Flame-Blistered Ramen Arrives in Bernal Heights

Popular San Diego ramen house RakiRaki Ramen & Tsukemen is now open in San Francisco. Taking over the former Ichi Sushi space at 3282 Mission Street, RakiRaki’s fourth location — and first outside San Diego — is already drawing lines for its distinctive bowls of ramen.

The Bernal Heights restaurant serves a variety of ramen, including Hakata-style tonkotsu and Tokyo-style tsukemen, where you dip thick noodles into a rich side of broth. But what’s going to set it apart in SF’s ramen scene are more unique variations, like the black edition tonkotsu, roasted with binchotan charcoal and fermented with garlic oil for 18 years; the wok-sizzled kimchi-miso ramen with a pickled egg; or the vegetarian ramen with kale noodles, jalapeno chips, and wakame. Across the board, RakiRaki blisters the top of each bowl with a torch, aburi-style.

Appetizers like chicken karaage and gyoza, donburi rice bowls, and bombastic sushi rolls round out the menu from Tokyo-born chef-owner Junya Watanabe, who spent time shadowing top ramen chefs in Japan before opening his first restaurant in 2012. While he was known for bringing ramen burgers to San Diego, he’s not serving them in SF.

RakiRaki Ramen & Tsukemen/Facebook

RakiRaki Ramen & Tsukemen is open daily from 5 to 10 p.m.

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