BENGALURU: Kavan Kuttappa’s latest venture couldn’t have come at a better time. With summer about to give way to the monsoon, Kuttappa’s Naru Noodle Bar will supply city residents with everything they need to enjoy a warm bowl of ramen amid the gloominess (both of the weather and the current state of affairs). Kuttappa, who until April was the culinary head of Permit Room and Toit, didn’t wait long to dive right into his next stint - craft noodles and ramen.
“I have been a part of different kitchens in the food and beverage industry for 10 years and have loved every bit of it. But I also felt it was time to launch a space of my own,” he says.
After making an official announcement on Instagram last month, Kuttappa sent out his first batch of kits two Sundays ago, and for now, aims to keep the weekly format going. “The kits contain all the five components you need to make a bowl of ramen - noodles made from scratch, broth, toppings, tare or the seasoning element and aroma oils,” says the 34-year-old, who is pricing the bowls at around Rs 750 per portion.
Each week’s menu (which goes live on Thursday) will have a different type of ramen. While the kit is sent out on Sundays, work begins on Monday, with Kuttappa ideating. While this week’s is yet to be announced, last week featured the Tantanmen - a Japanese take on Sichuan dan dan noodles, but made with a yuzu hazelnut crumble, inspired from a Japanese outlet called Afuri Ramen. Once the menu is announced, the next few days are spent neck deep in the kitchen to prepare the ware for delivery.
While the noodles are made from scratch, Kuttappa does rely on vendors in the city to source ingredients like dried fish and seaweed from Japan. After cooking up South Indian pub-friendly food for the Permit Room, Kuttappa’s experiments with the East Asian ramen may come as a surprise, but is a plan that’s been simmering for a while now. Kuttappa tried this noodle soup dish for the first time in the United States in 2012, where it made its way into his stomach and found a permanent place in his heart.
“It’s always been at the back of my mind,” says Kuttappa, who has been perfecting the art of making ramen at home for the past nine months. Besides online resources, he also reached out to various non-Japanese ramen making enthusiasts to learn more. But what drew this South Bengalurean to ramen in the first place? Comfort, he says, recalling a memory from a trip to Japan in 2018.
It involves three friends, a tiff and a 5am pitstop for the dish.
“Everything felt good again after that. It just felt like the necessity of the hour,” he says. Just like choosing Sunday to send out his ramen kits. “It’s the day everyone is home and a nice siesta is just what you need post this meal,” says Kuttappa, who hopes to have a physical place - even if it’s a hole in the wall - by the year-end for Naru Noodle Bar.
For details, check out @ eatnaru on Instagram