About Ramen Dayo
Ramen Dayo was born out of an unrelenting quest to taste the same kind of ramen that our Glaswegian-Tokyoite owner had enjoyed day-after-day during his 12 years living in Japan's capital. Upon returning to his hometown, the longstanding daily routine was broken - there were no dedicated ramen shops in Scotland at this time, and the best attempts were poor impersonations.
Thus began a 3-year journey to create what was missing. Studying to become a ramen chef at home in a tiny kitchen of a tenement flat in Glasgow's Gallowgate is no easy feat. Painstaking research began, followed by trial-and-error through cooking for close friends, many of whom had visited Tokyo's finest establishments during the years before. This intensive R&D project came from the heart - an authentic search for lost flavours, memories & experiences, which birthed many of the Ramen Dayo recipes we still serve today.
Fast forward to December 2016, and with the help and support of some of these friend-come-taste-testers, Ramen Dayo! (meaning simply "this is, ramen!") started serving from our hand-built ‘yatai’ ramen cart, with some specialised parts imported from Tokyo. This lived in Gordon St Lane next to Glasgow Central station, serving original fast-food to city centre workers and party-goers, echoing its Shinjuku yokocho counterparts.
The cart quickly gained local popularity, receiving a 10/10 review from Joanna Blythman in Glasgow's Sunday Herald, followed by International acclaim as Scotland's only premium ramen shop as highlighted by the New York Times. In July 2017 Ramen Dayo opened our first full restaurant nearby, and during the following year expanded to Ashton Lane in the West End of Glasgow. The rest is history.
Our mission
To create an authentic ramen dining experience, using only high quality ingredients to produce the best tasting ramen in the UK at a competitive price. Consistency, attention to detail and pride in every dish served is central to our success.
Ramen Dayo strives not only to create the best tasting, most authentic ramen outside of Japan, but also to translate ramen culture to Scotland - where it was sorely lacking before we started. From the food and surroundings, to the service, atmosphere and mentality of our staff.
Food philosophy
WE TAKE PRIDE IN FOLLOWING TRADITIONAL METHODS OF PREPARING OUR RAMEN FROM SCRATCH.
Our rich, creamy tonkotsu broth is made by simmering pork bones for many hours, to extract every last bit of flavour & goodness. The ‘chashu’ pork belly is slow cooked for 5 hours, and our seasoned soft-boiled eggs are marinated over night.Our ‘mayu’ burnt garlic oil is created during a slow process of frying garlic slices over and over until they undergo The Maillard reaction - resulting in a complex, aromatic flavour.
That means, all in all, a total of over 50 hours goes into each bowl of our ramen!
Sake, beer & cocktails
We offer a hand-picked selection of sake, Japanese whisky, gin & beer, to pair with our food.
We also have a popular range of original cocktails which use typical Japanese ingredients like matcha and yuzu, alongside classics like oolong-hi and whisky hi-ball.
If alcohol isn't your thing, be sure to check out our homemade soft drinks like the yuzu cooler and ginger beer.