After more than a year and a half of indicating it was “Coming Soon,” Noodle Doodles will be serving up its signature Japanese soup starting July 25. The long-awaited noodle restaurant will have its soft open Friday, serving bowls of ramen starting at lunchtime until they sell out.
Owner Ray Dheng, who also owns two Wen’s Yunnan Noodles & Ramen in downtown Boston, said he is excited to finally open this new-concept restaurant. He said he plans to use the next few weeks to work out the kinks and get his staff up to speed before they begin officially promoting and advertising.
“Quality is first,” said Dheng. “That’s why we want to focus on training the employees and to keep the best quality we can.”
Noodle Doodles is different from his other restaurants, explained Dheng, because it focuses on only ramen, not a combination of Chinese and Japanese noodle dishes and rice dishes.
“After many years’ experience, we want to try another direction,” he said. “How we can make a better quality overall for the ramen experience.” He said maybe down the road he might consider doing a separate upscale rice noodle restaurant, but he won’t do another combined concept.
Dheng said his favorite dish is the tonkotsu ramen, which is a creamy pork broth that takes 48 hours to prepare.
“We don’t use any pre-made soup base,” he said. “For the soup, we definitely make it in house for everything. That makes a difference because that takes a lot of patience every day to make a good soup.” And although the kitchen is not equipped to hand-make the noodles, Dheng said they source top-quality products.
“We love noodles,” said Kevin Keane, Select Board member. “It’s different, it’s new, it’s delicious, and it’s great for Needham.” He said the restaurant will be a draw for people to come to town and boost economic vitality. “We always want to keep the downtown energized and interesting and engaging.”
Dheng said he is cautiously excited about the opening. “I don’t want to disappoint anybody,” he said. “So I’m excited, but conscious about quality and operations.”
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