A Japanese restaurant with ramen and handrolls has debuted in McKinney: Called Tiger Ramen, it's now open at 4041 S. Custer Rd. #2110, in a booming new shopping center by Craig Ranch.
Tiger Ramen is from husband-and-wife Ty and Hiroko Wada, who are residents of McKinney. Hiroko is a successful realtor in McKinney while Ty has worked in the grocery store sushi bar industry as well as for American Airlines. He'd always wanted to own a business, so this is his first.
He chose the location in McKinney because of proximity: It's close to where he lives and he enjoys not having a long commute.
Tiger Ramen serves authentic Japanese ramen, with the star dish being paitan ramen, a hearty chicken tonkotsu broth topped with pork chashu, nitamago, scallion, menma, and lemon. Its point of distinction is its a creamy chicken broth, simmered for six to eight hours.
"That's actually standard for traditional Japanese style of preparing broth for ramen," Wada says. "It enhances the flavor."
Coming in at a close second is spicy miso ramen, featuring a dark tonkotsu chicken broth, with noodles, ground pork, corn, and bean sprouts. There are eight ramen options total, including a "dry" ramen — no broth — with ground beef & pork; and a vegetable ramen with vegetable-based broth.
In addition to ramen, they do onigiri rice balls — steamed rice wrapped in seaweed, often with fillings. At Tiger Ramen, they place the extra ingredient atop the rice. They offer six varieties including pork, salmon, tofu, and chicken meatball, $5 to $7 each, or at lunch, you can order them in a sampler of three for $15.
Tiger Ramen muralTiger Ramen
They also do handrolls, with rice and other ingredients wrapped casually in seaweed, in standard sushi varieties such as salmon, yellowtail, California roll, and shrimp tempura.
Appetizers range from edamame and gyoza to more unique offerings such as a fried vegetable croquette and karaage fried chicken.
They serve limited alcohol including beer from Tupps Brewery based in McKinney, sake, draft beer, and wine. Their beer selection includes a few uncommon options such as Kyoto Matcha beer with green tea powder, which they say adds a tangy hop kick, with spicy clove and citrus.
The space has modern-rustic touches, with corrugated steel panels and MCM-style seats upholstered in orange vinyl. An open kitchen counter with a row of orange stools provides a view of employees as they hand-roll sushi and prepare ramen bowls. One wall has a large colorful mural depicting a street scene from Japan.
They're also hosting workshops, such as a class for pocket koji, used in soy sauce and as a sweetener in sake, and another class on fermentation for making miso. Workshops start at $80.
Goldee's BBQ in Fort Worth has earned loads of acclaim.
Photo by Joey Garcia