This Northwest Portland food cart serves world-class ramen from a Japanese chef – Here is Oregon - hereisoregon.com

Nov 06, 2024

If Japan’s Niigata prefecture is known for anything, it’s snow. The snow resorts of Yuzawa. The classic novel “Snow Country,” which Nobel Prize winner Yasunari Kawabata wrote at the nearby Takahan Ryokan. And of course the high-end outdoors company Snow Peak, which has its American headquarters in Northwest Portland.

So when Snow Peak invited Niigata chef Yoshimitsu Seki to open a ramen truck on the patio of its flagship’s restaurant, Takibi, it only made sense for snow to play a role.

For its new lunchtime-only ramen service, Takibi is importing noodles made from snow-aged flour, a traditional aging method in Niigata whereby meat, produce and grains are kept cool by natural snow, a process some say enhances their sweetness and flavor.

Now, all the snow aging in the world isn’t going to matter much if the ramen stinks. But this ramen ($18) is very good, elegant in a way most American ramen isn’t, with luxurious broths that drape around those noodles like velvet cloth, and unusual toppings such as chashu sliced thin and pink like roast beef. It’s the best thing I’ve tried at Takibi since it opened in 2021, and one of Portland’s best ramens this side of Toya.

The ramen itself isn’t very representative of Niigata, a region better known for broths perfumed with ginger or capped with a healthy float of pork back fat, which acts as a sort of cold-weather insulating device for your bowl (and, later, your belly). Instead, the three styles on offer come from Tokyo’s more refined style: an intensely butter-rich tori shio (chicken/salt broth) and a fortified shoyu (soy) spiked with citrus-y sansho pepper that is to most shoyu ramens what port is to wine.

This being Portland, there’s also a surprisingly strong vegan option with a milky “tonkotsu-style” broth, frilly mushrooms and soy protein in place of pork. Fans of fermented bamboo shoots take note — the thick thumbs of imported menma placed above Takibi’s carefully folded noodles are a delight.

On a programming note: The ramen might be here to stay, but chef Seki isn’t. According to a Takibi representative, he returns to Japan on Saturday, Nov. 2.

Takibi serves its ramen from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday at 2275 N.W. Flanders St., 971-888-5713, takibipdx.com. The ramen is made in the restaurant’s new food truck, but ordering and table service take place inside the restaurant. Also available: uninspiring nigiri flights ($35-$55; or +$17 to add four pieces for a ramen combo). Gyoza would be more traditional, and more welcome.

— Michael Russell; [email protected]

Each week, restaurant critic Michael Russell takes Oregonian/OregonLive subscribers along on his culinary explorations. Not a subscriber? You can receive a few weeks of The Best Thing I Ate This Week newsletter as a free trial. Sign up here.