Meet the Chef: Taro Akimoto
A man who left his comfortable job to follow his taste buds... He has a passion for great tastes, and quality like none other. Meet Taro Akimoto from Taros Ramen. 😊
Foodie Adam: First, tell me your name, who you are, and what's your background?
Taro Akimoto : My name is Taro Akimoto.
I'm a ramen shop owner right now. I've actually always wanted to be a ramen chef. But when I was in Japan, you know, ramen is so big. Everybody's passionate about ramen. Everybody's got their own opinion. They're all critics and they all want to jump in. The profession, ramen chef, in Japan is tough, uber competitive and it didn’t seem realistic back then. I originally came to Australia for the coal business, representing a Japanese trading firm, investing in coal mines, exporting and importing coal. So very much a resource industry, corporate executive, I guess. My assignment was up in 2010, and head office told me to come back to Tokyo. The initial thought was, Nooh! I really love Brisbane. I want to stay in this beautiful city, and is there something I can do to be a part of it and make Brisbane a better place? So that was the moment when it clicked.
FA: Have you ever worked with a ramen chef?
TA: No, no. Pretty much self taught. There are a few ramen schools, maybe three in Japan at the moment. So I went to one of them before opening my shop up. This one is run by a noodle machine manufacturer. When I wanted to open up my ramen shop I want to do it properly and by properly I wanted to make my own noodles, which is pretty much a craft in its own. I was quietly confident about my soup because I was making prototypes at home and getting pretty good results. So I thought I wanted to learn the noodle side, went there for a week and learned the basics. So that was pretty much my only education/training. But a ton of trials and errors after that.
In terms of on the job training, after I quit my resources corporate job, I had a few months in Japan to prepare everything for my opening in Brisbane. So I took a casual position in a ramen shop because I wanted to learn some basic set up information. I actually had to go undercover because there of an incident with a local famous ramen shop. I said to the master of this local famous shop, I want to open up a ramen shop in Australia, I have my own recipe, I won’t be stealing any trade secrets, so can I offer my free labour in exchange for some industry experience. He didn't give me the chance not because he opposed but because he had a few apprentices who said, "Master, we are here with you, we've been serving you for a couple of years. Why are you giving this outsider a chance". I was trying to say that I wasn’t taking any trade secrets plus I am not competing and saying no pay, but the master wanted to maintain peace in his shop so it didn’t happen. Very Japanese. So I just had to go undercover. I went to this other franchise ramen shop and I said yeah, I've got this over qualified resume in the resources industry, getting paid a ton previously but I want to you know, wash your dishes for ten bucks an hour. It was a difficult pitch but I persuaded them. I put on my actor’s face and was able to get in and spent three weeks there. All I wanted to do was... check stuff like where would you have the fridge, next to the noodle cooker? Or how many bowls do you need to make the business go smoothly and that kind of thing. So yeah I got that feel and I really enjoyed working in a ramen kitchen for the first time in my life. I felt sorry that I had to do this undercover and leave the shop in 3 weeks but you know I was only a beginner part timer they didn't miss me that much but yeah I did that and the ramen school so those were the two forms of training I guess.
FA: What persuaded your passion for ramen? What made you interested in ramen to begin with?
TA: Well, you know, when you speak about comfort food, people will probably talk about mom's cooking, and ramen is actually not home cooking. (Q: Did your mom make ramen) . She did actually. Yeah, but a bad attempt at it.
My childhood memory of ramen is that it's something that has to be eaten outside, and my mom's amateur version was just not good enough and that gave me a strong impression that ramen is a craft on its own and it has to be pursued for ages and ages to perfect. So that got me interested. Well she's from Kyushu so she made a tonkotsu. But she's also a very natural health conscious cook. So she didn't put any MSG in it, and she just boiled the pork bones for hours and hours. She got the right texture and color but the umami was not there, unfortunately.
When I started living on my own and could choose what to eat, I found myself eating away all the ramen shops in town. It’s endless variety and the passion involved made me addicted, and plus usually only costs you less than $10 for a bowl.
FA: What would you say your comfort food is? Besides ramen :)
TA: Well, yeah, ramen if I could choose ramen. Besides ramen, I grew up in America. So I have a soft spot for burgers you know. I would say burgers, fries and coke.
FA: You've done many one off ramen specials here. What is one that you've enjoyed the most? And what is one of your favorite ingredients or flavors to work with?
TA: My usual answer is, “They're all my children so I can't pick my favorite son/daugther.” But if I had to talk about one in particular, maybe the kyoto ramen. It is inspired by the first ramen that gave me a different perception of ramen. There’s the authentic and traditional styles like shoyu ramen from Tokyo and tonkotsu ramen from Kyushu. But when I went to Kyoto, they have this chain called Tenkaippin . And when you taste it, it makes you wonder. It's not tonkotsu. It's not shoyu, it's not miso. So what category is it? What is inside? And the secret is, actually it's pretty close to like a potato and leek soup. So lots of vegetable solids that's dissolved into the soup. So not just the animal fats and proteins and collagens which make up the usual ramen soup but this one had a heavy does of vegetables of it a new concept, because nobody had that kind of really big thick intense soup and it just made me wonder what's inside. I guess it made an impression that ramen has so much potential to be anything that the chef wants it to be. So I guess it's symbolic and it's also a combination of so many elements so I guess this Kyoto ramen that we had as last month’s special is one of my favorites.
