now. I am probably half tonkatsu and half wine,” added Teshima, who is also a sommelier.
It came as no surprise then that when the younger Teshima took over Wu Maru in 1994, he renamed it to Uma Uma Ramen – a pun on the casual Japanese word “umai” which means tasty – and transformed it into a ramen-by-day, izakaya-by-night place.
Offering a wide range of alcoholic drinks in an affordable and casual izakaya setting in Fukuoka, it became an instant hit among Japanese white-collar workers and office ladies. An izakaya, of course, is never complete without yakitori (grilled skewers over charcoal) and kushikatsu (deep-fried breaded skewers), and Uma Uma did not disappoint.
The company has already established five outlets in Japan (three in Fukuoka and two in Tokyo), two branches in Singapore, and one in Bangkok. And this month, Uma Uma opened its first branch in the Philippines at S Maison, a high-end retail complex at the edge of Manila Bay.
“Filipino people like ramen and pork, so I am sure Uma Uma will be accepted and loved,” said Teshima, who disclosed their plan to open a second branch in Uptown Bonifacio within the year.
Their signature dishes, which are topped with chasiu or marinated pork belly, include the Uma Uma Ramen, which uses spicy miso; tonkotsu ramen; and the garlic ramen which features fried shallots. All are served with tonkotsu broth made from pork bones slow-cooked for 16 to 20 hours over high heat to release the flavor and give the broth its trademark richness.
“Our strength is we have the leeway to come up with ramen that is influenced by local culture and locally sourced ingredients,” said Russell Yu, director of Iki Concepts that brought the ramen house to Singapore.
In Singapore, for example, their mazesoba, a dry-style ramen with bamboo shoots and soft-boiled tamago, became such a hit that Teshima decided to bring it to their Japan-based branches.
At their Manila branch, Uma Uma opens its secret bar at 4 p.m., offering a wide variety of cocktails and sake, plus a modest selection of wine. The drinks are complemented by a special menu of 11 yakitori and kushikatsu, prepared a la minute, as well as one-bite gyoza, a traditional Hakata offering.
Since it is inside a mall, Uma Uma closes at 10 p.m., but Yu said they are hoping to be allowed to remain open beyond mall hours.
“Ramen is staple fast food. It is a very simple noodle and broth combination. For lunch or dinner, Japanese people order ramen. In the evenings, they come to our izakaya for yakitori and drinking. Afterwards, they eat ramen again to sober up,” Teshima said. “It is not just eating and drinking – it is a culture.”
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