Shoryuken Ramen: Serving Up Fresh Ramen Close to Campus

Contributing Writer
Khaa’rym Al-maliq Alleem

Do you like Street Fighter? Do you like ramen? Then you have to try Shoryuken Ramen, a new restaurant on campus. Shoryuken Ramen is as the title would imply, a ramen shop, however they sell more than just ramen. It’s located at 900 W. Franklin Street just above the Virginia Book Company, so it’s likely that many of you have passed it in your travels.

Shoryuken Ramen was funded by a Kickstarter which earned them over 10,000 dollars and opened in April earlier this year. The name Shoryuken comes from the videogame Street Fighter. The restaurant also sells house cocktails named after various characters from the game like Ryu, Chun Li and even Secret Boss.
While the restaurant is easy to walk to, there is a small parking lot to the left of the building and street parking on the road. However, the parking is not free, so use it at your own discretion.
When I walked in, I was immediately seated. The restaurant is rather small, so seating may be harder to find during peak business hours. Half of the store is a bar, the other half was a dining area. Our waiter immediately began helping me out with the menu. The menu is very simple, however for those who aren’t used to eat Japanese style food the waiter will guide you through everything from ingredients, to chef specials and even their personal favorites.

During my visit, I ate the Tonkotsu Ramen. As a college student I’ve had my fair share of instant ramen, so it was very refreshing to actually eat real ramen. The ramen was served in a Kyushu style milky pork bone broth with noodles, chashu pork, an ajitama egg, bamboo, wood ear mushrooms, scallions, nori and mayu garlic oil.

They brought me my food in a large bowl, that was filled to the top. Everything in the ramen was delicious. The broth was creamy and seasoned very well. Each ingredient from the egg to the scallions tasted great on their own, but in the broth they were elevated to a whole other level since the flavors worked well together. I would definitely recommend everyone try it out.

Shoryuken Ramen is an inexpensive place to go for some quality ramen with a few friends to have lunch or dinner. All of the food there is no more than 10 dollars, and for what you get, that’s more than worth it. So if you’re in the mood to try something different yet tasty, be sure to give Shoryuken a try.