Raleigh is getting a new ramen shop as a popular Cary noodle house expands
After growing up in his parents’ restaurants, Ke Wang swore that once he graduated college he was done with the restaurant industry, dreaming of the corporate world as his refuge.
But he said he was burned out after two years and was back in the kitchen soon after.
Wang and his brother Long teamed up with brothers Noi and Peck Chay to open Cary’s Miso Ramen in early 2020. Now, after weathering the last year and a half, Miso is expanding to Raleigh’s Gateway Plaza, joining restaurants Union Special and Fine Folk and the beer bar Mordecai Beverage Company.
Ke Wang is Miso’s main operator, with the three other partners working in pharmaceuticals.
As Wang was growing up in Cary, his parents ran approximately 20 restaurants in North Carolina, what Ke described as American-Chinese restaurants and hibachi. He said he wanted a different life.
“I hated it,” Wang said. “As soon as I graduated and got a corporate job, I was never touching restaurants again.”
But the kitchen managed to pull him back in.
‘The ultimate comfort food’
“The inspiration for a ramen restaurant was just the moment I tried it for the first time,” Wang said. “It’s the ultimate comfort food.”
Miso opened in Cary’s Preston Commons shopping center in 2020, just a few weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down restaurants. Ke Wang said those few weeks helped Miso introduce itself and build a noodle-loving fan base before shifting much of its business to takeout.
“We have amazing customers and a loyal fan base that kept us going,” Wang said. “Right when we first opened we got a good number of customers and then did a good amount of takeout.”
The second Miso joins the revamped Gateway Plaza shopping center in Raleigh, which is currently anchored by Union Special Bread. Wang said he considered the downtowns of the Triangle and spots near colleges, but that Gateway stood out.
“There are a lot of cool places in there; the foot traffic is similar to Cary and the customer demographic enjoys ramen,” Wang said.
More small dishes
The new Miso will serve the same basic menu as the original, but with more kitchen space, Wang plans to add new small dishes like fried chicken and ginger soy wings, octopus fries and more cold noodle bowls.
Currently the Miso menu is built around different styles of ramen, with Wang saying the pork-based tonkatsu, where pork bones are simmered for hours, is the top seller. Other bowls include a spicy tonkatsu, a chicken-based miso ramen, a spicy miso ramen with tomatoes and the soy sauce based Shoyu.
Ke Wang said to expect more Miso locations in the future, mentioning Holly Springs and Greensboro as dots on the radar.
The Gateway location should open early in 2022, possibly by February, Wang said. The space is an empty shell for now, and Miso will be the first business to move in. This Miso will be roughly twice the size of the original location, which has room for around 30 people.
Many diners came to know ramen through the cheap instant packs, but the long-simmering broths of proper bowls are a whole other world.
“Ramen is becoming like sushi, it’s continued to gain steam and now it’s in the mainstream,” Wang said. “There’s still a little education factor, but we’re happy to show people what actual ramen is and how they do it right in Japan.”
This story was originally published November 17, 2021 at 11:00 AM.
