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Paul Beveridge (Ramen Dayo!): Q&A

This interview will make you feel fucking hungry. If you hadn’t heard, Jack and Spencer opened a restaurant in Glasgow. It’s called Ramen Dayo. They do ramen. It’s the business. Paul Beveridge (also part of the Numbers family) is the key to the whole operation. Here’s a wee chat with him about ramen, Japan and karaoke with Jack. Also he’s putting eggs in ice baths. You learn something new every day.

Tell us a little bit about the background of Ramen Dayo…

Ok! I came home from Japan about three years ago and instantly realised that there was no ramen in Glasgow! I’d been eating it three times a week for eleven years. It had become a normal part of my life and there was nowhere I could get it. So I started looking into recipes and speaking to friends in Japan for information. I spent about one year pulling the information together and developing my own recipes. Making ramen is a long thing so I’d be getting home from work on Friday and start making it, then I’d be eating it on the Sunday night.

So whenever Jack and the Numbers crew were in Japan, I used to take them to all my favourite ramen restaurants. So when I got my own recipes to a level I was happy with I got Jack and Callum over to try it. Jack was like ‘Yeah, we should sell this!’. So it basically went from there.

Where did you get the name?

Ramen Dayo means ‘This is ramen’. Pretty simple but I wanted word ramen to be in the title, I don’t want people to think it’s just another Japanese place. I wanted it to be ramen-centric. In Japan, every restaurant specialises in one thing.

What’s the response been like from customers so far?

The reception has been amazing! People that have been to Japan have said it’s the best ramen they had. We also recently got a 10/10 review in the Sunday Herald by a very renowned critic called Joanna Blythman who is very critical. She gave us a 10/10! She said she’d never experienced broth like it.

What’s your personal favourite dish on the menu?

It’s a new one, it’s called Turbo Tantanmen. It’s a sesame based ramen, the turbo makes it super spicy.

What’s been the most popular with customers?

A lot of people go for our signature Tonkotsu. The egg is boiled for 5 minutes and 50 seconds then plunged into an ice bath to stop it cooking any longer. Each egg is then individually peeled and marinaded over night. The yolk is all runny but the outside is nice and firm. It’s got this kind of salty taste on the outside then it’s all creamy on the inside.

For budding ramen enthusiasts, what’s the top tip for cooking ramen?

Top tip is patience. If you feel like a bowl of ramen, you should be eating it two and a half days later! Patience and attention to detail are key. It takes a long time to do everything, there’s no way of speeding it up. I kind of like that about it.

Right finally, what’s the Ramen Dayo music policy?

Right now I’m trying to keep things as close to my experience in Japan as I can. We play a lot of soft jazz and bossanova. Moving forward we’re having people make playlists for us, Twitch (Optimo) recently did a compilation of music from Studio Ghibli movies. I think L-Vis 1990 might do us a playlist. Any artists who are kind of vocal about their love of Japanese music should put together playlists for us!

When you get all of them in you should do a Japanese music playlist for Homework!

Yes! Definitely!

@Ramen_Dayo