Zuru Zuru Ramen is a ramen restaurant in Ghent by Nick Hofman, a Belgian who trained in Japan. (His story was once featured in Aoitori's September 2022 issue - LINK here)
Using delicious local ingredients, he achieves a high level of authentic Japanese ramen taste. To commemorate the 5th anniversary of the restaurant's opening, they will be offering Nick's new ramen every Saturday night. Let's listen to Nick's story!
5 years anniversary special ramen
My new "Wagyu Beef Ramen" uses special ingredients, so quantities will be limited. First of all, the Wagyu beef topping is organic and imported directly from Japan. The beef bones used in the soup are also from Wagyu beef raised on a local farm in Flanders.
Even in Japan, ramen using Wagyu beef is rare. Actually, I also went through trial and error. Balancing the flavours is difficult, so we had to think outside the box.
The bones are simmered continuously for 24 hours. When boiled slowly over low heat, it becomes a clear soup called chintan. The deep flavor of the beef transfers there, and garlic, tamari soy sauce, citrus, and other ingredients create a depth of sweetness, umami, and sourness.
The bowls were also custom-made for this occasion by a Belgian artist with a logo on them. The color looks more vivid when we add clear water soup to the red bowl.
In addition, customers can enjoy a cocktail paired with this special ramen, and they are given a tote bag filled with Japan-related goods as a souvenir upon leaving.
Wagyu beef imported from Japan is on the ramen as a topping. This time the special beef is imported from Kagoshima Prefecture in Japan.
You are committed to organic ingredients and local production.
We always try to make everything homemade as much as possible. The wheat for the noodles is also purchased from a flour mill nearby, and the noodles are made by ourselves.
What kind of special ramens are you planning after Wagyu beef?
From January of the new year, we are planning to serve oyster ramen. I developed my own recipe with advice from my mentor who helped me during my training in Japan.
We purchase oysters that are certified as eco-friendly and sustainable and use them for oil, soup, and toppings. For the noodles, I plan to use thinner Sapporo curly noodles.
I have a lot of ideas, so I would like to continue creating ramen that no one has ever tried before.
The special menu is created from scratch in all five steps of making ramen: oil, sauce, soup, noodles, and toppings, rather than copying an existing recipe or someone else's.
Nick the owner of Zuru Zuru Ramen. He was impressed by the taste of ramen in Japan, and after training in Yokohama, opened his own ramen restaurant in Ghent. He loves yokai, and the artwork that decorates his shop is themed around yokai. He says that his personality is similar to that of a cute and mischievous raccoon, Tanuki.
Why do you challenge to create new recipes?
On the occasion of my 5th anniversary, I wanted to prove my skills as a chef who can create new tastes other than the regular ramen I learned during my training days. I also wanted to go one step further and grow myself.
Of course, new ideas don't always work. When that happens, I put it on hold, like throwing it in the refrigerator and closing the door. 
The Wagyu special was something I started thinking about before the corona pandemic. I was inspired by a trip to Japan in this spring, and I finally completed it after pushing myself to prepare for this event.
All other recipes take half a year to plan, and at least two months to actually put on the menu.
There are times when I realize that I am still learning. When we look at Japan and the world, there are wonderful chefs who are praised as ramen masters.
I had my learning experience in Japan and it's been five years since I opened my own restaurant, but sometimes I still feel like I'm a novice chef.
There is this image of a swimming pool in my mind. I've been so far in the shallow water levels for children. As we go further more, it gets deeper and deeper, and at a certain point it suddenly gets very deep. That's the state of mind I'm in right now.
When you serve a new recipe to the customers, we never know how they will react, and you might fail miserably. Even in Japan, there are very few successful cases of Wagyu beef ramen, so it's even more frightening.
Even so, unless you dive into the deep water, you won't be able to get close to becoming a master.
The experience I gained while spending time and solving numerous problems was valuable. Developing new recipes is very important to keep my passion for ramen alive.
I hope that my customers can feel the effort and spirit of the chef through a bowl of ramen.■
Zuru Zuru Ramen
Kortrijksesteenweg 110
9000 Gent
Open
Tue-Thu 12:00-14:00, 18:00-21:00
Fri-Sat 12:00-14:00, 18:00-21:30
Sun & Mon Closed
Website
http://www.zuruzuru-ramen.be
Interview : Hiroyuki Yamamoto & Photo : Camille Liebaert
