Popular Wichita ramen restaurant will close for a month, reopen with a new concept
Yokohama Ramen Joint — the popular ramen restaurant that opened in Delano in 2016 — will close in a few weeks and undergo a transformation that will turn it into a combination ramen restaurant and boba tea shop.
Jack Fukuda and Amy Yu say they will shut down their shop at 613 W. Douglas on June 16 and spend three weeks to a month transforming the inside of the space. They’ll reduce seating from 30 to 16, add a boba bar and increase their boba tea offerings from their current six flavors to more than 20.
When it reopens in mid-July, the restaurant will have two concepts in one. It’ll still be Yokohama Ramen Joint but will also operate as Mr. Lion Tea, and the signs on the front of the restaurant will reflect the merger. Mr. Lion Tea is Fukuda’s own boba brand, which he started serving back when he owned Beard Papa’s, a dessert shop that operated on the upper level of Towne East Square from 2013 to 2018. He already serves the tea at both Yokohama Ramen Joint and his east-side restaurant, Yokohama Ramen Izakaya at 6434 E. Central.
If all goes well with the rebranding, Fukuda and Yu hope to open a Mr. Lion Tea next to their east-side restaurant as well.
Yu said that she and Fukuda hope the change will help them serve their growing number of boba fans, who have been stopping in just to get the popular tea drink. They’ve seen even more boba traffic since the new Riverfront Stadium opened nearby, she said.
They plan to reduce their Delano food menu slightly — though they’ll keep all their ramen and rice dishes — and will eliminate table-side service. Instead, customers will order their food at the counter and then choose a seat. That change will also help them deal with staffing shortages hitting the restaurant industry, she said.
The couple’s east-side restaurant, Yokohama Ramen Izakaya, will remain open during the remodel, so people needing ramen fix can visit there.
This story was originally published May 27, 2021 at 12:24 PM.
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