New Kalispell restaurant offers authentic ramen

John E. Watson hopes to bowl people over with the soup at Hokkaido Ramen House.

“I plan on being the best and most talked about restaurant in Kalispell,” said Watson, the general manager.

That’s not a tall order in Watson’s mind, because the Hokkaido Ramen brand is built on a tradition of excellence.

The company started three years ago in Helena. The founder, a Chinese immigrant, studied ramen in Japan in order to make the most authentic, high-quality dishes. Now Hokkaido Ramen includes eight locations in Montana and Idaho, with a ninth restaurant slated to open soon in Coeur d' Alene.

“We want to be the biggest ramen house in America,” said Watson, who launched the new Kalispell restaurant three weeks ago.

He believes Hokkaido Ramen House has the chops to make that happen.

“Our taste profile can compete with the best,” Watson said. Hokkaido Ramen’s broths are boiled for at least eight hours before they go out to customers. Preparation is the key ingredient across Hokkaido’s menu, according to Watson.

Hokkaido Ramen House offers 12 ramen varieties, all crafted by the original Hokkaido founder in Helena. Each recipe comes with a combination of noodles, eggs, meats and vegetable toppings. Unlike Asian-fusion restaurants, Hokkaido Ramen hews as closely as possible to traditional ramen recipes.

The most popular bowls are the Garlic Tonkotsu Ramen, made with a pork broth, and the Tantanman Ramen, which starts from a chicken base. In the future, Watson would also like to add a fish broth.

In addition to ramen, Hokkaido’s signature entrée, the restaurant also offers appetizers, sushi and boba tea. Some of the menu items will be recognizable to anyone, but others put a creative new spin on Asian classics. One example that can only be found at Hokkaido Ramen House is the Bozeman roll, a sushi option made with salmon, cream cheese and avocado. The Bozeman roll is deep-fried in tempura batter and served with eel sauce and spicy mayonnaise.

Even with exotic offerings like the Bozeman roll, Watson said he’s striving for simplicity at the Kalispell Hokkaido Ramen House. He joined the company in 2019, and efficiency has been the biggest takeaway from the two years he spent at the Hokkaido headquarters in Helena. Watson got his start in the kitchen there, then worked his way up to a chef position before finally taking the reins as general manager in Kalispell this summer.

Under his leadership, Watson wants the Kalispell location to offer meals that would be considered “fine dining” fare, but with a smaller price tag and a 45-minute turnaround at all times.

“We want to make our food fast, but we don’t want to be fast food,” Watson explained.

Hokkaido Ramen House took the place of The Staggering Ox, a sandwich shop that closed its Kalispell location three years ago. Watson aims to operate with the same speed and no-frills approach, but with higher-quality food that can’t be found anywhere else in the Flathead.

“People [in Kalispell] have been waiting for good ramen forever,” Watson reported.

Hokkaido Ramen House is located at 110 Hutton Ranch Road, Suite 101. Hours are 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Monday through Thursday; 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday; 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Saturday and 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday.

Reporter Bret Anne Serbin may be reached at 406-758-4459 or bserbin@dailyinterlake.com.