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John E. Watson hopes to upset people with the soup at Hokkaido Ramen House.
“I plan to be the best and most talked about restaurant in Kalispell,” said Watson, the managing director.
This is not a difficult task in Watson’s mind, as the Hokkaido Ramen brand is built on a tradition of excellence.
The company started three years ago in Helena. The founder, a Chinese immigrant, studied ramen in Japan in order to prepare the most authentic and high-quality dishes. Today, Hokkaido Ramen includes eight locations in Montana and Idaho, with a ninth restaurant slated to open soon in Coeur d’Alene.
“We want to be the biggest ramen house in America,” said Watson, who launched the new Kalispell restaurant three weeks ago.
He thinks Hokkaido Ramen House has what it takes to make it happen.
“Our taste profile can rival the best,” Watson said. Hokkaido Ramen broths are boiled for at least eight hours before being distributed to customers. Preparation is the key ingredient on Hokkaido’s menu, according to Watson.
Hokkaido Ramen House offers 12 varieties of ramen, all designed by the original founder of Hokkaido in Helena. Each recipe comes with a combination of noodles, eggs, meats and vegetable toppings. Unlike Asian fusion restaurants, Hokkaido Ramen comes as close as possible to traditional ramen recipes.
The most popular bowls are the Garlic Tonkotsu Ramen, made with pork broth, and the Tantanman Ramen, which starts with a chicken base. In the future, Watson would also like to add fish broth.
In addition to ramen, Hokkaido’s signature starter, the restaurant also offers appetizers, sushi, and boba tea. Some of the menu items will be instantly recognizable, but others give Asian classics a creative new twist. An example that can only be found in Hokkaido Ramen House is the Bozeman Roll, a sushi option made with salmon, cream cheese, and avocado. The Bozeman roll is fried in a tempura batter and served with eel sauce and spicy mayonnaise.
Even with exotic offerings like the Bozeman Roll, Watson said he seeks simplicity at the Kalispell Hokkaido Ramen House. He joined the company in 2019, and efficiency has been the most important thing to remember from the two years he spent at the Hokkaido headquarters in Helena. Watson got his start in the kitchen there, then rose through the ranks to a chef role before finally taking the reins as general manager at Kalispell this summer.
Under his leadership, Watson wants the Kalispell site to offer meals that would be considered “fine dining” dishes, but at a lower price and 45 minutes at all times.
“We want to make our food fast, but we don’t want to be fast food,” Watson explained.
Hokkaido Ramen House has replaced The Staggering Ox, a sandwich shop that closed its Kalispell store three years ago. Watson aims to operate with the same speed and no-frills approach, but with better quality foods not found anywhere else in the Flathead.
“People [in Kalispell] have always been expecting good ramen, ”Watson said.
Hokkaido Ramen House is located at 110 Hutton Ranch Road, Suite 101. Hours of operation are 11:30 am to 2:30 pm and 4:30 pm to 8:30 pm, Monday through Thursday; 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday; 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Saturday and 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday.
Journalist Bret Anne Serbin can be reached at 406-758-4459 or [email protected].
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