FA: And what's your favorite ingredient or flavor that you like to work with?
TA: Well, I can't I can't go past Bangalow Sweet Pork. It’s the most fundamental ingredient in my cooking. When I started my ramen shop 10 years ago, I taste tested all the pork available to me in Brisbane. And when I tasted Bangalow Sweet Pork I knew straight away this is the one. We only bring out a certain aspects of Bangalow Sweet Pork in our ramen. So at home, I would just put the coals burning and take a cut of pork collar butt, it's the same cup that we use for the charsiu. But the charsiu we would marinate it for days with koji marinade and then sous vide it to get a ham like esult but if you just take a fresh collar butt, cut it steak thick and grill it on the charcoal, it's just spectacular, and that kind of cooking I can't do in a ramen shop. But I love cooking at home. Bangalow Sweet Pork, the flavor, the good balance of the fat and the umami, and it's not overly expensive.
Fire Tonkotsu
FA: When you were in school you used to go on a lot food journeys around Japan. Do you still do that in Brisbane like with your family, do you still travel around try different cafes?
TA: I try to as much as possible. But you know, being a family of five with a little one, it’s a bit difficult. Like we go back to Japan. I want to hit all the ramen spots like lunch, dinner, lunch, dinner, repeat. And I would if I were by myself... I would do like four places a day easily. Yeah. But as a family we can’t prioritize my personal food craze over various plans so it just can’t happen.
But yeah, if we travel I try to make food as the main event. For example, we do a trip to Sydney. On the way back maybe we go the longer route and drive through the Hunter Valley to have a nice meal at a winery restaurant, do some cellar tastings. Next stop might be Tamworth or Warwick and sample a nice steak there. Or if we go camping, dinner is always the climax, buy some local produce and cook up a storm kind of thing. But Brisbane every day eating. We're limited to our budget, to kids friendly atmosphere, and I do like to try new places but most of the other family members have their favourite spots.
We live on the north side. But almost every weekend we're in Sunnybank (Haoke or Landmark for yumcha). We regularly go to, Inala for pho. Recently, our current favorite spot because its getting cold, there's a little hotpot place in Mount Gravatt, called Rong Fu. It's amazingly hot. They can split the pot. So on this side, we have the spicy on this side we have the curry flavor one which was sort of like a mild Thai curry. Yeah. And the kids enjoyed that. And I enjoyed the spicy .
FA: Apart from the hospitality industry. Where would you work today? And if you didn't pick the ramen shop background, what would you see yourself doing?
TA: Well, jumping into the restaurant industry, I had my backup plans because, you know how competitive hospitality is, and I had no guarantee of succeeding.
I really loved working with my colleagues in my previous Japanese trading house. So that's a very realistic valid option. I enjoyed the role because I was the link between Australia and Japan. Japan doesn't have any natural resources. So there was satisfaction of achieving something of national interest and contributing to Japan's energy security.
Aside from that the thought of becoming a lawyer crossed my mind. I had a few disputes or difficulties when I was initially trying to open up my restaurant and being an inexperienced outsider, it was difficult to get things started. My good friend who is a lawyer gave me realistic advice and I really appreciated that so I think it would be a rewarding job. I am not bad with my grammar and enjoy reading/writing, if I combine that with my business experience, I think I could provide good practical advice to a myriad of customers. So I think becoming a lawyer would be exciting and interesting.
FA: With all the ramen shops opening up, what do you believe makes Taros Ramen stand out from the rest?
TA: I'm a serious ramen aficionado. So every ramen is good ramen to me. I'll definitely go to any new shops when I have the chance. People might say, oh I didn't enjoy that, yours is much better or something like that but I would totally enjoy it. There is no such thing as bad ramen!
What sets me apart? I definitely know that I am passionate about ramen, and I have an obsession regarding quality. So I have had invitations in the past to open a shop up in Canada or Singapore, or franchise out to other cities. But I have decided all the time, No. If I'm putting my name on it, if it's Taros Ramen, it has to be my ramen. I might consider consulting and helping other people out but in my business name and my ramen, I want to be able to put my hand on my heart, and, you know, just stand by the quality. So passion probably sets me apart, and also I'm interested in all types of foods. So I can take inspirations from any new dishes or different types of cooking. So you know, some of the chain ramen shops can only do a single item on the menu. But I can play around. Like, for example, have you had the truffle ramen? Yeah, yeah. You know, that's definitely not a traditional ramen dish. It's a mix of Western and Japanese. But I think I'm getting really good results. That’s the creative side of me wanting to express myself using a ramen. So I guess creativity and passion. Those are the stuff that I like to think that makes me different from others
INSTAGRAM QUESTIONS
FA: Do you still cook at home?
