Domo Arigato to Motoneko Cafe for Ready-made Ramen

Todays News

Motoneko pays homage to the Bosozoku motorcycle gangs of Japan, which thrived between the late-1970s and early-2000s. Photo by Andrew Fabian

More often than not, ramen conjures up images of college dorms, where dirty microwaves share counterspace with dirty dishes spilling over from a sink that no roommate wants to claim as their responsibility. Celebrated as a cheap food and nothing else, ramen of the instant variety has kept many a broke and busy college student alive through their romps in higher education. But in this innocuous connotation of pragmatic subsistence, a legitimately delicious food is being murdered.

Actual ramen—the slow-simmering dish of immense complexity and profound umami—exists in a different universe than instant ramen. Real ramen, however, is hardly an easy dish to translate into a fast-casual concept. Fortunately, Motoneko Cafe & Izakaya has figured out a way to make it work. 

Operating out of the lobby in the BOLD cowork space on Fruitville Road and Goodrich Avenue of downtown Sarasota, the Japanese café and bar and its Executive Chef Maria Palafox offer authentic and exceptional ramen with nothing more than countertop implements that would be available to any starving college student. The secret is they cook their ramen broth beforehand and keep it warm before serving up one of their cheekily named options. The Piggy Ramen comes with noodles, a soft-boiled egg and chasu (braised pork belly) in a rich tonkotsu (pork) broth. The café’s barista/server/cook takes a handheld torch to the pork belly before serving to add some char to the savory, slightly spicy flavor profile. Oishii!

Motoneko pays homage to the Bosozoku motorcycle gangs of Japan, which thrived between the late-1970s and early-2000s. Photo by Andrew Fabian

Learn more about Motoneko Cafe & Izakaya here

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