84 Global Foods

When Roy Takahashi wanted to open his own noodle bar, he felt it was important to add a deeply personal touch – his own name. But he found that Torontonians couldn’t quite get their tongues around his Japanese name – Ryuichiro – so he dropped the second half of his name, added an “s” to the end and called it Ryus Noodle Bar. “Ryuichiro is my real name in Japan, but people cannot speak my Japanese name,” he laughs, “so that’s why my English name is Roy.”

After he had settled on the name for his noodle bar, the next step of business for Roy was to create an authentic Japanese menu. Incorporating ramen into his dishes was a priority. When it came time to settle on a list of offerings for his Baldwin Village customers, Roy borrowed from his restaurant background back in Japan and came up with a mouth-watering list of soups, noodle dishes, ramen combos and gyoza. His secret weapon? Providing ramen sauce and oil to be paired with the noodles, such as garlic-and-shallot oil, truffle oil, and sweet-and-spicy ginger paste.