Ramen Makin’ & Sake Tastin’ in San Francisco
Manville Chan and Jeff Parsons guided us through making the perfect Ramen bowl at The Story of Ramen. All photos by Vita Hewitt.
Is there a better way to bond with friends or co-workers than over a delicious bowl of ramen? How about learning to make it together? The Story of Ramen on 24th Street in San Francisco changes the way we experience Ramen. An interactive cooking class paired with Sake tasting makes for a delicious meal that will change the way you see ramen.
Chef Manville Chan founded The Story of Ramen in 2018 and has curated a communal cooking experience. Diners laugh and work together as they navigate how to make the perfect noodle. Chan trained at the International Ramen School in Yokohama, Japan. Knowing that he didn’t want to open just another restaurant, he sought to offer a unique experience to diners along with his partner, Jeff Parsons.
Manville Chan winds the history and the art of ramen making in each step of the process at The Story of Ramen.
We entered the event to see a line of tables along one side of the room. A row of enticing cups of Sake provided by Yaegaki Saki waited for us.
Sake Tasting provided by Yaegaki Saki kicked off our dining experience.
Sake, we were told, is the result of a special kind of mold named Koji-kin. This is often utilized to saccharify rice, sweet potato, and barley to make alcoholic beverages. We took turns savoring the lovely, lovely, mold on our tongues and attempted to discern top notes of things like plum and cheese. There were no wrong answers and we found that there were no wrong sakes at that table either. All were delicious and brought new flavors both subtle and bold.
Diners learn to create the perfect chewy noodle at The Story of Ramen.
The cleverly spaced ramen-making stations were a huge hit as we followed Chan’s instructions. He was a fantastic host and guided his guests to create the perfect, chewy ramen noodle. All the while, he told us about the history of the dish.
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After bringing out a broth base that has simmered for several hours, Chan showed us a curious device called a Ramen meter. The broth must be a certain thickness to be acceptable.
Additional spices were added later to accommodate each diner’s taste.
Though these noodles are wheat-based, The Story of Ramen has delicious gluten-free options.
We plunged our newly made noodles into hot water for 90 seconds, blow-torched our pork belly and learned where to place the toppings.
All the diners had a lot of fun bonding over the imprecise way we interpreted the precise directions. Chan and Parsons did a wonderful job of making sure that we all ended up with a perfect bowl anyway.
Kayla Brittingham, seen here dressed as a Hungarian milkmaid from the 1870s, made fresh noodles. We were very proud.
The Story of Ramen experience lasted a little over two hours. Many companies choose to book their parties here as a fun way for co-workers to get to know one another better. I’ve always seen soup as a great connector, every culture has their version, and they all have the ability to bring comfort. I’m already craving the food I had there and can’t wait to visit again.
Warrior Jesus showed incredible poise while pressing his noodle.
3231 24th Street, San Francisco
