The majority of Japanese ramen shops use wheat in their noodles and soy sauce in their broth, so gluten-free ramen sounds like a bit of an oxymoron. At Ramen Kousuke, however, gluten-free noodle bowls are in hot demand. The owner himself decided to make his noodle business friendly to those on gluten-free diets after cutting out wheat proteins from his own diet a few years ago and hasn’t looked back since.
Often heavy with pork fat and doused with MSG, ramen isn’t considered to be the healthiest of Japanese dishes, but chef-owner Kousuke says his diet of ramen, rice and natto has him feeling fitter than ever. Astonishingly, the 54-year-old looks a good ten years younger than his age, so the ramen here has the potential to take over acai bowls as the next hot superfood.
Despite swapping noodles made with wheat for rice noodles, chef Kousuke doesn’t compromise on the flavour of his ramen. Preparations for the soup bases, flavoured with fish or chicken, begin the night before as it takes nine to ten hours to boil a flavourful broth. Kousuke doesn’t use MSG or other chemical seasonings in his noodle dishes, so it’s imperative to not rush this step to maximise the umami factor.
The menu changes from time to time, but the standard bowl of gluten-free ramen noodles come in a tamari soy based broth (¥900) with toppings of chashu (barbecue pork slices), wakame kelp and grated carrot. There are ‘normal’ wheat noodles for those without dietary restrictions, too, which come in varieties like yuzu soy sauce broth, shrimp soy sauce broth and creamy coconut chicken broth.