Asian-style restaurant chain opens its first Ohio location at SouthPark Mall in Strongsville

STRONGSVILLE, Ohio – A restaurant chain specializing in Japanese noodles is opening its first Ohio location at SouthPark Mall.

Kyuramen, which prepares a variety of ramen dishes, will move into a space formerly occupied by Chipotle Mexican Grill and Five Guys.

On Sept. 26, the Strongsville Planning Commission approved a conditional use permit that allows Kyuramen to have a 34-seat outdoor patio.

Shen Long Yu — a Strongsville resident who has opened other Asian restaurants in the Cleveland area, including Lao Sze Chuan at Pinecrest in Orange and YYTime in Cleveland’s AsiaTown — will operate the new Kyuramen in SouthPark.

“We (Kyuramen) currently have 68 stores open and in the next few years we should have over 100 stores,” Yu told the Strongsville Architectural Review Board in September.

According to the company’s website, eleven Kyuramen restaurants are located in New York State. Others are in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.

Kyuramen restaurants are planned in California and Nevada.

According to its website, kyuramen ramen bowls are served with shrimp, pork, curry and chicken.

“All of our ramen is carefully developed by our ramen masters,” the website says. “The founder of Kyuramen studied and absorbed the essence of Japanese ramen to create the most unique and rich ramen dish.”

Yu told Cleveland Magazine in July that Gary Lin founded Kyuramen in 2014.

“The founder originally enjoyed eating ramen and decided to study ramen,” the restaurant’s website says. “He repeatedly visited Japan to try ramen noodles with different flavors.

“He later simply opened his own ramen shop to make Japanese ramen a more affordable everyday cuisine,” the website says.