TA: My wife cooks too but yeah, if I have time I usually end up taking over.
I cook a mix of everything. But I try to cook healthy because, ramen is as much as I want it to be healthy. It is not exactly healthy, and when we eat out it’s so difficult to eat healthy stuff. I'll tell you what I cooked last night. A potato and salmon mash. A daikon & carrot salad with roasted onion dressing, grilled lotus roots, lotus roots is in season now so you can get it fresh from Asian grocers just cut it two centimeter thickness and just grill or pan fry in canola oil, a bit of soy sauce in the end, it's nice. My meat dish was a beef and capsicum stir fry with pepper and oyster sauce, and a side of steamed brown rice. So that's hopefully my detox menu that will give me the required portion of veggies to offset my ramen. We try to eat maybe twice, three times a week that kind of healthy stuff, and then then psychologically you are entitled to relax or indulge for the rest of the week.
FA: If you had to pick one which is more important than the other? Would it be the noodles or the soup?
TA: Soup. Take for example of my revelation moment at Tenkaippin, the noodles didn't wow me, but the soup was something that really amazed me. That said, being Japanese, the noodle is just such a daily staple, it’s often taken for granted. Even if it's not ramen, you have soba or udon. You just grow up with all these different types of noodles. So it's like, even like rice. There is massive care and an absolute mountain of discipline involved in preparing it right to make sure it ticks all the boxes for qualities like the firmness or the slipperiness or the temperature or the lack of sliminess etc but in comparison, the soup is the more luxurious side. It's more interesting. There's the layers of flavors. Soup is more of a multi layered enjoyment than noodles.
Having said that. Buckwheat noodles “soba” in Japan is a real traditional craft on its own again, and there's thousands of soba speciality shops that just specialize in it. Hand kneaded, buckwheat dough, hand cut, and it's the only thing on the menu. When you talk about soba in Japan, that's the only thing. So very strict. Unlike ramen, ramen can be anything but soba can only be a specific thing, which is the buckwheat noodles itself plus a cold or warm fish stock (plus variations in toppings) so you're so limited to what you can express by the limitation of those ingredients. But there's such a vast variety of qualities and expressions. So saying the noodle side of it is simple and not interesting is a disrespect to noodlemaking in general which is an art in its own. So the two can never be discussed separately.
FA: What is the weirdest thing you've ever eaten and cooked?
TA: Frogs maybe? From a Western perspective I guess locusts would be weird too. It’s not too uncommon in Japan. Simmered, braised, a long time in soy and sugar so you can't really taste it. It's just a crunchy texture. I've actually never eaten but curious about eating those, you know things in Taiwan where they eat those eggs that are about to hatch, balut? I would like to try them one day.
FA: When are you planning to expand outside of Brisbane, because other cities have no idea what good ramen is?
TA: Well, thank you for saying that! But like I said before, I don't plan to branch out.
FA: If you had to pick a ramen to be to describe you as a person. Which ramen that you do would be Taros?
TA: Maybe the truffle ramen just because I have a little bit more cultural background than just pure Japanese having grown up in America. And the way I tried to experiment out of curiosity... you know mixing in everything,, Maybe describes who I am.
FA: What's your perfect burger?
TA: A simple burger from Teddy's in Honolulu. I'm not too keen on cheese or those milk buns or brioche buns. Simple plain bun that’s not sweet, ketchup, mayo, iceberg lettuce, tomato, pickles, onions. Burger patty has to be a decent thickness with a hue of pink, medium and dripping juicy.
FA: What is your future plans with Taro's Ramen?
TA: We've got four shops at the moment. I don't know maybe two or three more? Basically I want it to be within my personal sight. Probably Brisbane local. Maybe Sunshine Coast, maybe Gold Coast. If I have for example, a really long term trusted staff who wanted to open up something far away, maybe we can go a bit further. He/she can take our way of doing things over there and I can support it with my occasional visit.
Aside from ramen, I am interested in doing something different. Maybe like a Gyutan speciality shop. In my hometown, Sendai there's plenty of specialty restaurants that only serve Gyutan (beef tongue). So they have this big charcoal spit, and the craftsmen with their long chopsticks, they have their thinly cut and marinated tongue on and turn it over and make sure to cook it perfectly medium. So all customers order is small or large, and they just grill this ox tongue, put it on a plate with some pickled cabbage, and miso pickled chili, rice and tail soup, that’s it. It's a regional specialty. But it's getting really popular in Japan, and there's Sendai style Gyutan specialty restaurants all over Japan now. Offal is so underutilized here and something like a Sendai gyutan or charcoal robata style doing offal would agree with my “nothing to waste” philosophy.
