Restaurant Review: Three Asian Eateries
Heng Thai, Wara Wara and Sakuratani reimagine traditional cooking with delicious results.
Deep-fried agedashi tofu with dashi broth and bonito flakes. Photography by Angel Tucker.
Sakuratani Ramen and Izakaya
A huge spray of fabric cherry blossoms adorns the entrance of Sakuratani, a small ramen bar that cloaks itself in a largely residential area of Bristol. It’s a fitting welcome for a restaurant that appears simple but whose heart is all revelry. The space is little more than a square but lanterns hang above each table and music that ranges from piccolo to xylophone to instrumental R and B creates a legitimately Zen vibe for the thirty-five nightly diners. Even the lone vestige of modernity — a flat screen TV tuned to ESPN — is overtaken by a massive pop mural that venerates Japanese waters and a thick tangle of ramen noodles.
Congeniality at Sakuratani is demure: Servers will look downward as they mention that the green tea is lava-hot and must not be picked up until it is only tolerably hot. They add that all complaints or suggestions will be taken with the utmost care and consideration. (There are none but the gesture is gracious.) Even advice on how to eat ramen (“Use chopsticks —eat immediately — slurp your noodles”) is posted on the wall so as not to appear dictatorial.
Pan-fried gyoza dumplings with miso soup. Photography by Angel Tucker.
Small as it may be, the restaurant often draws groups of six or eight because every table functions like a party: Small skewers of assorted yakitori come out on trays at the beginning of a meal, from marinated skirt steak or beef tongue to miso-tinged zucchini and eggplant. Even bacon-wrapped vegetables take on an air of serenity when placed delicately on a stoneware dish. But the real draw is ramen, an assortment of subtle broths filled with nests of fine noodles as well as an array of soft eggs, seaweed, bamboo shoots, chashu pork and, if you’re wise, a drizzle of black garlic oil. People slow down considerably once the bowl lands in front of them and life takes on a more meditative tone as the steady systematic slurping commences. It’s true that a wedge of cheesecake fried in tempura batter brings everything back to twenty-first-century speed but for the brief time the aromatic broths glisten in their bowls, peace prevails.
Photography by Angel Tucker.
531 Wood St., Bristol, 396-5036, sakuratani-ramen.com. Wheelchair accessible. Street parking.
Capacity: Thirty-six.
Vibe: Tranquil suburbia.
Essential dish: Ramen.
Prices: $2–$25.
