Ranita Ramen: Small new Hobart eatery providing special Tasmanian twist on Japan’s national dish

A pair of hospitality powerhouses have opened a tiny ramen bar in Hobart’s CBD – and there’s something special about their take on Japan’s wildly popular national dish.

Ranita Ramen has recently opened in Hobart. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

A compact new ramen bar tucked away on Liverpool St is serving up a uniquely Tasmanian spin on Japan’s national dish and developing a cult following in the process.

Zoë Erskine and Javier García Tornel, the couple behind Ranita Ramen, use homemade noodles and locally sourced ingredients to concoct mouth-watering culinary creations, which are proving to be a hit with Hobartians.

The nine-seat bar has a short menu, featuring a meat and a vegetarian option, as well as seasonal soups.

Zoë Erskine with husband and chef Javier García Tornel. Ranita Ramen has recently opened in Hobart. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

“We knew we wanted a really tiny space because we wanted it to just be the two of us because that’s how we’re used to working and that’s how we like to work,” Ms Erskine said.

“We just wanted to keep it super simple.”

Ms Erskine and Mr García Tornel met in Melbourne over a decade ago and both have a wealth of experience in hospitality.

The couple ran a similarly small Melbourne-style cafe in Madrid, where they lived for seven years before settling in Ms Erskine’s native Tasmania.

While others may have been trying their hand at making sourdough bread from scratch during the Covid pandemic, Mr García Tornel began making ramen noodles while living in lockdown in Spain.

Ms Erskine said the pair had fallen in love with ramen and Japanese culture more broadly when they first visited the country in 2012.

“We realised that [ramen] was just something really fun and … something you can be creative with,” she said.

Ranita Ramen has recently opened in Hobart. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

While Ranita Ramen hasn’t been open long, Ms Erskine and Mr García Tornel are delighted by the level of patronage they’ve seen so far.

“We’re really happy with the support of the community. It’s been really nice,” Mr García Tornel said.

People from Hobart’s hospitality scene have been going out of their way to come and try the ramen, helping to create good word of mouth about the eatery.

“The support from people from the hospitality industry [and] everyone coming in here in our first few weeks and being really supportive [has] been amazing,” Ms Erskine said.

“The feedback has been really good.”

Ms Erskine and Mr García Tornel launched their first seasonal soup this week – a fish shio ramen in a light fish broth with chicken chashu, meatball, ajitama egg and thick emmer wheat noodles.