Located in the northern Tokyo district of Sugamo, the Japanese Soba Noodles shop “Tsuta” is a small, 9-seater ramen restaurant that caused a big whirlwind in the culinary world in December 2015 when it became the world’s first ramen shop to receive a coveted Michelin star.
The shop’s owner-chef, Onishi-san shared that the success of the shop was because of his hard training and strong pursuit of his dreams. Soon after opening his shop, Tsuta was listed in the top tier for new shops in the annual Tokyo Ramen of the Year (TRY) ranks, 2013.
Apart from his expert handcrafted ramen noodles, Onishi also has vision to make his ramen shop a global success by opening Tsuta ramen shops throughout the world. In Japan, ramen has long been considered as a cheap, tasty and convenient fast food. However, through business trips in the US, Onishi understood the potential of ramen in the culinary industry, as a food that is tasty, nutritious and good value for money.
Noodles in Tsuta are made with four types of whole-wheat flour, and blended with other ingredients including chashu pork served with black truffle sauce, and a signature broth that is chicken-seafood blend, contains rock salt, red wine and rosemary infusions to enhance the flavors.
In addition to its food, Tsuta is very focused on customer service. In Japan, customer service and interactions have been raised to an art and will be a crucial and unique factor for the company’s global plans. Tsuta’s Tokyo shop overcomes two disadvantages – the size of its shop and its lack of English-language speaking employees by using a ticket vending machine system with clear English-language explanations of the food and easy to order instructions ... just put money into the machine and get your ticket and 2 minutes later your selected Ramen arrives in front of you with outstanding quality that has satisfied thousands of ramen lovers in Tokyo.
After receiving the Michelin star, Onishi quickly received many opportunities from oversea investors. But he has put his trust in partner, Brian Chua, the vice president of Hersing Corporation. Onishi selected Brian’s company because Brian was the only person who flew to Japan to meet him and try his ramen, while others only contacted him by emails. As a result of Brian’s efforts, the restaurant in Singapore will be a partnership with Hersing Corporation and Onishi will be in charge of training the staff, as well as menu quality.
Tsuta is an inspirational story for small eateries throughout Asia where most chefs are not Paris-trained master of gourmet French cuisine, and the menu are usually under $10. In celebration for the new global expansion of Tsuta, we encourage others to follow the company’s outstanding spirit to expand and we hope to see a variety of foods from Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam go to the next level.
