Why so many Ramen Shops coming to Hong Kong?

Posted in Blog, F&B News Hong Kong on July 15, 2019 by Lilian Leave a Comment

Japanese Ramen shops takes the globe by storm. We can see a trend that more ramen shops are coming to Hong Kong. What are the Reasons behind?

When you’re getting hungry, you’ll search for somewhere quick to fill your stomach. One of the first comes to your mind might be the ramen shop.

Over the years, ramen shop has become not only a must-go eatery in Japan, but also brought in a new food culture across the globe. It’s interesting to see the trend of ramen shops opening in Hong Kong over the past decade.

Also, we can notice that more Japanese ramen shops keep on coming to Hong Kong? What are the reasons behind?

History of Ramen Shop

Ramen (拉麵) is a type of soup noodle served with toppings, soy sauce and miso. As we might know, ramen is “pulled noodle” which was originally from Northwest China.

According to record of the Yokohama Ramen Museum, ramen originated in China and made its way to Japan in 1859. Along the time, ramen shop has become one of the Japan’s most popular restaurants.

Nearly every region in Japan has its own specialty ramen shops. Just to name a few – the miso ramen of Kokkaido and the tonkotsu ramen of Kyushu.

Several restaurants selling ramen are on the same street in HK

Trend of Ramen Shops in Hong Kong

Ramen is not new to Hong Kong. So many Japanese restaurants have put ramen in menus. But until 2010s, the authentic ramen shop started to root in Hong Kong.

Among all districts, Central, Causeway Bay and Tsim Sha Tsui have become houses of a number of branded ramen shops over the decade. Soon after, some of these ramen shops were rated in the Michelin Guide Hong Kong, including Shegetsu (周月) and Raman Jo.

In fact, ramen has taken Hong Kong food scene by storm in recent years. When Tsuta (蔦), the world’s first Michelin-starred ramen shop, stepped in Hong Kong in 2017, we know that ramen has already become a food trend in Hong Kong.

Not to mention, there are more ramen shops coming to Hong Kong. Along Wellington Street, Ebisoba Ichigen (一幻拉麵) is renovating a new shop space. It’s their third outlet in Hong Kong, after Tsim Sha Tsui and Wanchai.

Ebisoba Ichigen (一幻拉麵) will open the third HK restaurant in Central

Why so many Ramen Shops here?

Hong Kong is not only named as one of the highest populated density of the world, but also one of the major cities with highest density of restaurants. No matter where you’re in Hong Kong, it’s so easy to find eatery places.

Ramen shops are becoming more popular in Hong Kong. Let’s find out the reasons:

(1) Dining culture: Ramen is a major staple which is popular to Asians, especially Chinese. In fact, Hong Kong people like noodles as much as rice.

(2) Quick meal: Apparently, living pace in Hong Kong is so fast that we don’t really have time like Europeans to enjoy long lunch or dinner often. Ramen is one of the quickest meals to fill the stomach.

(3) Higher revenue: As a matter of fact, each customer will not spend long to finish a bowl of ramen. From the financial viewpoint, it will generate more turnover and hence higher revenue in limited seat covers.

(4) Less operating cost: As compared with other cuisines, it’s easier to cook ramen (though it might take long hours for the broth) and require less kitchen support and floor staff.

Seating in ramen shops is packed with limited turnaround space

(5) Higher seating density: In a high rental city like Hong Kong, each seat counts as income. For the setting of a ramen shop, seats are usually packed with limited turnaround space. That means more seat covers.

(6) Higher spending on dining: Comparatively speaking, Hong Kong is a more affluent city among other Asian countries. People here can spend more than HK$100 for a bowl of noodles, which might be one-day’s wage in some countries.